What is the single best improvement you've made to your 3rd gen that makes your life easier?

LED interior lighting upgrade is my second favorite small mod.

 

dash cam, (peace of mind), N2 designs remote start, 2019 power tailgate lock, clazzio seat covers and heaters, husky liners, Diamondback cover, 12v and USB outlets in the bed and the fridge. all of these make life easier but there is definitely a variance in cost/benefit ratio between them.

 

you really like windshield tint? we tried it on my wife's last car and i thought it was plain awful. the optical clarity isn't great, and it messes with polarized sunglasses so much that i couldn't use any of my sunglasses in her car. just asking, to each their own.

 

Interesting you mentioned the clarity and polarized sunglass concerns. I am very sensitive to that. I went with the highest quality window tinting place around and got the IR series film from Huper Optik. Clarity is excellent. Only issue I have with polarized sunglasses (I wear them 100% of the time even when its raining, unless it gets too dark) is that black colors sometimes look a little purplish. I notice this the most with shiny black truck tires and certain light colored cars look not quite true to color. Really a small price to pay for the drastic effect it has on cabin temperature in our blazing hot summers. This is the first vehicle I ever had the windshield tinted and now I can't imagine ever having another car without it. Technically illegal here in FL but it isn't that noticeable and I haven't been pulled over in about 25 years.

I do see the goofy vertical or horizontal lines from the factory treatment on the front driver and passenger windows with my polarized glasses on. I put Huper Optik HP tint on those windows and it didn't make the lines any worse or better.

 

interesting. i always go for the super high quality tints, but wifey specifically requested the windshield so i didn't even ask about the quality of it since it was her car. i'm in north texas and i definitely noticed the cabin temp was easily less. it was good for her, she didn't complain about it... only i did when i was driving.

but the thing that bugged me most was that weird effect when you tilt your head with polarized glasses on, and the purple darkening waves show. that drove me nuts.

 

Do you have, or does anyone have a bed step installed with rock sliders and if so did you have mod anything to make them fit??

 

If I move my head up and down deliberately, I do see that purple shift you are talking about. My head remains in the same position while driving so it isn't a issue for me, but I could see how that might bug someone else.

 

Do you know what sliders and a bed step are? Not trying to be a dick, but look stuff up. Google "2018 tacoma bed step. Tacoma sliders." SEE where they go on the truck.

To answer your question, yes, you can have both, they are no where near each other. No modifications needed. Just bolt it all on.

 

OEM bed steps are behind the left rear tire, spring loaded and when folded up is about 5 inches below the rear bumper.

 

That's ok, some people don't have to try to be dicks, it just happens. Yes I know what rock sliders are (currently on order). If the sliders do not stick out far enough to safely use as a step with heavier stuff in my hands (TBD after install) then I would consider the bed step. But I am curious of anyone has both. And since my rocks sliders will stop right before the rear wheel well and some bed steps mount right in front of the rear wheel well and some mount aft of the rear wheel well, I am curious if they can be used together. Since no one said where their bed steps mounted I assumed it could be there or aft of the rear wheel well.

 

I was looking at aftermarket bed steps. Not all are. Some mount on front of the rear wheel well
https://www.amp-research.com/bedsteps?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpt7-0rG78gIV0g2tBh3R-AFXEAAYASAAEgJrEPD_BwE

 

Mark isn’t a dick. I just think he’s probably never seen the “side bed step” beacause it’s lame. Also I doubt you would be able to mount the two of them together. If you did though, the step would have to be under the slider, destroying the function of the slider. What kind of slider do you have on order. Is this for a long bed?

 

There’s another bed step that mounts in front of the rear tire. Looks handy if you don’t want full length bars or a step

 

So you did! Apologies. When I came back to this thread after work it had kindof blown up. I started reading it backward

 

This thread has definitely blown up.

 

Replaced the rear jump-seats with a carpeted platform for the hound.

 

This: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/premium-audio-upgrade-for-less-than-250.510424/

 

I’m up to $300…

 

It should work perfectly, take a look here;
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2019-tailgate-lock-pn-pk3b6-35js0.637471/

BAM had the best pricing at the time... shop around & you can save quite a bit.

 

1. N2 Remote Start w/ cell module. In New England, life saver. Also, since the remote start only lasts 15 minutes, if I need to run into the store, I can start it over again and the dog doesn't roast.
2. MESO Stage 1 tail lights - amber turn signals instead of red, huge safety peace of mind
3. H9 pig tails for H9 amber lights, a life saver in the snow. I drove home last winter in ~3 hours of snow coming down at night, the yellow was amazing. The worst parts of my drive were other, oncoming drivers bright white LEDs reflecting off my housings, back into the snow in front of me, and then back into my eyes. Amber for snow FTW.