Debadging

I wish I had the pic of the taco I saw on my way from Dallas one day.... they had that goofy chic that all the truckers have on their rigs on them.

Freaking funny looking.... Or the ones that say "BACK OFF"....

 

I ordered the Old English Font stickers from Sockmonkey. Very quick service I might add and the price was reasonable too. The badges come off next weekend, the chrome grill gets painted black and the original headlamps got the BHLM done to them and those will be installed as well. Much clearer lenses than the botched ones I bought off Ebay so I went ahead and did them too. The Ebay ones were OK just had 18K miles of road wear on them, ie, tiny specks all over. I sanded one of them and it got 95% of those specks out but I went too hard wth the sandpaper and it left a few thin lines that did not get removed. The other one I left with the specks on it but it fogged up on me in the beginning. It has stopped ALL fogging up now and still looks good but the original ones will look even better. I think the Desert Sand color and these stickers with black accents will look real nice on my Tacoma.

 

I'm in the process of debadging mine right now. Note to self:
When buying fishing line, buy something stronger then 12 lbs because the line keeps breaking.

 

awesome!!! Let us know how it finishes up!! PICS!

 

Copy cat. Good thing I'm selling mine.

 

Yes I will ADMIT that your stickers were my inspiration! THANKS! We are so far apart that our trucks will most likely never meet each other. Why you getting rid of it?

 

We need a suv. My wife wants to keep her civic so we are trading in the Taco. There's not enough room inside the cab for all of us plus baby gear.

 

Been there done that one too. I had to get rid of a new S10 when they first came out due to the fact you could not seat two adults and a baby seat inside it and still work the shifter. Good luck on your SUV, I used Cherokee's before I got rid of one to get this Tacoma.

 

Enter the Rav4.Would this work?

 

Had a Rav4 lined up but my wife just read the new issue of consumer reports which ranked the 09 subaru forester as the number 1 small suv, so now she wants to look at them.

 

My wife has the 06' RAV4 Sport 4WD, and my boss has the new 08' Forester L.L. Bean Edition. They are both EXCELLENT cars, but the Forester's 2.5L 4 cylinder boxter engine gets the same fuel economy as my wife's 286 HP 3.5L V6. The RAV4 sits a bit higher, has a bit more interior room, and it is fast as hell!!!

My boss didn't pay as much for his Forester as we paid for the RAV4, but I think I do like the RAV4 a bit better. I will revisit the Forester in 2010 when they finally bring the 2.2L Turbo Diesel Boxter engine to the United States.

 

So you are selling your truck? Are you going to part out the modifications (I am looking at your grill, and wonder what you did to make it look so nice!!!)?

 

I took the front ones off. but i kept the rear ones on just for that reason. i with they made after market mud flaps for the tacoma tho

 

It depends. I haven't given any thought to it yet.

 

Do you have any better pictures of your grill (like closeups of how you did it)?

I am trying to do something similar, but I am going the Satoshi route by counter-sinking the grill 1.5 to 2 inches. I can fill the holes in the original grill surround with out issue, but the grill I haven't decided on yet.

 

After reading up on the 09 forester, we drove by the subaru place today and looked at them. They had an 08 and an 09 sitting side by side on the lot. The 09 is definetly bigger than the 08. I like that the rear hatch opens from the top not from the side like on the rav. You can also get more amenities on the forester then on the rav. Toyota makes you get leather to get seat heaters, but cloth is standard on the subaru seat heaters. You also get heated side mirrors and a windshield wiper de-icer grid.

I don't know what to do right now. We won't be able to test drive a forester until the middle of july. I want to go with the rav4 but my better half is insistant on looking at subaru AND honda.

Why didn't I buy the DB? I wouldn't have this problem right now.

 

Sorry, man. I know your woes.

Don't get me wrong - I love the Subaru, but I love the RAV4.

RAV4 (06+) pluses:
#1 - Power!!! OMG, The Power!
#2 - Interior Space (huge)
#3 - Ride Height (higher visibility)
#4 - Fuel Economy on V6 (my wife, the race car driver, gets 22/28 Real World MPG w/ AWD)
#5 - Spare Tire is easy to get to
#6 - Manual Differential Lock (AWD)

RAV4 (06+) cons:
#1 - The rear gate opens towards street (driver's side) and not curb!
#2 - Options are limited (no Navigation option)

Forester (09+) pluses:
#1 - Sunroof (Have you seen the size of that thing?)
#2 - Options galore (including Navigation)
#3 - Ride Height (lower is more fun to drive)
#4 - Tailgate opens up
#5 - Subaru AWD (I have not seen better - ever)

Forester (09+) cons:
#1 - Fuel Economy (my boss, in his 09', gets 22/24 Real World MPG)
#2 - Spare tire under vehicle
#3 - Power is adequate, but not great

I talked my boss into his Forester, and when he rides in my RAV4 he wishes he had not gotten the Forester. I think this is mostly because of the fuel economy and lack of power (only in comparison to the RAV4). So, I feel like an @$$.

I still like the Forester and the RAV4. I will be revisiting the Forester when the TD engine gets here!

I especially know your woes on the Tacoma!!! I had a wonderful 07' AccessCab that I had to sell to get my 08' Double Cab. Why can't I have both?!?!?

 

We talked about both of them over dinner tonight. She has ruled out honda, but she is waiting to decide until we test drive the forester. I have owned a truck ever since I could drive, 30+ years, so this will be different for sure.

 

Best of luck to you. Oh, and you are always welcome here!

 

Many thanks. I have no intention of leaving this forum!