What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Brake pads replaced today. Used the Akebono pads as recommended my @TRDRed. I’ve used them on my 2nd gen in the past without complaints.
I saw that I had some old Duplicolor caliper paint so I went to town on this as well. Was a little leery of doing red calipers as this is a truck, not a race car but the color accent fits my trucks color scheme of black with red accents.
Paint prep:
Primer, did 2 coats:

3 coats of red Duplicolor caliper paint:

Added a TRD decal and did a couple coats of clear top coat: (photo is passenger side now/ light was better)

Finished up:

I’ll admit, got a little impatient waiting for proper drying, plus less than ideal weather for painting today (cool with light rain) and had to do some touch ups.

 

I’d like to hear more about your experience with you 2016 Gen 3. I have read a lot about the growing pains with the 2016-2017 and I expect by 2023 those bugs have been worked out. To make this story a little more interesting, my fallback vehicle is a 2007 FJCruiser which has more “cool factor” than any Tacoma (IMHO).

 

Story is nicht so gut.

 

I'll probably do the same at some point, but I like the look for now - inexpensive mod. I picked up the LED fogs from a local TW member. Link to the film is in my post but here it is again JIC:
https://lamin-x.com/toyota-tacoma-trd-2016-fog-light-covers.html

 

Great stuff, thanks for the details!

Highly recommend the plug-n-play

$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 Tweeters. Surprisingly good upgrade. More here:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...3rd-gen-today.399305/page-13227#post-28985602

Also, have a set of Rockford Fosgate P1675 that I had in the rear doors. Worked great but I replaced all four speakers with Infinity References. Like new. Shoot me a PM if you'd like to try them out, pay me for shipping and whatever you think they're worth.

 

Looks terrific! Going fast is great... being able to stop? Priceless. Post pics with them peeking through the wheels after everything dries out!

 

Agreed!

 

I'm interested in more details on your taillight tint. I looked at the Lamin-x pre-cut ones but they barely cover anything. So I think I'd have to do it custom and not sure of the best way to cut the vinyl. I'm guessing I could do two parts (side with one piece, back with another), and use knifeless tape to get the edges right (the tape looks like a great idea, but I've never used it).

TIA.

 

It was a 2016. It was pretty. Worst year made and 1st year made. Was a real stinker. Not worthy of further discussion.

 

My biggest struggle was where the curved lights caused the laminate to have folds at the edges.

 

Yep, that can be a bit of a challenge. I used a heat gun to warm the film up a bit, not a lot, but enough to make it a little more pliable. Then I kept pressing it down around the edges to get any wrinkles out. Once the "handles" are clipped off they laid down pretty well. It's really tough/stretchy material and even withstands being pulled up and repositioned if necessary. They smoothed out nicely and even the tiniest of bubbles disappeared after a couple of days. Having the lights on my workbench made the job much easier than if they were in the bumper.

 

That looks like a situation that should have been easy to prevent.

What were you thinking? Hold my beer?

 

Oh no, i literally just parked here for fun and got out to watch some buddies. Drove right thru it.

 

I ran into the same issues that’s why I just went with the night shade spray, believe the brand was vht.

 

Looks like you really got yourself between a rock and a hard spot
Serious though man that sucks and hope you get everything worked out

 

Thanks for the tip! No wonder only one side was popping out when I tried to manhandle them out.

 

BamBeds. I'll just leave this here for your purusal. Supports a small shop, gets you buying things inspired by TacomaWorld, and they fit perfectly and are strong AF.

 

Take a look at his IG and you'll see a Tacoma (and other 4WDs) doing things that really shouldn't be possible.

 

My profile pic shows the amber laminex fogs. Only had to pop the black plastic covers off, here.
I grabbed a 4"×8" strip. Cut in half and trimmed after they were on. (A steady hand and a sharp xacto knife will be needed). Idk if harbor freight sells steady hands? lol
Had to use a little heat around the edges to help persuade a couple stubborn bubbles.

 

I’d be interested as well. I have a 2016 I bought in 2019 and have never had any issues with it. It has 120k miles on it now but had 36k when I bought it from the dealer (lease return). I hear lots of regrets from those with the earlier years but have never experienced them myself.