My Tacoma - The life story of my Toyota Truck

This gold Tacoma 4X4 got stuck in a drainage ditch while on a Job site a few months ago.

Luckily I was there with my trusty Black one!

A tow rope and 4-wheel low and we were able to pull him out.

This is one of the major factors that led me to upgrade my tires (that and the warranty :) ) as I had plenty of power to pull him out but was a little light on the traction. All fixed now!

I roared past 55,000 miles this past month and am sitting at about 57,500. No major repair issues to date. I have some fantastic pictures of my Toyota Tacoma getting dirty that I'll be adding in the next couple of days.

Story:

As I was sitting at a traffic light a few months ago a Ford Expedition decided to try and squeeze by my left side. He scraped the corner of my Tacoma with the side of his car. Damage: I have some light scuffing around my tail light and I had to replace the tail light. The whole side of his Expedition was torn up, with both fender flares being torn off, a large scrape down the side, and a loose bumper.

Toyota Tacoma Wins!

On Friday, I went to the Toyota Dealership in order to get my 45,000 mile service. (45k in 17 months...wowza) While there, I asked them about my Tire Warranty. When I purchased my truck new, part of the extras and goodies I received was their "Extended Life" Tire Warranty. This means that they will warranty the tires on my Tacoma for 100,000 miles.

Here's the caveat:

• You have to have the tires rotated every 5,000 miles. I have done this at the dealership along with all of my other maintenance, mainly to insure that my powertrain and bumper to bumper warranties stay valid.


• You have to have the little card they gave you when you bought the car. Apparently you can get another, but I think that having it eased a lot of troubles.


• Have receipts for all of your tire rotations.


• Wear has to be even and under 3/32" of tread must remain.

Some minor annoyances there to be sure. Let's take a look at what that gets you:

• When your tires wear out (because let's face it, it's a rare tire that lasts 100k) the dealer gives you credit towards new tires equal to the worn out tires. For me this was $107 per tire.


• Balancing and mounting of the new tires are free.


• If you want to upgrade tires you pay the price difference.


• If your New tires wear out before you hit 100k, you can get another set following these same requirements.

Net Result:

I'm going to get a full set of brand new BF Goodridge All Terrain Off Road Tires for about $300. To buy them from a tire store would cost me about $1200 bucks. When I wear those out, which I inevitably will, I'll get another set of BFGs for Free.

I realize they probably make some of it back in rotations etc. but it is still a great deal in my opinion. I would have gotten the rotations done regardless.

Does anyone else know of any similar deals when buying a new car? I haven't heard of any others...

When I bought my truck, the Toyota Dealership Warrantied my TIRES for 100K MILES ! There were only two catches:

The tires had to wear evenly, which for me meant rotating them at the dealership every 5k miles.

There has to be less than 3/32" of tread left.

Once those two conditions are met, Toyota will give me a $200 credit PER TIRE to get any Tire I want.

BFG A/T s Here I come! Bumpin up against 45k miles and they are almost worn out!

I broke 45,000 miles today. Wow, 1,000 in 14 days and I haven't even driven out of town... Everything is still working well, I may have a rear taillight out, but I haven't been able to confirm it yet :)

Onward!....

My Tacoma Rolled over to 44,000 miles on the 17th of May. I have owned it since January 7th, 2006 for a grand total of 16 months and 10 days. Woah, almost 3,000 miles a month. Hopefully that Toyota reputation will hold up. It is still running like
the day I bought it and besides minor cosmetic wear (baby scratches and a grill cover crack from an errant tire) It looks fantastic (when I have time to get the mud washed off :) ).

Here's to the next 44k!!