Every now & then, I buy a cash vehicle to recondition and sell to a friend or family member. This weekend I picked up this 2010 Titan SE, rear-wheel drive with 198K miles. Has the 5.6L V8.



Top repairs in priority:
1. Fix power steering leak
2. Replace upper control arms/ball joints, alignment
3. Fix cruise control switch
4. Replace engine and cabin air filters, key fobs, light bulbs, wipers etc.
5. Replace aftermarket rearview camera
6. Repaint roof and hood due to fading
7. Fix driver's window not rolling up/down
8. Replace headlights (beyond restoration)
9. Replace plastic upper center console
10. Replace driver's seat bottom cover due to holes. (OEM cover is $$$)
11. Change transmission fluid
12. Replace front windshield
13. Replace front struts

Much of this will do myself, but have good pros for 1,2,6,7,11-13.

Dilemmas for crowd feedback:
1. It needs new tires. I'm prone to put new highway tires on for quiet, smoothest ride. Or should I not since a lot of truck owners like to run all-terrains? New tires is a binary choice.
2. It's just high enough that it could use a step rail, so I'm leaning toward adding chrome nerf bars.
3. Don't like the larger side mirrors for towing, and they don't work with the touchpad control. Unsure of my options here, but they are wide, noisy, and hurt the MPG which is not great.
4. Any advice for improving the fuel efficiency? Has iridium plugs that look okay.

Question: To start the truck, you press down the brake pedal, and it makes this whooshing noise almost like a footpump. Is that normal?

Oh man this brings back memories. I had this exact truck in king cab. One of my favorite vehicles.

I'd say highway if you aren't going off roading
Step rails if you are ok with decreased ground clearances
My SE didn't have the towing mirrors, I bet you can find some cheap standard ones from a yard.
No advice for fuel efficiency, that motor will drink it, but its fun and reliable .

I always wondered how much faster it could go with a supercharger . Not saying you should but if you ever do, be sure to add a video.

Are you going to keep the truck? If not, I wouldn't do anything cosmetic that wasn't replacing/refreshing the stock look (e.g. no nerf bars, keep the side mirrors).

I'd probably take it by a used tire shop to see if they have a set of decent matching take-offs.

Nice! When I am fixing vehicles to eventually sell, I like to buy used tires from unitedtires.com. most recently I bought 4 michelin defenders for a 2007 avalon for a little over 200 bucks. They look new. I filter for only high tread tires.

Cooper Discoverers for the tires. Nice and quiet, especially for an AT, but really good looking and performing.

Great truck. I had an '08. The only reason I don't have it is because I traded it in on a 2019.

MTTANK said:

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Nice! When I am fixing vehicles to eventually sell, I like to buy used tires from unitedtires.com. most recently I bought 4 michelin defenders for a 2007 avalon for a little over 200 bucks. They look new. I filter for only high tread tires.

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I second this. United Tires tests and guarantees every tire they sell and is one of the few online used tire sellers that will tell you the DOT date code. I've bought several tires from them over the years, usually to match the tread depth of the other three tires when I have an unrepairable flat, and have never gotten a bum tire. I would definitely buy a set of used tires from United Tires over a new set of cheap off-brand tires.

So this morning the rain had stopped, and I'm looking out an upstairs window down on the wet truck. At that time, the paint job looks just fine. Sooooo . . . now wondering if I should just put new clear coat on the roof and hood. Anyone done that before?

The cruise control is not working. I get a code saying the Cruise Control Switch is faulty, so I replaced it (on the brake pedal). But it didn't fix it. I still get the code. Steering wheel controls are unresponsive.

Any ideas?