While I am waiting for my 2500 Big Horn to arrive, I am learning a lot of this forum and am trying to figure out what needs to be done right away to the truck when I receive it to help me take care of it from the start. I will start by saying I tend to take pretty good care of my vehicles and am probably easier on them than a lot of people. This truck will be a secondary/recreational vehicle and not driven daily. The SUV it is replacing has only been averaging about 4-5k miles per year and I expect this truck to get similar mileage and also end up sitting in the garage most of the time. Sometimes I will go a week or more without needing to use my current one so will have to just go out and take it for a drive sometimes. I am getting the bed package with the new truck so the liner is taken care of and also some wheel to wheel side steps. First thing I would like to address is keeping the paint in good shape. I read about people getting ceramic coating or PPF and wonder if anything like that is going to be necessary. This will always be garaged and driven pretty infrequently. I live in the northwest US and it rarely snows so there is not a lot of salt or sand on the road. I plan to mostly use this to go camping in the summer time, pull a trailer eventually, go on some longer road trips and go up skiing a few times a year in the winter. Even for the camping, I don't go on a lot of gravel roads or anything like that. My current 20 yo Tahoe still looks in pretty good shape as far as the paint and the painted bumper on it is good as well. I do have a bug shield on it so maybe that helped the hood a bit. I guess for starters I would like to know, for the conditions I mentioned above, should I be find just leaving this as it is and waxing it a couple times a year like I have always done for my vehicles? Does a bug shield help much on these (although I don't know how much I would like the look of it on this truck)? Are mud flaps a good idea?
As far as the inside, I got the Mopar floor mats so those look like they protect the floor pretty well. What about the cloth seats? Would it be a good idea to spray those with something to help repel any dirt or stains? Should the 12" screen get a screen protector? Maybe tint? I don't need super dark where you can't even see in, but maybe tint the front side windows the same as whatever the factory rear tint is? Anything else for the interior?
The only other thing I will need to get is a tonneau cover. Someday I may want a cap because I do like the idea of just having stuff back there locked and dry and able to store stuff higher than the height of the bed, but I also like the idea of the bed open for bigger things if needed. Maybe I don't need a top of the line one as I won't be using it that often, but still something to keep the camping gear back there out of the rain while driving and able to keep it covered and somewhat secure. I can research those later and decide if I want a roll up or tri fold.
I thought about a warranty just because of all of the electronics. Since I won't put many miles on it, the Ziegler ones for 8 years/75k miles seem like a decent deal, since I will reach the years before the miles. What do you think?
Anyways, those are just a few things I thought of beforehand in case they need to be done right away, I will be prepared for them. Let me know what else you think of. Thank you!
As far as the inside, I got the Mopar floor mats so those look like they protect the floor pretty well. What about the cloth seats? Would it be a good idea to spray those with something to help repel any dirt or stains? Should the 12" screen get a screen protector? Maybe tint? I don't need super dark where you can't even see in, but maybe tint the front side windows the same as whatever the factory rear tint is? Anything else for the interior?
The only other thing I will need to get is a tonneau cover. Someday I may want a cap because I do like the idea of just having stuff back there locked and dry and able to store stuff higher than the height of the bed, but I also like the idea of the bed open for bigger things if needed. Maybe I don't need a top of the line one as I won't be using it that often, but still something to keep the camping gear back there out of the rain while driving and able to keep it covered and somewhat secure. I can research those later and decide if I want a roll up or tri fold.
I thought about a warranty just because of all of the electronics. Since I won't put many miles on it, the Ziegler ones for 8 years/75k miles seem like a decent deal, since I will reach the years before the miles. What do you think?
Anyways, those are just a few things I thought of beforehand in case they need to be done right away, I will be prepared for them. Let me know what else you think of. Thank you!
