How many of you actually remove the air dam from the front bumper?

I know what I'm about to write will be considered sacrilege to many around here, but if/when my TRD Sport gets built, not only will the front air dam stay on, but the factory skid plate will come off.

Okay, donning my Nomex suit and ducking for cover.

 

Does the sport come with a skid plate?

 

it does, but only a cheap front one

 

I believe the Sport and the Off Road come with the same skid plate.

 

i leave mine on, could care less about looks. i'm all about function. if it helps even the slightest bit with efficiency, it's staying on.

 

Yes, the front tin can mud guard in the front is the same between Sport and Off-Road. The Off-Road also gets the tin transmission plate as well. The Sport does not.

 

Curious as to why.

 

Leaving the air dam in place to smooth air flow around and under the truck, removing the skid plate to make oil changes easier.

 

Understood. Definitely not off-roading, then.

 

To paraphrase a "good little Catholic girl" I dated decades ago, "There are three types of off-road drivers of Tacomas; those who don't, those who do, and those who lie about it." The extent of my off-roading will most likely be driving across a manicured lawn to bring a bunch of mulch to the flower beds.

 

lol fair enough

 

Front air dams have been around for a long time. I had an 86 bronco 2 that had one though it was just a straight piece. Flat black and pretty much invisible unless you were looking at it. My prior truck, an 2018 F150, actually states in the manual to remove it you do off roading more aggressively than basic trails. Pretty sure the Tacoma manual has a paragraph stating the same thing. If it doesn't, it should. If you lift, you might as well take it off as it's not likely to do the job it was intended to do and factory height.

For the record, mine currently has its chin. Thinking about changing out the front bumper for something more robust and with some mounting places for lights and maybe a winch. Just don't know if or when I will do it. Not in much of a hurry. I just wish car companies would go back to a metal bumper for the front. These plastic things just say, "we're too cheap to put a proper front bumper on our trucks."

 

They probably figure you'll take it to a shop and replace the front bumper and add the hooks then right along with the suspension lift, larger wheels and tires, raptor style lights, and whatever else floats your off roading boat so why should they worry about adding the hooks.

 

I get all my off-roading just making the 2 mile trip to the asphalt every time i go out. Only time this road improves is when the town gets enough funds to do so.

 

Trim mine about 2 1/2 inches coz keep hitting the bumb stop parking at work..

 

Mine came off the day I brought her home. I get about 21 MPG with it right now, without it. If there is any difference in MPGs, it would be negligible over time, which means I dont really care.
As to the wind noise, I guess I never noticed, or cared, about that. I ride a motorcycle too, so wind noise isnt something that really bothers me. Its a truck. Not a luxury car.
I still have the spoiler sitting in my shed...needs to go to the dump at some point this spring.

Edit: If you simply put bigger tires on the truck, the air dam is useless, as its calculated based solely on the current, stock size tires. Going up even an inch, spoils the, ah, spoiler

 

Mine didn't come with one, but I put a bunch of stuff up there that would make it impossible to keep had it come with one.

 

Pretty sure I pulled it off when I pulled the dealer license plate frame at the lot.

 

What kind of mirror caps are those?

 

Just standard OEM replacements. Lady side swiped me and removed one so I replaced the color matched with black.