Ford F-150 Upgrades, Aftermarket & Accessories

If you're like us, you want to stand out from the crowd. The first thing to do then is make a few enhancements to your truck. Maybe you're interested in tires and wheels, a suspension lift, or some easy bolt-ons you can add yourself. If it's the last, meet your new best friend--Lund International.

This story is about a do-it-yourself afternoon buildup: This pickup serves as the family project, and the work was done in the driveway with basic hand tools. While we'd like to give Ford the credit for the attention we got in our redesigned F-150, we're pretty sure the add-ons made the difference.

With each of these accessories, Lund provided simple, detailed instructions, so instead of regurgitating them, we've included some installation highlights, product features, and tips we learned along the way. Our first upgrade was a tonneau; we need to protect and hide goods in the bed, and it improves gas mileage. We chose the Genesis Snap for its easy installation and durability. Genesis also offers the snapless Seal & Peel, which works like a Ziploc sandwich bag.

In addition, we needed more cargo room. Our motorcycles and luggage took up the space in the bed, and there wasn't enough cargo room inside with bodies in the seats. Our problem was solved with the Deflecta-Shield Tail-Loader. Clearly, this could also solve storage problems for SUV owners.

Upgrade #1
Genesis Tonneau Cover

The tonneau has bow supports (three on a shortbed, four on a longbed), designed to keep snow and water from building up. The vinyl cover comes in either black-leather or carbon-fiber styles.

Rather than requiring drilling, the Snap system is installed with clamps on the siderails. Their proper locations are clearly marked on the rails (if you have a bedliner, you can cut a hole here). The tonneau kit includes an Allen wrench, the only tool you'll need for the job.