6 Modding Mistakes Owners Make On Their Daily-Driven Pickup Trucks

Pickup truck culture in the United States is stronger than ever. That’s because pickup trucks are no longer just the bare-bones work vehicles they used to be. Today’s modern pickups are all-in-one family machines, capable of transporting six adults in decadent luxury while also carrying 3000 pounds of cargo, and that doesn’t include the 10,000-pound trailer tethered to the back. They’re big, powerful, and the people who drive them do so with crazy amounts of pride.

Pickups have evolved with the times, and in defence of the truckin’ faithful out there, so has the pickup truck aftermarket. What’s unfortunate is that many owners still fall back to some of yesterday’s truck trends when it comes time to modding their rides, and in doing so they generally ruin them.

Now I’m not talking about dedicated custom show trucks, or the machines that people build to actually perform a certain function. I’m talking about the truck owners who decide that any of the following six modifications are a good idea for their daily-driven pickup. Maybe they made more sense once upon a time when trucks were rude, crude, cheap and fun. But times have changed.

Nothing can stop a pickup truck with a lifted suspension. Except when the axles and frame get hung up on snow. Or a 25mph corner. Or any sort of gradient that must be traversed sideways. Once upon a time, lifting a truck way up to go mud bogging was a fun thing to do, and it still is - on cheap trucks that aren’t used every day. Is anybody installing $10,000 worth of lift and suspension kits onto a $40,000 daily driver then actually driving through mud? Instead, they’re taking a massively expensive truck, raising the centre of gravity dangerously high (not good for on-road driving and seriously not good for off-roading), inflicting all kinds of stress to driveline components, and adding a significant amount of horsepower-robbing weight.

2. Big wheels

To be fair, this affects cars just as much as it does trucks. Big, heavy wheels suck horsepower like a parasite, but at least with cars people can opt for a low-profile tyre to maintain some measure of on-road performance (albeit at the expense of ride quality). Truck owners must stick with a fairly prominent tyre to support the truck’s fairly prolific mass, and that usually leads to a no-win situation. Here’s why: big wheels on trucks require tyres that are too low-profile to be useful off-road, yet too high-profile to provide any legitimate on-road benefits for a three-tonne vehicle.

3. Aggressive off-road tyres

For folks who often find themselves on dirt roads, trails, or just open countryside, a good off-road tyre is vital for traction. Notice I said good off-road tyre, not a massive cleated rubber monster that could claw the face off a stone statue. Such a setup is fine for a recreational-use off-road pickup, but every person I know that did this to their on-road daily-driver regretted it.

Aside from the scary-high centre of gravity, knobby tyres are ridiculously noisy on pavement, and unlike a good exhaust system, tyre whine never, ever sounds good. Aside from that, such aggressive tyres aren’t suited at all for dry pavement and they’re shockingly poor in the wet. And though you might think they’d be good for snow, on plowed hard-pack roads they’re as useful as racing slicks.

4. Bed caps

This one is tough for me to cover, partly because that red F-250 used to be mine (yes, I once thought the cap was cool) but also because my dad still thinks caps are cool, including the one he just put on his brand new 2015 Chevy Silverado. I’ve since found caps to be counter-productive to the point of owning a pickup. Why limit your cargo-carrying capability? With a cap over the bed, forget about tossing the dirt bikes or snowmobiles in the back or hauling anything of moderate size. If you want enclosed cargo space, get a van. If you don’t like vans or need four-wheel drive, get an SUV. At least then you can have the option of extra seats in case you want to take everyone out to dinner. If you’re reading this dad, sorry for the revelation. Caps on pickup trucks make as much sense as eating chocolate cake with a diet Coke to drink.

When American vehicles were choked with emissions, lopping off half the exhaust for better flow and an aggressive sound was rather commonplace, if slightly illegal. I don’t see people doing this to brand new pickups (yet) but as five-year-old F-150s and Dodge Rams fall to younger generations, the hacksaws come out and the mufflers go buh-bye. At least they’re cutting after the catalytic converters (most of the time), but apparently they don’t understand that modern engines are designed to work best with bit of back pressure. Often times, such backyard modifications reduce horsepower and fuel economy on modern pickups, and that aggressive V8 sound is more reminiscent of a 1970s Cadillac with curb feelers and rust - lots of rust. Not impressing anyone there JimBob.

6. Rolling Coal

Believe it or not, there are many diesel pickup owners tweaking their trucks specifically to roll coal. In essence they’re mucking with the air-fuel mixture, thus creating all kinds of soot and smoke out the exhaust under hard throttle. I won’t give the whole speech on it being asinine, (because smokey burnouts really aren’t much different and we love them to death), but I will say this: Such modifications generally reduce fuel economy, create excess carbon in the valve train, and deliver soot straight into the engine oil. All to put on a little smoke show that nobody else finds amusing. Hey diesel owners - if you want to show other drivers how much smoke your truck can make, just spin the tyres like normal people. Your engine - and possibly some impressed bystanders - will thank you.