What are your must-have upgrades?

[notyep]

Hi Everyone,

Just joined the T4D community. Bought a 2013 SR5 (Prem Package) on Thursday.

I just ordered some of the OEM floor mats, 3rd party cargo mat, and OEM cargo cover.

I am thinking about getting running boards, tinting my windows, remote start, and adding a subwoofer.

What has everyone else done that you 'must have' ? And also any recommendations on what to get on my list above?

 

[Stifler]

tires

 

[sp8ball]

Tint the windows. Begin removing chrome immediately.

 

[sandcrawler]

definitely tires.

i'd get Husky liners instead of OEM; much better. and get sliders instead of running boards; still acts as a step.

do the Kappa dash speaker upgrade too.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

definitely tires.

i'd get Husky liners instead of OEM; much better. and get sliders instead of running boards; still acts as a step.

do the Kappa dash speaker upgrade too.

This stuff ^^^, especially the Husky mats.

Not sure how far you are looking to take this, but there are many options to upgrade the front suspension that will help both on and off road performance, DRASTICALLY!

PS - Congrats on your new Runner and Welcome!!!:cheers:

 

[Okki]

as [MENTION=74569]SOcalTRAIL[/MENTION] already indicated, your "must haves" will vary heavily depending on what you plan on doing with the truck; street queen, some back roads, overlanding, etc.

A good AT tire covers a lot of the above; makes the truck look more truck-like without being (too) noisy, give you good grip in most offroad situations.

If you plan on taking it offroad more regularly, look into better skid plates , suspension, a CB, and recovery means.

Either way, welcome aboard and enjoy the new ride!

Okki

 

[Jono.ful]

I think my next big ticket item is going to be the total chaos 4 link kit, or a locker and re-gear (obviously the locker wouldn't be an issue on a TE)

 

[notyep]

definitely tires.

i'd get Husky liners instead of OEM; much better. and get sliders instead of running boards; still acts as a step.

do the Kappa dash speaker upgrade too.

I wish I saw this before last night, the OEM all terrain mats are on their way....hopefully they will still do the job. I'll definitely look into the Kappa dash upgrade. I am thinking to add the powered sub under the seat I saw one of the members do (antman I think?)

as [MENTION=74569]SOcalTRAIL[/MENTION] already indicated, your "must haves" will vary heavily depending on what you plan on doing with the truck; street queen, some back roads, overlanding, etc.

A good AT tire covers a lot of the above; makes the truck look more truck-like without being (too) noisy, give you good grip in most offroad situations.

If you plan on taking it offroad more regularly, look into better skid plates , suspension, a CB, and recovery means.

Either way, welcome aboard and enjoy the new ride!

Okki

Any recommendation on the tires? I'd like to stay in the size where I can keep the full spare still. Thought about painting the wheel's black too.


*EDIT* This is mostly my daily driver to work, but summer time I do like to camp off the road. Not rock crawling or anything but something you wouldn't take a civic up too either.

 

[hamburglar210]

Huskys are great. I just ordered some bump outs from Bud with the full tread plating so they should act as a good running board until I can save up enough to make it more of an offroad adventure vehicle... should ruin a few doors if people park too close too.

 

[Okki]

Any recommendation on the tires? I'd like to stay in the size where I can keep the full spare still. Thought about painting the wheel's black too.


*EDIT* This is mostly my daily driver to work, but summer time I do like to camp off the road. Not rock crawling or anything but something you wouldn't take a civic up too either.

My truck is my daily driver as well (mainly city driving) and none of my offroad adventures get too crazy. I've been really happy with the Cooper ATP's that are listed in my signature below.

They are OEM size, so the speedo/odometer will not be off and you can fit the spare as usual (although people have managed to fit 285's still in the stock spare location).

The ATP's look more aggressive than the stock passenger tires, but don't create a lot of road noise (there is some; especially on bad cement roads, but nothing bad (the wife doesn't complain about it)).

Duratracs are popular too, but they were more expensive and no warranty. There are some details on the tires that I run in my build thread (again, see the link below in my signature).

The Cooper AT3 is similar to the ATP, but a slightly less aggressive thread pattern if I recall correctly.

Hope this helps!

Okki

 

[shawn719]

I would have to chime in and say suspension is one of my must haves - more so now that I have it done. Boy, what a difference! Tires would be a close second.

 

[Okki]

I would have to chime in and say suspension is one of my must haves - more so now that I have it done. Boy, what a difference! Tires would be a close second.

while I agree on the suspension, tires are more affordable and a quicker option for most. I did the 2012 FJ Summit with stock suspension, but I could not have done it on stock tires. Depending on what you want to do cost wise with suspension, I would put skid-plates before the suspension as well because lift vs protection is the question there. Full skids cost 1/3 of the Icon Stage 6 I've got on order.

Of course on the SR5 that the OP has it's easier to slap on some OME or Bilstein's versus the LE that I've got.

Okki

 

[PAYNE]

I went with the OEM all weather mats & I think they work just fine so I wouldn't be too worried about that. My first steps were pretty much in line with what you have suggested short of the sub. I also purchase a hitch hauler basket as well as a Yakima Load Warrior for expansion room but of course those are only on when needed.

 

[Antman]

Airlift 1000 airbags. Can't spend $100 better on your truck!:boink:

Welcome to T4R!

 

[05Rrunner]

Mods:
#1) Disable Seatbelt warning chime !
First and best mod !
With my parking situation at work I get twice daily enjoyment out of it.
#2) Whatever you like,it's not number one.(lol)

 

[Randyman...]

What are your must-have upgrades?

For me #1 was the over-the-top 4KW Audio/NAV Install - but that's a given with my background. The stock audio system was piss-poor at best.

Stock Sized BFG AT Tires and Bilstein 5100's made my SR5 ride so much better IMNSHO. Swapped these on after a month or so of dealing with the overly soft SR5 shocks and awful stock tires. Handles better, feels more sturdy, and is more capable when needed. The tires and 1.25" wheel spacers with the 17" SR5 wheels make it look a lot more aggressive than stock - I currently have no plans on upgrading wheels.

If you want to get more aggressive with your off-roading (the 4x4 T4R is already very capable with some descent tires), then an actual lift and sliders should be considered. It's all about your specific application and what's really important to you (Audio is ALWAYS tops on my list).


Deadening the doors also gives a T4R a much more convincing "Chunk" when closing the door. I was a little shocked how a stock T4R's door sounds when closing it - same for the hood (has a tinny tone - sounds awful!). A heaping helping of Dynamat Extreme or similar will make the door sound and feel like a high-end Mercedes Of course, this is generally part of the Audio System installation, but I would do this even if I was using the stock stereo. Tin-can doors really put me off when they aren't deadened. They sound incredibly cheap on a $40K vehicle IMNSHO.


TechStream mods - Either buy the cable or have your dealer set it up how you like it. I had the keypad linked to the windows/moonroof roll-down for hot Summer days as I approach the truck, disabled the horn when arming/disarming the alarm (don't need Techstream for this), increased rear-wiper intermittent duration to 5-seconds (no brainer IMO), killed the Seat-belt chime, killed the "auto-unlock-in-park" feature, and lengthened the interior courtesy lighting to 30 seconds.

If you have any aftermarket accessories with wires hanging out of the glove box or Aux Port - consider hard-wiring them to the fuse box. Cleans up clutter and makes the interior look so much better IMO.

Interior LED upgrades - Maybe, maybe not. I'm on the fence with mine - they are brighter but I'd like them to be a bit warmer color temp.

H9 + 9011HIR headlight upgrades. The low-beam Phillips H9's are under $15/pair shipped, and make a noticeable difference in low-beam output and offer a whiter light. Still haven't done the high-beam swap yet (and hardly ever use high-beams).

Those were my sore-spots - My T4R is now very close to the perfect vehicle (TRD Supercharger will make it perfect )

 

[94hokie]

Replace the factory antenna (way too long) with a stubby antenna. ~$20 upgrade, well worth it. My Metal Tech sliders are inbound, should hopefully arrive 3/18. Tires are a must, the stock Dunflops are horrible in virtually any condition involving water.

 

[Johnny Utah]

TechStream mods - Either buy the cable or have your dealer set it up how you like it. I had the keypad linked to the windows/moonroof roll-down for hot Summer days as I approach the truck, disabled the horn when arming/disarming the alarm (don't need Techstream for this), increased rear-wiper intermittent duration to 5-seconds (no brainer IMO), killed the Seat-belt chime, killed the "auto-unlock-in-park" feature, and lengthened the interior courtesy lighting to 30 seconds.

how much and where?

 

[Randyman...]

how much and where?

The Dealer should offer TechStream mods as a free service - but I've read of plenty that charge for it. My dealer did it free (twice). I also purchased the cable off Amazon (looks like it is OOS) - still haven't tried it yet but will soon. eBay has these, too. The cable's driver MUST run on Win XP (either natively or via a Virtual Machine).

 

[Jono.ful]

H9 + 9011HIR headlight upgrades. The low-beam Phillips H9's are under $15/pair shipped, and make a noticeable difference in low-beam output and offer a whiter light. Still haven't done the high-beam swap yet (and hardly ever use high-beams).

you had me right up to this point. nothing quite like saying "f**k you other drivers! I'm more important!"

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/136519-h9-headlight-photos.html

if you want to light up the world in front of you, do it properly and do a retrofit.