What have you done to your 5th Gen 4Runner today?

Getting spooled back over here in the 4runner side of the house! How’s everyone doing, what the latest and greatest?

 

Actually I think if you painted it would turn into ultimate blackout effectivity de-badging it. Looks to be a hollowed out oval.

 

Not sure what your referring to. Wrapping is like applying a decal, you clean with alchohol, press the film onto the object Apply heat and pressure then cut. No need to damage anything.

 

If i knew how the emblem came off, i would paint it right quick. Being a main focal point, i dont think i could paint it in place and make it perfect.

 

They can't come off for safety reasons. If they were removable people would get a projectile in the face if the airbag deployed. From what I've read you have to remove the whole airbag and cover and break off the tabs on the inside that have been melted and bent in to keep the badge from flying off.

The easiest solution and most sensible solution is to order some vinyl covers from TVD Vinyl Decals. Only thing is they don't cover the sides.

Then there is this dude over on TW I saw who makes custom ones in this thread. He has an etsy page. Perhaps you contact him he can make you a custom overlay. I have no idea though. Never met or talked to the dude but I am very impressed with his work.

 

car passed inspection (not that i thought it wouldnt) and the balance issue is worked out. driving great now.

 

Not today, but in late March I pulled the
Welded on rock sliders off the wife’s mommy wagon. The Midwest winter roads were definitely not kind.

 

Following the old welded sliders removal, took a week or so on and off to finish prepping and finishing the Bolt-On set I picked up at the Shamrock Shakedown put on by Titan Offroad down in Windrock Park TN.

The wife digs em, less angled easier to use as a step for my 4’11” wife

I will say, that from a maintenance point these bolt-on sliders will be way easier to maintain down the road.

 

Painting and prepping Budbuilt skid plates on the wife's hammock pergola! She was not "happy" about it but they are for her runner so she shouldn't complain too much.... I sure she still will but eh. Haha

 

Nice! I support it! Definitely something I need to address on our 4runner. Took her 4runner down to The Gulches Park in South Carolina, had a blast, but skids are definitely on the list of upgrades.

 

She is not as upset about this as she has been in the past when I used the Pergola to pull engines. I built the pergola to handle the weight so it is multi purpose! The skids are a must. I have dented the stock ones up pretty good.

 

Where are you from? If close - ish I may take those weld on sliders off your hands assuming they are for sale.

 

Fort Leonard Wood, MO

 

What happened to the sign at the main gate?

 

The Message Board? Don’t know, looks like someone jumped the curb and ate shit

 

Tonight they go on!

 

I think your lawn needs a little work.

 

Grass is the least of my worries!

 

Um u need water in the pool. And your daughter wont look so BORED!!

 

Husky Liner installed.

 

Decided to throw a 1K gloss clear over the 2K satin clear this past weekend on these bad boys since I went with a gloss finish on my TRD Trail Wheels I had dropped off to get powder coated. Finished product.



Nerve racking....gloss anything just seems to attract dust. So I decided to come up with my own preventative system to fight the dust.



To make it so I could get coverage on all sides I got a lazy susan and cut thin piece of cork board, and used double sided tape to attach it. Then I used some push pins to help prop up the overlays.



After three fairly wet coats hitting from all four sides each coat. 30 minutes flash time between coats since the humidity level was fairly high. I put the cover on my make shift painting booth....but there were a couple specs of cork board I overlooked after I cut it down to size. The spraying caused them to settle in the clear coat. The next 8 hours were brutal as I had to fight every temptation to go touch them.

About 1 AM I decided I waited enough and I wouldn't be able to sleep until I came up with a solution. So I grabbed a tooth pick and was able to get those specs out....but then I needed to come up with a solution to wet sand such a small area.



Boom! A small flat head screwdriver and a thin piece of 1000 grit sandpaper I cut, folded, and taped to it. This worked like a charm. I was able to perfectly target and control the sanding pressure so I didn't burn through the 50,000 layers of clear coat I already had on there.



Kind of hard to see but I put pins next to where I sanded on the T and the R is pretty obvious where I sanded. Sort of looks like I did some damage but when I held them under the faucet you couldn't see the sanding areas....so I was able to get a good night's sleep after I washed and prepped them one more time. Rolled out of bed around 8:00 AM excited and went out and hit them with one more fairly wet coat of clear.



They turned out great. I was pumped.

Then the waiting game until I got the call yesterday that my wheels were ready. Went and picked them up today and made an appointment to have them installed tomorrow.



I painted the badges myself before I dropped off the wheels. They painted the center caps separate and then cleared the caps and badges together.

Then came home tonight and threw on the overlays.


If you only knew how long it took me to tape up the SR5 to keep the parts black I kept black.


It's hard to tell but the color I chose for the overlays was 8W2...aka Cavalry Blue. After three failed attempts to match the color from another vendor I found a supplier out of Louisiana that nailed it on the first try. I highly recommend them if you ever need some touch-up paint or just want to go super crazy with a project like me.

https://www.automotivetouchup.com/

Hopefully I'll get to post pictures of the wheels installed tomorrow.

 

Ok, 11:15 pm, got the BudBuilt skids on and did the diff breather mod. Both will be tested in 15 hours after I fake sickness at work!

 

Looks awesome! I am looking to do mine in red.....

 

Thank you! It's a fun project. Just make sure you keep them propped up with screws or push pins to keep them from sticking to the surface. I think I just used a fine sanding sponge I had laying around to scuff them. I do suggest a quick couple coats of primer to get the paint to really pop. I don't think it's really necessary since the scuffing doesn't really take it down to bare plastic but I already had some adhesion promoter and I coated them with that before I sprayed them with primer.

This was my taping job on the SR5. Probably wouldn't have done it if my truck wasn't already black. I don't even want to say how long that took.

 

Got the Carista and changed some settings. Especially like the ability to roll down all my windows from my key fob.

 

Got the wheels installed...but not without a hiccup. The tech didn't double check the width of the first one and put it on his machine set to 7" instead of 7.5". Left a huge scuff. So they'll pay to have it redone. That's life I guess and things happen. Still kinda bummed....but here's the good side. Off to the grocery store!

 

The Black wheels look good. Everyone with an offroad should do this to their wheels.

 

Why all the gray hate? Lol
I was told to stay away from black wheels as they are worse than black vehicles.
Ours was on the lot this way...
I am still over the all black (murdered out) phase is all. Been building ours & friends for a decade.... it has been done.
Just NO chrome! Forget the 90's car scene! Lol