HEY LADIES! Let's see your trucks and mods. There's ladies on here, right?

I have to echo @farmtacoma. I do not use the drive through washes or car washes in general. I have a ton of car product at home which are probably much better than the car washes use anyway. Plus I like knowing everything has been cleaned myself and corners weren't cut. It is usually an all day job though so I do a deep clean and detail every 3 mos or so. Between washes I use a quick detailer as well

 

I prefer to hand wash & wax but I got lazy. I ran it through a car wash last week. Immediate guilt & it rained the next day, but it did knock some of the previous dirt off. The problem with buying black.....I've accepted fate that it will rarely be shiny enough for the metallic to be really sparkly. Once it warms up a bit I'll spend some QT with him & he'll sparkle for at least a couple hours.

 

Ah, the love-hate relationship with black. But wow does it look amazing for the few minutes it's clean and sparkly!

 

This is my conundrum. I most often am hauling 12-14' paddleboards, kayaks and/or bikes & all the gear that goes along with it, but am likely to never need an overland setup. So I need/want the bed space. With the old truck I discovered how easy it was to load all the long boards & boats from the back & secure everything while standing in the bed...helped that it was lifted & I couldn't physically load things from the side by myself. But I want that same setup again & am struggling with what rack options are the best route. I'm leaning towards the Yakima Overhaul - the ability to install/remove/adjust fairly quickly is appealing. Current in-house debate over just putting a roof rack on & skipping the bed rack altogether. Not sure how I feel about that.

 

Yeah I’m going back and fourth too. I have Yakima aero bars on my cap, but nothing over the cab. My Malibu X-Factor SOT kayak is about 15’, also have a canoe and multiple small jon boats I move around at my fishing property (bunch of small lakes). The permanent racks will likely cut my mpg down by 1.5-2mpg. Plus unless I get help they don’t extend back far enough to protect the back edge of the cap to slide things up on top (likely rub on the paint). I could buy another hully roller and mako saddle for the load bar, but then I’m limited to one yak. I have a hitch mounted extender but that’s not ideal when wanting to take other gear for camping etc. I will say Gage from martin off road rack has been great. He’s answered some of my Qs and is in the process of fabricating some SS brackets for the bed cap rack. I really like the Sherpa rack best I think it’s HD and rubber mounting feet. I’m not an overlander nor a pretend overlander, so I want function more than the look. Just not sure if I want to pay $1400 for racks, and lose mpg for permanent racks. I had a 5x10 flat bed trailer all rigged up for camping and hauling stuff I used for my previous 4runner but sold it last summer because annual plates went from $18 to $150. I have a 16’ jon boat on a trailer I could pile yaks on top of and pull that but obviously that’s not ideal either. The factory rack would work for me, but it’s seems overpriced for what it is and the reviews I’ve seen for knock offs haven’t been good.

 

A black Tacoma exiting a car wash on the side of the road almost gave me whiplash the other day! So damn sharp all shined up!

 

Yeah, so I work in a city that has a car wash right down the street. Plus, its too cold to wash my truck outside. I just want it to look nice, is that so bad?!?! lol Does anyone use 303 products?

 

Yes nice and shiny . All by myself

 

I do use the 303 aerospace protectant in the blue ish purple bottle on my plastics (my grille from TacoVinyl, the bed, the side mirrors, etc)
Most of my other products are chemical guys

 

Almost like our products are twinsies!
Just put the 303

On my 01 tacoma all blacktop faded. So leaned my lesson

protecting my baby day 1

 

Yeah most definitely! I don't want to risk it in the AZ sun. When I wash the truck there's so many good smells going on with the Chemical Guys.

I also put invisible mask liners on my headlights to prevent them from yellowing/hazing. That was a tough job.

 

Mask liners ? You mean like clear bra for lights ?

yeah the summers here in twenty nine palms are like AZ, and my truck being outside, needs all the protection it can get

 

Yes exactly like a clear bra but for headlights. They were around $40 but a pain to install. You have to stretch them and squeegee. Clear all the air bubbles.

https://www.invisiblemask.com/imask/index.php?route=product/category&path=38754

 

Wasn’t in East Tennessee, was it?

 

Buy 303 by the gallon on

$65 303 Products Aerospace Protectant Spray, UV Protection, Repels Dust, Dirt, & Staining, Matte Finish, Restores Like-New Appearance, Outdoor Cleaning Supplies 1 Gallon

Scamazon. Best way to buy and will last a good while. I use it on all of my boat interiors, vehicle dashes, exterior plastic, tires, teak wood on boats, etc. Great stuff.

 

Haha damn I am not the only one who buys it in gallons

 

Given headlight shape - I am scared!

 

I wonder if this would work on my mostly plastic toy.. I'm always looking for product to make clean up easier, plastic & desert dirt don't play well. P&S Beadmaker helps some but not as much as I'd like.


I'm lucky enough to have The Rag Company local to me here in Boise. They carry P&S, Gtechniq, Koch-Chemie. I've slowly been building up my collection of detailing products.

My truck goes to the rinseless in the winter when I can't use my house water (or a bay wash). And I wash myself the rest of the year.

 

Does anyone know of the doors auto lock with the keys inside of the vehicle in accessory mode?

 

I don't have that option for a good 5+ months out of the year. So during the warmer months I just continue on with the drive through washes. I will probably hand wax once in the spring and then once again in the fall though.