What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

Last time I owned a car was 1970. '65 Chevy Super Sport. Wife's Subaru wagon doesn't count. Once I went Japanese I never looked back.

 

RTT in your future?

 

Boilermakers and warm beer brew up a storm. Truly, good luck.

 

Hope he jumps in his Tacoma and has them someplace else!

 

Yah. I glad they are back. Had a chance to test out the forging this weekend with a frozen well pump housing. Broke my 50 year old 9/16s using a hammer bar, sheared a Tawain special by hand. Bought a new [Stanley] Craftsmen and beat on it ceaselessly until the bastardized bolt came loose. Hopefully the market doesn’t get flooded with counterfeits like everything else.

 

There's always $nap-On!
Craftsman is the affordable alternative.

 

Yup. At least with a Taco he’s got better odds. Saw an interview with a “riding it out type” who commented on how prepared he was because he liked to kayak.

 

I couldn’t either.
I just used a flat head screw driver. It works fine

 

This weekend...upgraded from my 09 to a 2019 TRD Off-road DCSB

 

Ya can't fix stupid! Some dedicated First Responder will probably risk his life to save his sorry butt.

 

Lots of local hardware stores bought up piecemeal inventory on hand. You can get vestiges of Made in USA at real discounts. Hard to find a 10mm though

 

Not something I've done, but something I'm looking to have done...

Thinking about winter and noticed I've got a few scratches, front and rear, which I think are just in the clear coat.

Contacted a local detailer and asked what it would cost to fix the scratches, give the whole thing an overall compounding and polishing, then apply a ceramic coating (this guy uses Gtechnique).

I was quoted $550 for everything. I have no idea, does this sound reasonable?

 

For things I use a lot (sockets, drivers, etc), my goto is SK Tools, though I'm not above shopping at Harbor Freight. All depends on what it is and how much use it will see.

 

If he's a professional and good it sounds about right to me. Contact the BBB to see if any complaints have been filed. $500 isn't chump change.
Just my $.02.

Around here $200 is the going rate just to detail.

 

I do Harbour Freight at times but usually not for mechanics hand tools. If you're careful there are some decent items there for that item you'll only use on rare occasions. Unfortunately it can be hit or miss. So far I've been lucky, no red herrings yet.
I always read the reviews and avoid any items with more than 10 percent one star reviews. Unfortunately that eleminates a lot of items. It's basically a crap shoot.

 

Rut Ro! It came with the kid mod? That is one of the more expensive mods you can get!

 

Kids are like Tacomas, the older they get the more expensive they are.

 

+1 on contacting the BBB. Also a good idea to request some before and after pics of some previous work and maybe check another detailer in the area. $550 is not cheap but it will reflect a reasonable price if they do a nice job.

One other route to consider is buying a random orbital polisher and what you need to do the work yourself. There are plenty of videos on the web of what to buy and how to make it work and for less than what you were quoted you can buy the supplies and put in the time yourself whenever you need to. There is a learning curve, but it is not steep and with a random orbital polisher you have to be pretty dense or pretty careless to do damage.

 

HUH? Is this any acronym?

 

I checked to have mine ceramic coat when it was brand new and Ceramic Pro wanted $1700. Too much for me. $550 sound like a deal. Just my opinion.