New to me truck, ?'s
03-02-2017, 03:49 PM
#1
Outlaw
Thread Starter
New to me truck, ?'s
Been a member here for awhile but I've only owned 10th gens til, last weekend I bought a 2011. Couple questions are can I upgrade the mirrors and gauge cluster to one off of the fx4 or platinum ? What is a good replacement speaker for these crappy door speakers. Also is there a good led bulb kit for the headlights because these headlights are worst that the ones on my old 99.yes I know I need to retrofit and I will sometime this summer but for now it led or hid kit time
03-02-2017, 04:17 PM
#2
Senior Member
Mirrors...I presume you mean tow mirrors? Yes A1 Auto carries a full line of reasonably priced tow mirrors with all the goodies, or very few of the goodies you decide.
Gauge Cluster...Yes they can be swapped. Search thru the forum there have been some successful swaps and you'll find out all the "do's and don'ts".
Speakers...its really personal preference but Crutchfield is a good place to start looking even if to get an idea what you might want and buy it cheaper someplace else...they are not the cheapest.
LED Headlights...Yeah, but no. Our reflector halogen housings are not really set up for proper reflection of LED lighting. HIDs are a better way to go but very expensive. There are LOTS of aftermarket headlight mfgr's that make some neat stuff, very inexpensive and some of the halogen lighting replacement bulbs of higher color (K) and CRI factor will throw some nice crisp white light.
Gauge Cluster...Yes they can be swapped. Search thru the forum there have been some successful swaps and you'll find out all the "do's and don'ts".
Speakers...its really personal preference but Crutchfield is a good place to start looking even if to get an idea what you might want and buy it cheaper someplace else...they are not the cheapest.
LED Headlights...Yeah, but no. Our reflector halogen housings are not really set up for proper reflection of LED lighting. HIDs are a better way to go but very expensive. There are LOTS of aftermarket headlight mfgr's that make some neat stuff, very inexpensive and some of the halogen lighting replacement bulbs of higher color (K) and CRI factor will throw some nice crisp white light.
03-02-2017, 04:52 PM
#3
Senior Member
Yes to the mirrors - I had a different thought that you meant you wanted power folding, heated stock mirrors.
Yes to the cluster - Need a new (or used) one, the left hand side of the steering wheel controls should have the arrows, Speedometer shop would have to set the mileage if needed, Ford would have to load your as built data OR you can use FORscan and do it yourself.
Yes/No to the lights - so much debate on LED's in halogen housings. Personal opinion, do what you want. I find when I'm being blinded from headlights, 99% of the time it's from vehicles with factory HID's (or whatever the heck they are.)
Yes to the cluster - Need a new (or used) one, the left hand side of the steering wheel controls should have the arrows, Speedometer shop would have to set the mileage if needed, Ford would have to load your as built data OR you can use FORscan and do it yourself.
Yes/No to the lights - so much debate on LED's in halogen housings. Personal opinion, do what you want. I find when I'm being blinded from headlights, 99% of the time it's from vehicles with factory HID's (or whatever the heck they are.)
03-02-2017, 07:26 PM
#4
Senior Member
Congrats on the new truck!
You can easily swap the mirrors with about 30 minutes of your time and minimal tools. I picked up cheap after market towing mirrors and are great, but they do shake slightly if I am keeping up with traffic at 80+ on the way to work and they are still fully extended. When close to truck I don't notice anything more than typical high speed vibration. I even made my money back on them by selling my OEM mirrors on Ebay for about the cost of the towing mirrors.
As for LED lights.... There are threads out there that debate it and you will find warriors on both sides of the fence saying do or don't. In the end make your own decision but please be aware that LEDs in stock housing are illegal and you can be ticketed for using them if an officer knows. Also know that you will get better performance out of HIDs or projectors.
That being said I picked up some adjustable JDM Aster LED lights for about $120, and with a bit of tinkering was able to get them just right and not feel like I was impairing other drivers. However if you get cheap LEDs like the civic driver at the end of my street, you will most likely be blinding everyone you drive towards. (he actually casts enough light that it hurts my eyes sitting up high in my truck from a block or more away)
Congrats again and hope you like the updated truck.
You can easily swap the mirrors with about 30 minutes of your time and minimal tools. I picked up cheap after market towing mirrors and are great, but they do shake slightly if I am keeping up with traffic at 80+ on the way to work and they are still fully extended. When close to truck I don't notice anything more than typical high speed vibration. I even made my money back on them by selling my OEM mirrors on Ebay for about the cost of the towing mirrors.
As for LED lights.... There are threads out there that debate it and you will find warriors on both sides of the fence saying do or don't. In the end make your own decision but please be aware that LEDs in stock housing are illegal and you can be ticketed for using them if an officer knows. Also know that you will get better performance out of HIDs or projectors.
That being said I picked up some adjustable JDM Aster LED lights for about $120, and with a bit of tinkering was able to get them just right and not feel like I was impairing other drivers. However if you get cheap LEDs like the civic driver at the end of my street, you will most likely be blinding everyone you drive towards. (he actually casts enough light that it hurts my eyes sitting up high in my truck from a block or more away)
Congrats again and hope you like the updated truck.
03-03-2017, 12:12 AM
#5
Outlaw
Thread Starter
Thanks for the info guys. I picked up a cheap set of led bulbs for now until I find some feed back on the dtmoto projector headlights. Also got a pair of mirrors with puddle/turn lights with heaters a 22 inch led bar a flush bed cover and window air deflectors. Hope to find a set of chrome 18 or 20s this weekend