What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Installed the DS-18’s today, can tell the difference. It is an improvement over the stock tweeters. I had to play around with the audio settings after they were installed. The drivers side took about 10-15 minutes. The passenger side was another story. Had problems getting the electrical plug off the stock tweeters. I must have spent 45 minutes until I finally got it separated.

 

Maintenance day, changed the cabin air filter, and changed the oil and filter using the Motivix funnel, filter wrench and filter drain kit, no messy oil spills. Last dealer oil change I had them install the Fumoto drain plug, this sure makes oil changes quick and mess free

 

Added a Kicker key 200.4 to my non JBL stereo. I had previously done all the Kicker speaker upgrades and added an 8inch Kicker square sub with a 300.1 Kicker sub amp.

Everything is hidden, no alteration to the factory wiring with a custom box I built that fits the passenger side cubby.

Finally sounds pretty good.

 

Vinyl wrapped fender flares

I plasti dipped my fender flares about a year ago. They held up pretty good but the first time I emptied a gas can into the Taco, some splashing destroyed the plasti dip.

As a first time wrapper, I did a lot of searching for info and really couldn’t find much specific to this task. Thought I’d share my experience for anyone else doing a first time wrap.

First off, I bought a 5’ x 20’ roll of vivid matte black vinyl [https://a.co/d/bb9Bh3a]. I was considering 3M but it was 3x the price. I also bought a tool kit with felt squeegees of various sizes and other assorted tools [https://a.co/d/3WvQhUq] and some 3M knifeless tape [https://a.co/d/gDdQ5Uz]. The knifeless tape was essential. It made trimming very clean…don’t even think you can trim vinyl on the vehicle…you’ll be sorry you tried.

Removing the plastidip was not a lot of fun. I had 10-12 coats on and “most” of it peeled off nicely. The stuff that wouldn’t come off nicely I sprayed with WD40, let it sit a minute and then wiped it off. I washed the fender flares with Dawn and water (figured the degreasing nature of the Dawn would remove most of the WD40 left over) and then wiped everything down with isopropyl alcohol.

After removing the mud guards I put the knifeless tape on. Take your time with this step so your cut is where you want/need it. I found running it about a centimeter above the top of the flare worked best:



Make sure you leave about 6” of tape hanging on either side of the flare so you have plenty to start the cut with. Be careful when applying/reapplying your vinyl as I learned the hard way that it can pick up and move your 3M tape leaving you with a cut where you didn’t want it:

(I was able to cut a very thin patch and cover this)

I then cut about 30” of vinyl and positioned it using the magnetic holders that came with my wrapping tools:


On this step make sure you have plenty of vinyl to reach the bottom of each end of the flare. Removing the paper was a learning process as well. I tried a couple different approaches but found it easiest to lift the backing off from a corner and remove a good chunk of it, then tear it off so you can do the same from the other side without having to lift and replace the vinyl multiple times (which can cause creasing you don’t really want to start off with). Make sure you leave yourself plenty of vinyl around all edges as you’ll need it to cover the undersides of the flare:


After about the second flare I wrapped I learned that HEAT is your friend. Don’t be afraid to hit it with your heat gun and lift replace as needed so you can squeegee out any bubbles/creases as you go (but be careful not to stretch it too much after heating). I found working from one side of the flare to the other, lifting, heating, and squeegeeing a bit at a time works best. You want it to look like it’s ‘sucked down’ on the flare before you move on.

Getting the vinyl on the underside of the flare (above the tire) is tricky. Heat it up and stretch it. After it adheres, then trim it so you remove tension on the vinyl as you move from one side to the other. After trimming, heat it up again and press it down good.

Make sure to run the heat gun over the entire flare before pulling the knifeless tape so you give the vinyl a chance to adhere and shrink up some. After it’s cool you can pull the string and remove the excess vinyl. After this, make sure you remove the green backing that’s left over after pulling the string. Then run your squeegee or a corner tool over the top as the vinyl will lift up a bit when pulling the backing off.

Here’s the final product:


I’m happy with how it turned out. Take your time…it won’t be perfect, but it’s certainly do-able! I have a few spots where I had to ‘patch’ but nobody would ever see them unless they are looking for them.

Hope this helps anyone else considering fender flare wraps. Overall (excluding plastidip removal and cleaning all surfaces) it took me about 7 hours to complete.

I suppose if you calculate the materials and cost of your time it may be less expensive to buy a different colored set of flares, but you’d miss out on the fun of the project and the opportunity to learn how to do something like this!

 

Not sure I understand why you would wrap the plastic flares.

 

75K oil change today! Once again the 6qt Havoline deal at Walmart worked great. Super convenient having all I need in one container, and for less $$ too!

 

It’s a sport, they have the color matching flares. Just another reason to buy the off-road.

 

Finished the work week, installed the Rhino Rack RLT600 and 49” Vortex Bars. Threw on a set of LED Taillights just because.

 

Tracking

 

Well, I'm another one that replaced the tweeters today. You guys were right. the

$96 DS18 Pro-St OEM Subaru/Toyota Upgrade Bullet Compression Tweeters with Crossovers 1.9" - Car OEM Tweeter Upgrade Kit for Many Subaru/Toyota Models - Replacement for H631SFJ101 and H631SFJ100 (Pair)

DS18 Pro-St's are pretty amazing for no bigger than they are. I knew the stock tunes were poor. But didn't know it was that bad until I heard these. Guess I might as well order some door speakers now. I wish Toyota would have just a little more slack in the speaker wires. Would have been easier to get the damned wire clip out of the stock speakers. I didn't cuss too much, but I needed a cold one after that.

 

Anyone have some center caps I can borrow?

 

Stolen? That would stink!

 

Backordered.

 

That's a really good looking rig...

 

clean build ! what led tail lights ?

 

Just upgraded

17x8 Aliso Black Rhinos et0
Wildpeak at3 265/70r17

 

Fancy pants brake controller.

 

Pulling trailers I guess?

 

Yes, 7x14 enclosed v nose.

 

Upgraded the trans cooler with a fan, cause it's Satans taint hot over here.

https://amzn.to/3KFb2YN



And wired up some Amazon LED whips for the funs. Actually kind of surprised with the quality, they are decent. But really surprised they can be wired to the lights, so they function as turn signal, brake lights, hazards, and reverse lights. Super cool they are quick disconnects, so you don't have to leave them there all the time. That was big selling point for me. I'll have the install on these up soon.

https://amzn.to/45nHtmk