Many truck owners begin modifying their new pickup shortly after they get it. There are many reasons to modify a truck, old or new. Some people modify their trucks for improved performance. Some people modify their trucks to give them a unique look or sound. Some people modify the truck in an effort to keep it looking great for years. Some people modify their trucks in a way that the rest of us can’t tell exactly what they were trying to achieve. We spoke with an array of owners and we put together this list of the top five truck mods you’ll never regret, with something to appeal to most drivers..
Protect Your Carpeting from Everything
It doesn’t matter how careful you are, sooner or later, you are going to get a stain on the carpeting of your truck that just won’t come out. Once there is a bad stain in your truck’s carpeting, there is no way to remove it without replacing the carpet, which is expensive and time consuming. Should that stain come from something that smells bad as it ages, like chocolate milk that spilled on the rear floor on a hot day without anyone noticing, not only will it look bad, but it will make the interior stink something awful. Fortunately, you can prevent stains or in-carpet stink with a set of full-coverage floor mats.
Most automakers offer full coverage floor mats at the dealership that are made for the specific vehicle, often coming with points where the mats clip onto the factory carpeting and company branding. If you don’t like how those look, there are also a variety of companies that sell aftermarket mats that serve the same purpose and they will all prove to be one of the top truck mods that you’ll never regret.
Don’t Let Your Tires Chew Up Your Paint
Many people think that mud flaps just help to keep the truck cleaner, but they can also provide important protection for the paint. A shocking amount of road debris that kicks up from the tires leaves tiny marks in the paint. Over time, those tiny marks chip away at the paint, leading to larger blemishes in the finish and when those marks reach through to the metal, rust begins to take its toll.
A good set of mud flaps are easy to install, they usually aren’t very expensive and they will help to protect the body from dirt and damage. This keeps the paint on the lower portion of your truck looking great and helps to prevent rust that often chews up the lower body panels of trucks, making it one of the top truck mods that you’ll never regret.
Protect The Front End without a Bra
Trucks are big vehicles with a large front area and while driving, lots of debris hits that large front area. Bugs and other organic matter can prove to be hard to wash off once they have dried. Rocks and other harder items will leave chips in the paint that look terrible and eventually lead to rust spots. Years ago, people bought “vehicle bras” made out of vinyl that would snap onto the front end to help keep away bug splatter and stone chips, but as those shifted around, they could do their own sort of damage. Fortunately, modern truck owners can go with clear paint protection film.
Clean paint protection film is a thin layer of vinyl wrap that is applied to parts of the vehicle which are most commonly damaged by debris. This includes the front end, the leading edge of the roof and fenders and either the leading edge of the hood or the entire hood. Some people have it applied to the entire vehicle, protecting every inch of glossy finish, but that can be expensive for a large truck. However, there is no better way to protect your paint from damage, making this another top truck mods that you’ll never regret.
Improve Cargo Safety and Aerodynamics
One of the reasons that trucks are so popular is that the bed makes them far more useful when it comes to hauling large or messy items. The downside to the bed is that some trucks don’t have locking beds and even if you do, if the bed is uncovered, it is easy to steal cargo out of the back of the truck. This issue is easily addressed by a tonneau cover and the market for bed covers has a huge spread of options for every price range.
Hard covers are obviously the most secure, with some locking to both keep the tonneau down and to keep the tailgate up. However, hard covers are the most expensive to buy, the most expensive to acquire (keep shipping costs in mind) and the most difficult to install. On the other hand, soft covers that fold or roll up are less expensive, cheaper to ship and easier to install, but they aren’t as secure, seeing as how someone with a knife can cut right through them. Fortunately, when thieves can’t see what is in the bed, they are less likely to put the effort into cutting through a tonneau cover, so simply having a bed cover of some sort improves the safety of the items in your cargo area.
Finally, tonneau covers improve aerodynamics, which improves fuel economy, and the covered bed typically looks a little sportier, especially if it is a hard cover that is painted to match the truck’s body color. When you factor in all that a tonneau cover can do for your truck, it will quickly become a truck mods that you’ll never regret.
Add Power and Fuel Economy in an Instant
Finally, if you want to add power and performance – and maybe get a few extra miles per gallon – a tuning device is the answer. These devices plug into your truck’s computer system and makes adjustments to things like spark timing, fuel flow, and boost levels to lead to extra horsepower and torque. In trucks with naturally aspirated or supercharged engines, the gains are smaller since the device just adjusts timing and fuel flow, but the gains are still fairly significant. In trucks that are turbocharged, tuning devices can increase boost pressure, leading to far larger power gains.
In addition to the extra horsepower and torque, tuning devices often have an economy setting that minimizes fuel use while preserving as much power as possible – usually by softening the input of the throttle. There are also towing modes that don’t yield the same peak output, but they add power where trucks need it most when pulling a load. There are several reputable aftermarket companies that have been selling tuning devices that deliver reliable power without damaging engines for decades, such as Diablosport, HPTuners, and Bully Dog. They all offer similar advantages, but they also offer the same downfall – an engine tune will void an engine warranty if the manufacturer finds out that you used one. Luckily, the newest tuning devices on the market, like the units for the Ram 1500 Hurricane engines, are piggyback units that don’t leave an electronic signature.
If you are driving a new truck and you are worried about preserving the engine warranty, the tuning device could pose issues if you return to the dealership with the tuning gadgetry in place, but if you want to get the most power from your truck and you aren’t worried about a warranty, a tuning device is definitely one of the top truck mods that you’ll never regret. I’ve had them on most of my trucks without any complaints or warranty issues.
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