The Battle Between Appearance & Functionality (and Cost)

Greetings TW,

A little background - I have a 2020 Sport 4x4 that I absolutely love. I'm honestly a huge sucker for aesthetic modifications, but a large part of me has to justify these mods considering practicality/functionality and cost. Having practical mods that also look good is super attractive to me, but I have strict financial goals and don't just want to throw tons of money at my truck either - this is why it took me 2+ years to finally cave for the trail edition wheels and the TRD skid plate.

I felt the trail edition wheels were justified as until now I had worn the OEM tires down and needed to get a set of ATs (often find myself hauling offroad in dry and wet). I found it easier to find 16" tires over 17" and generally for a better price, and I'm a huge sucker for the bronze trail edition wheels - so I had to cave. Been super happy with the wheel + AT4w tire combo on all fronts.

The skid plate functionally was a big plus as I do my own 5k mile oil changes, and I hated taking the stock steel plate off every time for service (the TRD plate has an access window). This has been super convenient and saves me time/headaches - and I happen to love how it looks, so have been happy here as well.

So where do I go from here? I do like how the truck looks/functions as it stands now, but I'd be lying if I didn't think swapping the painted valance/over fenders for the matte black plastic and installing the OEM LEDs didn't look sooooo good to me. The plastic valance/over fenders is definitely more a cosmetic choice, but is pretty affordable as far as a mod goes. Increasing light output of the headlights would be nice, but the H9 low-beam mod is effective and affordable - but doesn't look nearly as sexy as the OEM LEDs (imo), but holy cow that's $1200+.

Do you guys think swapping valance/fenders for plastic (or even wrapping them) is pointless functionally/visually? And the OEM LED headlights? What do you guys find to be the pros/cons in your setups? Do you wish you could swap in either direction for these? What are your thoughts on the truck as it is? What mods would you do? Let me know your thoughts!

(First image is my truck as it stands now - Second image is a photoshop mockup of the black valance/over fenders - Third image is the second image + mockup of the OEM LEDs and yellow/amber fogs)

 

Its all personal preference...but swapping to the black plastic is a big downgrade. One of the main features of the TRD Sport package is all the paint matched parts. It would be the same as buying a TRD Pro and then swapping all the suspension for base trim suspension.

The LED headlight upgrade looks nice! whether it will result in a significant improvement in illuminating the road at night, who knows, but they look pretty cool.

 

1)you can add a pop and lock actuator.
2)Tailgate Anti-theft device you can dm @christian06

 

Vinyl wrap the hood and roof. Thank me in 13 years.

 

I like the body color fender flares and wish my TRD OR had those. I do like the black on the front lower bumper, though. The headlights seem like a pricey upgrade, that mostly only you will notice - have you looked at the aftermarket ones - morimoto I believe? I have no idea what they cost, but they've got to be less than OEM.

 

My hot take: do what makes you happy. Don’t listen to people’s opinions on here unless it’s something mechanical. Appearance is what you appreciate, not someone else.
That is unless you give it the Carolina squat. Everyone hates the Carolina squat.

 

^^ X2

 

Just follow what my childhood Sunday school teacher described as the philosophy of the secular world: “If it feels good, do it.”

 

Functionally, yes. Visually, probably still yes, but thats ultimately up to you.

Functionally, an argument could be made either way "technically"; do both serve the same function? Yes, so there's no gain in function. Does one provide a measurably 'better' performance? Yes, so there's a statistical gain in function. Does it justify the cost? Its up to you.

Thats a loaded question, so put as simply as possible: pro's it looks cool; con's it cost a lot of money, time, and effort, and I'm the only owner who will reap the pro's. Is it worth it to you?

I have an OR, so no (my fenders/valence are already black). Don't have LED's; wish I did, but can't personally justify the cost when my headlights work just fine. What do you want?

Show all 3 pictures to your wife and tell her to point to the one thats your truck; she probably gets it wrong. Most people will never know the little differences. Even as enthusiasts, most wouldn't know the differences unless you told them/aren't looking or judging paint matched vs black. Most don't care, so what do you want?

Having modded my truck to a state of nearly unreliable/difficult to daily drive, I wouldn't change a thing, either for your truck or mine. I wouldn't have a do-over and get rid of my mods because I enjoyed the process along the way. I wouldn't change a thing on your truck, because its not mine. What do you want?

We can already tell that you're looking for justification to do what you want to do. You justified the wheels and skid plate, and while valid justification, its arguably still a stretch to determine if those were good reasons to do so. In the end, if you're on a strict financial budget, get off of this forum for a bit (don't mean that negatively, forreal; this place is a breeding ground for comparison - there's tons of cool builds around here and its daily inspiration to spend money when you don't need to). If you can justify adding truck stuff to your strict budget, then save, buy the things you want, and post plenty pics

 

If you like the look of the black parts, you could do what I did years ago to my second gen:

$25 2 PACK PLASTI DIP Mulit-Purpose Rubber Coating Spray BLACK 11oz …

Plastidip them for $30. Yes it wears off a bit (eventually), but you can touch them up easily enough when that happens. Maybe it's frowned on nowadays, but it did the job and I loved the look it gave my truck... at the time it was as much a chrome delete mod as anything else since I didn't have a TRD package on my old truck. Add another $20 in for plastic sheeting and painters tape from Home Depot and you don't even need to take anything off the truck.

 

Appreciate the thoughts/ideas fellas!

Sage advice guys. You're right, in a way I'm looking for external validation for the valance/fenders and headlights to tip me over the decision edge, so to speak. I think I'm figuring out that what intrigues me most is functional mods that are also nice in appearance, but there's risk like you mentioned in it turning into a comparison game and doing mods/spending money that others have done that's largely pointless to me. I do enjoy the conversation and speculation about them though! I'm sure I can find a few threads on the topic

 

You have a conundrum that only you can answer. Here is something to consider. Get a blank piece of paper and determine the total dollar amount you (can afford/think you could spend) on future Mods and write that dollar amount at the top. Then make two columns for Appearance and Functionality and list your Mods with cost. Stand back and give some serious thought and rank your Mods 1 through X. A Mod could go in both columns like Sliders but should have the same rank number regardless of being in both columns.

Now get a calculator and add up your ranked Mods until to get to the dollar amount at the top. When the Mods are completed, you should have a truck that you love even more.

 

How can you be so completely wrong....

the mods are never complete!!!!! haaaaa

 

Very true. But all of us non-billionaires will eventually run out of money for Mods.

 

This is why the lord graced us with a backup kidney.

 

LED headlights look awesome, and work amazing at lighting up your way.
Black plastic fenders are ugly, and will fade and get uglier over time.
Your truck, your choice.
Nice looking truck BTW.

 

LOL but the TRD Pro came with the black plastic

 

I personally prefer the look of color matched fenders and bumper.
I'd like to some more pics of the truck, especially the bronze wheels. Got a good side profile one?
I've also got a silver sport and was lamenting that the only color wheels that would look good with the silver truck is black or chrome, but your truck looks good sharp with the bronze.
I run black rattle can panted 4Runner wheels for winter tires and the stock wheels in the summer.

I can relate to aesthetics vs function.
My DD SS3 Max fogs, Weathertech window deflectors and the TRD skid plate (my plate is an Amazon knock off) are a combination of both.
OEM LED headlights do look awesome but hard to justify the $1200 vs the very worthwhile H9 mod for $40.
I would not have changed my front bumper but I hit a deer and cost of the bumper was marginally more than OEM. This lead down a $ rabbit hole with spending on light bars and a Auxbeam controller.
Since it is an aesthetic preference, I'm trying to stay cheap and scouring marketplace and CR for a black grill to replace the cheese grater. I wonder if anyone has had good luck/durability painting the chrome grill.

 

Don't have any pics from the side currently, but can definitely take some and post them here tomorrow evening - sweet looking rig by the way! Especially a fan of those DD SS3s

Appreciate it!

 

100% Show Room Stock ….Get a Pro and be done with it. Seriously, crunch the numbers.