Somewhat Clueless 17 year old with a 2nd gen Silver Taco..help pls

So as I'm fairly new to modding my Tacoma I'm not totally inexperienced, being the teenager that I am the first thing that I did was get a loud Magnaflow exhaust, running boards off my neighbors 3rd gen , dark led headlights, and blacked a little of the chrome (very stereotypical I know). I'm wanting some guidance from people that have made mistakes before me so I don't waste the little money that I make. My truck is 2WD and as much as id love to it won't be an overlander or a Baja truck. That being said what should I get next, should I go purely for looks or should I invest in performance? Just looking for other opinions... Thanks!
This is a bad picture but its what I've done thus far

What I'm thinking next is a bull bar, and some method race wheels.. thoughts?

 

I'd say if you dont plan on really building it out, just make it a great DD. Put in a double din head unit, upgrade the sound system, quality seat covers, sound deaden, a reasonable suspension upgrade, bedmat, and change up the looks however you like. Oh, and welcome.

 

Don’t go crazy with modding unless you don’t care about resale value. If this isn’t your long term truck I would suggest going easy on the mods to help keep your value.

There are tons of mod ideas on What Have You Done to Your 2nd Gen Today. Just scroll thru

 

What about some decals to go with the new muffler.

 

Lolol

 

Lmao very funny spitdog, but yeah I think ill probably focus on comfort, but I will be driving this truck until it just wont run.

 

What those guys said. Can't tell you home many times we've seen people buy a crap ton of expensive mods, and suspension, only to "go another direction" after they learn more and try to sell it all again.

Take your time, and do yourself a favor and learn about maintaining it all yourself. One of the best performance mods is replacing the OEM spark plugs with, now get this, pay attention, more OEM spark plugs. Don't get anything but the stock spec for your engine. And a regular air intake filter.

How many miles on it, and what is the maintenance history?

Forget about putting cheesy stuff on the outside and make sure it is solid in the guts. This will also help your resale value when you go after a 4X4.

 

If you want to "OVERLAND" it's implied that you like camping. Since that's what it is. Get a shell/cap for the back, build a bed platform, and check your rear leaf springs to see if they could use an upgrade to hold that extra weight up.

If you are looking for pussy, learn how to cook. They love that shit.

 

I vote stay away from bull bars. I would say a decent stereo (balanced, not just bass that will annoy people in their homes), tune up, wheels (if you want different wheels) and new tires (if needed), make sure your brakes are good.

 

Welcome! I've got a 4wd sport silver 2nd gen myself and I'm not a huge fan of bull bars, but different strokes for different folks.

I do have method wheels tho. I've got Method NV's in 16x8 in 265/75/16 in case you're interested in going that route.

Also, you can still go camping and have a great time outdoors in 2WD!

 

Welcome to TW.

As a kid that modded my car into extinction, my best advice is take it slow. Look at other people mods, the difficultly, cost (installation and repair) and what you get from it. Also as mentioned by #OldManTacoFeels some . . . ok most mods will decrease your resale value.

For instance you can swap your tail lights. It's pretty easy to do and change back if you want/need to. On the other hand if you swap your control arms it's expensive and requires additional maintenance.

Also keep in mind that 90% of the aftermarket parts are garbage. They are not required verify and test the parts according to any standard. So if the fancy tail light don't work 6 months later - too bad. A lot of this stuff is made overseas and quality is limited to getting it in the box. Research the brands and customer feed back.Ebay is not your friend. However TW Market Place is your friend.

I personally get the most value from a spray on bed liner, a tonneau cover, and a locking tail gate (if you don't have it). I like the fold up tonneau covers that bolt to the bed rail.

Best of luck.

 

I’ll take the mature down to earth approach. I assume this 2wd truck is used for basic transportation, a daily driver. You are not going to be off roading, not hauling and not towing. Why mod it at all? What do you want to accomplish with mods? Im pretty sure at 17 you don’t have much money. Why spend what little money you have on mods? And remember when you sell the truck you won’t get the money you spend on mods back. That money is gone. If you want to waste your money on mods, go for it. It’s your money, your truck. I’m just saying you may want to consider some alternatives for your $$$. Just saying....
I sure I’ll take some shit for this post but oh well.

 

To answer a few questions, my taco has 109k mods and I inherited it from my grandfather, who kept impeccable maintenance and service records and took extremely good care of it. I am an eagle scout and love to go camping so Overlanding is definitely something to look into. Thanks for all the help! I'd be glad to read more comments so if there's anything else yall have to warn me about, please do

 

sprig, I somewhat agree but then again it's just so cool and fun that it's hard to pass up lmao

 

You are a very wise man. My father gave me the same advice and told me to save the money to think longer term i.e. invest in a nice mutual fund. Although many decades later I know he was 100% correct; however, at 17 I had the Dad audio filter engaged so I missed the memo. I cut my springs, added sway bars, caster kits, blocks, seats, go fast (slow) parts and God know how much time and money I spent audio - all of which constant needed repairs and upgrades. Yeah the audio was a real monetary rabbit hole. In the end the car was pretty much worthless. OK it was a piece of junk when I started, but it was more worthless.

Really it comes down to how much disposable money and time do you have? Years later you may look at it and think man I spent way too much time and money on that thing or you might think I had some good times. Only time will tell.

 

Don’t let the 2wd thing deter you from doing what you want. Some good tires will get you most places. An air locker and a winch (and skinny pedal) will get you just about everywhere else. Only time I have to winch is when I’m doing serious rock crawling stuff and take a bad line

 

Girls won’t care what you drive, so don’t waste money on it.

Take any money you were going to spend on the truck and either invest it in a low fee S&P500 index fund, or use it to buy gas for the road trips you should be taking. Bikini clad girls mandatory.

Seriously. Don’t waste money on THINGS invest it or spend it on experiences.

 

I thought air lockers were a 4x4 thing

 

That's 10 hp right there, baby!

 

Mine didn’t have a stock electrical rear locker, had to add one