Modding your Ford Maverick for $500!
As a new vehicle is introduced, there is typically a lot of criticism when it comes to design, performance, and technology. This criticism can be either good or bad, but most of the time it lands somewhere in the middle. With vehicles being produced for the masses, compromises are typically made to either cut costs or appeal to a larger audience. As enthusiasts, we know that no car is perfect, and correcting these imperfections is typically where our modding path begins. Welcome to our Building on a Budget blog series for the Ford Maverick! In this series we will be setting a budget for purchasing modifications for a Ford Maverick, and showing you what we would do if we were in that situation. For our first round of mods, we will be working with a $500 budget. Let's begin!
The first mod on our list is something every truck owner can get behind, and that is a bed cover. The Truxedo TRX TruXport Bed Cover to be exact! We chose this bed cover because it is budget friendly, and will allow us to do more with our strict $500 budget! The TruXport bed cover is a simple roll-up style bed cover that simply gets the job done. When deciding on a bed cover, it's always a good idea to consider your needs. If you are looking to cover the bed with a weathertight seal, then this cover may be for you!
Budget: $500.00
Truxedo TruXport Bed Cover: -$309.99
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Remaining budget: $190.01
With the bed cover situation addressed lets move onto some different modifications. The Ford Maverick is an incredible value, but it is missing a few touches that make it feel like a premium vehicle. On simple way of adding a premium feel is by swapping out some of the Halogen bulbs for high quality LEDs! More specifically, we are talking about the cargo lights, 3rd brake light, and the front turn signals. When looking for high quality LED lighting, we turn to our friends over at Diode Dynamics. They have been industry leaders in automotive LED lighting for years, and it is easy to see why. They provide high quality bulbs that outperform the competition and are backed with an excellent warranty. The upgraded cargo lights offer a significant improvement over stock, and will completely light up the bed at night! The XPR 3rd brake light replaces the Warm White halogen bulb with a true Red LED that offers the crisp on/off operation that you would expect from an high end bulb. Lastly we have the front turn signals. Not only are we replacing halogen bulbs with LEDs, but we are also adding a switchback feature. This replaces the amber running light with a nice cool-white light that switches to an amber LED as soon as the turn signal or hazard lights are activated. This is one of my personal favorite lighting upgrades you can do! Check out the two videos below for more info and to see the difference for yourself.
Budget: $190.01
LED Upgrade: -$145.00
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Remaining budget: $45.01
The next mod on this list is a must have for ANY vehicle, especially the Maverick. In my opinion, any OEM antenna is just too long. Sure the antenna is optimized to receive a clear radio signal, but if I can maintain that clear signal while also streamlining the look of Maverick that is definitely something I am interested in. And when I see that the price tag is around $25, I'm SOLD! It may not seem like much, but it's incredible how a small detail like this can make such a huge difference! The Perrin Stubby Antenna's are available in either 2" or 3" configurations.
Budget: $ 45.01
Perrin Stubby Antenna: -$25.20
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Remaining budget: $19.81
The last mod on our list is focused around fun, and coming in at $5 it is the cheapest mod on our list! This mod is exclusively for the 2.0L EcoBoost and is meant for those who love the sounds of a turbocharged vehicle. (Sorry Hybrid Owners!) It is the Panda Motorworks BPV Delete Kit! In the opening paragraph of this article I mentioned how compromises are made to appeal to a larger audience, well a recirc tube is one of those compromises. What it does is recirculate the air that a turbo would "blow-off" back into the intake to eliminate the famous turbo "whoosh" sound. Many manufacturers do this to make a more pleasant driving experience for the general public, but for us turbo enthusiasts it leaves much to be desired. That is exactly why we came up with the BPV Delete kit! Simply remove the recirc tube and cap off the other side. This will prevent recirculation and will result in the turbo "Whoosh"!
Budget: $19.81
BPV Delete: -$ 5.00
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Remaining budget: $ 14.81
After the BPV delete, we are left with $14.81! At this point we have a few different ways we could finish off this budget. We could stay under budget by picking up some fresh Panda Motorworks Decals and a key tag, or we could go slightly over budget and get ourselves an OCD Plug Matte Screen Protector! For the sake of using the money to purchase Mods, we will finish off with the screen protector! This is a great investment for your interior because its self-healing construction will prevent scratches to your touch display. It also has a matte finish that helps reduce glare and keeps your screens display free of fingerprints!
Budget: $14.81
BPV Delete: -$24.99
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Remaining budget: -$ 10.18
And just like that, our budget has been spent! We ended up getting a lot of great items for our theoretical Maverick with our $500 budget. Obviously everyone will take a different modding path based on their needs, tastes, and budget, but this article serves as a guide to wha we would do given this budget. Whether you are wanting to go with an off-road or street style build, everything in this article should be relevant and on your radar! We hope you enjoyed this article because there are more like it on the way!
-ML