Just Bought My First Tacoma, mod suggestions?

So I just bought a Tacoma and I love it so far. Its a 2007 V6 PreRunner and it has some exterior scratches and some interior panels that seem a bit stained but other than that it seems to be in great condition. So I was wondering if I could get some suggestions for low budget mods, ill list a few and it would be great to hear what y'all think about them. So not really a mod, but I would like to get the scratches fixed. (Again, on a budget) So I assume I should get touch up paint and try to do it myself, any thoughts? Also I want to replace the driver side window control panel (small piece of plastic, I assume i can get a cheap replacement) and also I would like to replace the air conditioning knobs with some circular metal ones I saw on youtube. The biggest mod I'm thinking about doing is blacking out the wheels, and MAYBE getting one of those cool mesh grills that say TACOMA in big letters. Any suggestions or tips?

 

Welcome to the site Bryan

 

Get some Maxtrac Spindles and maybe a new set of leafs in the back. Lift dat biatch

 

I'm a college student who just dropped 12,100 cash on a truck do you think I can afford to lift it? Btw love that GIF in your signature

 

Determine what you ultimately want out of your truck.Hide your wallet for now!

 

Hide your wallet! Hahahaha!

 

Fiberglass fenders! 33s! Long travel 3.5! baja that bitch!

 

Check on the "anytime fog light" mod as well as the very inexpensive "bed rail tie down" mod using parts from Home Depot or Lowes (assuming that you are missing one or more tie down points or just want to add more).

 

Welcome to TW hate to break it to ya,your wallet is gonna be a lot lighter. Nice truck I'd first start off with replacing everything that needs attention cosmetic an mechanical wise then start with mods. You can always check your local CL an classifieds here for good deals.

 

What is the HD/Lowes "bed rail tie down" mod? Can you direct us to a specific thread?

 

Congrats on your Tacoma and welcome!

 

Don't know what your tint laws are but that was the first thing I did.
Audio upgrade was next
And then a cheap spacer lift to get me by along with 1.25" wheel spacers.

$250-300 for all

TW has all kinds of mod tutorials that you can do for next to nothing also. Check it out.

 

X2- Welcome to TW, Enjoy the truck.

 

Scratch X works great for the smaller scratches BUT for the bigger/deeper ones I would check out ChrisFix on youtube. He has a great scratch guide which fixed over 75% of deeper marks on my truck. be prepared to invest a bit of time but well worth! youll be proud of yourself every time you get in the truck

 

Your goal in that case should be safety and reliability.

Fluid changes of all fluids. All filters.

Examine spark plugs, replace if questionable.

Prep for winter. New wipers? Heating working well? Glass all cleaned/polished/coated? Door locks lubed and smooth operating?

Full brake inspection, cleaning/service of moving points/adjustments. Replacement parts if found to be needed, like pads or shoes.

Tires if needed. Not fancy gumbos, but what you need for however you use the vehicle 85% of the time.

Cosmetics are fairly low budget, lots of elbow grease. That can be in between the important stuff work.

 

For the cheap bed rail attachments, check this thread:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bed-rails-attachments.114001/

I used the unistrut style nuts from Home Depot. Lot's of neat mounting ideas in that thread.

 

I also had good luck with scratch X, hid most of em. wax after made even better.

 

I just tried this fellows tips last week after coming across his youtube channel. Great stuff! only problem was the fix was so good the rest of the truck needed a wax haha. The parts I fixed looked better than the rest!

 

Has anyone had problems with what I assume is the actuator? My driver door has trouble locking sometimes when I lock/unlock it remotely, and its only that door so I know its a problem specific to that door. The dealer I bought it from said its a pretty easy fix and that I just need to replace the actuator. I'm thinking I should take it apart and look at it first to make sure it doesn't just need a nice cleaning/ lube or something. What do yall think?

 

Ive replaced something similar in a Honda Accord. I'm pretty sure it was the actuator and it was a really simple process. Its basically just unbolting a small motor and replacing it. I'd check out some youtube videos just to be sure. hope that helps.