On a scale of 1-10, how much do you baby your truck?

i do not offroad but use it as a truck and make sure it gets an italian tune-up every now and then. i maintain it but in no way do i baby it. based on the scale i would say a 5.

 

This is an interesting thread. Its hard to guage where im at on the 1-10 scale because one guys 8-9 might be another guys 5-6. I think i might be in the 7ish range. I tried to think of things that i do that ranks as possibly "above and beyond" which might constitute babying. One thing i do is when i rotate my tires (which i sometimes neglect) i wash the entire wheel inside and out to get all the brake dust and what not off. So i guess that cancels out my tire rotation failure, i don't know.

I think it would be fun to name a few things we do that makes us ocd or anal about maintenance and other things. For instance, I personally think that anyone who cleans the bed to add at least "1" to the scale. Unless it got something spilled or is grimed up somehow, that part gets neglected. Also, people that scrub and clean the underside of the truck gain points. Admittedly, i recently cleaned my wheel wells for the first time and put some stuff i found from Chemical Brothers on there and it actually looks alot better and the stuff is supposed to be a protectorant too. We shall see. I've had a lift for a while and the more exposed wheel wells always bothered me a little since i used rust proofing in there and it collects dirt which i won't clean off as i think it add a nice shield.
Lastly, i think anyone that has done more mods than maintenance is probably more towards a 10. Ive done quite a few. Some were purposeless like the TRD oil cap, coolant cap, and shifter. But honestly, I genuinely enjoy putting a wrench to my truck especially when it's just to do a mod instead of actually fixing something broken. I just put the TRD exhaust on and the entire time im asking myself why im replacing a perfectly good exhaust system but that black exhaust tip looks a little better than the bolt on one i added last year.
I have all but ran out of things to do though. Been eyeing a front bumper. One of those ones that Chloe put on her truck but its on backorder. It requires cutting a little which i am not a fan of at all. Just about everything ive done to my truck i can reverse and still have the original parts.

shit, after writing this i may be in denial. I may be closer to a 10. I know my wife would say i am lol.

 

I agree the 1-10 scale is very subjective and open to individual interpretation. That’s why I thought this would be a good topic for discussion. My personal feeling is that many guys are closer to the 8-10 range because the money they spent initially can be better recouped due to favorable resales. In turn, the time and energy spent “babying” their trucks makes them more in-tune with them and guys end up saying,” I plan on keeping this truck forever”.

 

Agreed. I'd say 80% of what I've done was for purpose and to improve an already solid base. Rear bed lighting (OEM) Rear tail gate lock (OEM) Tonneau cover. Upgraded the Sound system a lot (I like it LOUD) Rear step. Front camera (not OEM obviously) OEM LED headlights, Bed Molle panels. Tint. An actual functional wireless charging pad. Custom Clazzio seat covers. All the lift stuff. The sliders in which I've done 2 iterations of Mobtown sliders (didn't like the 0 angle ones) Probably a couple other things I'm forgetting in the interior (oh that footwell mod and the mod for ball mount stuff behind the dash bezel, both of which are VERY useful)

As far as maintenance goes I do it all myself. The only things I can't do are tire mounting and balancing and fine tuning the alignment. I don't trust hardly anyone after being in just about every garage in the Delmarva Peninsula and the Philly area.
6.5K OCI with Liguimoly Nexgen oil. (10K too long 5K too short? lol) Complete trans fluid exchange every 45K with a filter every other exchange. OEM front brakes with new rotors at 50K. OEM plugs at 58K. YotaWerx tune which I do the upload on. I change my tune when I tow my 4K TT.
I guess I lose points for not flushing my PS fluid or brake fluid yet though but I plan to do that soon. I read about it on this forum and it reminds me. I also tend to lean on the skinny pedal a bit but I justify that as being an "italian tuneup" lol. I clean the truck about twice a month but it's such a waste it seems with a black truck as it looks dirty in a day or two. I have no garage. Vacuum once a month. I'm not a slob. My wife's car on the other hand....

And you're are right about keeping the truck forever. I find myself under the hood 3 or 4X a year with my borescope looking for that timing cover leak or the coolant manifold leak. And when I find it look out...

Now the other useless appearance stuff like door handles from an SR5 or the MESO chrome delete stuff when I was going for the black out look was sort of a waste. Once I was done, I hated the "blacked" out look. Mainly the black rims on a black truck. IMO it looks much better on a sports car. To each their own. My co workers say my Brushed copper rims on black looks "odd" (not the words they use) I don't care. Then there's the TRD intake. Well, I just leave it at that.

Yep, I am 100% in denial.... i'm a 9.9...

 

I take care of my truck, but I don't baby it...

 

Haha!

 

I go around mud puddles does that mean I baby it.

 

Definitely, yes

 

Around 5 to 7. I don’t go all OCD on my personal Tacoma, but keep it clean, decent. Wash and polish once a month, unless I get lazy.

 

I abuse my $40k plus truck because, I have more money than most and have no...

 

Then you can afford the top of the line 4th gen, and $40,000 is pocket change?

 

My commute is 80% 55mph so most miles are cruising BUT I like to have fun more than I probably should so I'd guess I'm a 5 or 6.

 

Weird flex, but OK…

 

It's my daily driver, 50plus miles a day, all maintenance done on time, but I'm hard on the gas, don't wash her very often and I haul stuff in the bed a few times a month. So I'm putting myself as a 7.

 

Do you live in your mommie's basement.

 

Daily I baby it. Off roading I don’t.

 

I got a itty bitty dent on the rocker panel and a hell lot of pin-striping but other than that I baby it so I don’t have to pay for shitty heartbreaking damages with the little to no money I got due to “investing” on my truck lol

 

9 out of 10 for me,
this is my first new truck that I ceramic coated and PPFd the front clip. Expensive upfront costs, but I intend to keep this thing as long as possible.
1.2 years later, that was a worthy investment. Saved me some rock chips and makes cleaning so much easier/faster. Also nice not having to wax the truck 2 times a year any more.
Truck gets washed once a month and especially right after road trips to remove all the bug splatter.

I get anxiety whenever I bring the truck into Toyota for warranty service ever since the first visit when they scratched the bejezuz out of one of my wheels.

 

What he said

 

I’m the same. It gets babied during the time in between trips, then worked off pavement.