Modifying your vehicle is easier than ever, what may have been a difficult and specialized modification decades ago, is now as easy as ordering a kit online. With so many vehicles being shown off with their custom work, it's no surprise certain trends develop around them. But just because something is a trend, doesn't exactly mean its good, or has any real point.
For as many modifications and custom parts that can increase performance, looks, or overall capabilities of your truck, just as many will do absolutely nothing, or even be detrimental to the function or aesthetics of the truck itself. It's best to think through what that latest modification or fun thing you have planned for your vehicle will actually end up looking or performing like.
But many people skip that step, instead just doing whatever they want to do. Not that that is a problem, you are entitled to do whatever you want to your vehicle (so long as it doesn't endanger others or break the law), but what one person finds awesome, many can find terrible, or the other way around. But at the end of the day, nonsense is nonsense.
So read on to see 15 modifications and other things you can do to your truck that make no sense at all:
15 Body Lift
A lift kit is one of the best things you can do to your truck if you want maximum off-road capabilities. However, not all lifts are created equally, and body lifts happen to be by far the most useless. The goal of a lift kit is almost always to improve ground clearance, however, if you only raise the body and no frame/driveline components, ground clearance and off-road capabilities simply stay the same.
14 Suspension Slamming
On the other hand, you could actively and intentionally reduce any road capabilities by lowering the truck. Typically lowered trucks are not static, meaning air ride allows them to adjust the height up or down, but the real question is why you would want your truck to go this low. Perhaps matching the owner's stanced car could be the logical answer, but even then it's rather confusing to see done to a truck.
13 Low Profile Tires
Sometimes referred to as "rubber band tires," a set of low profile tires can help grip and handling on higher performance sports cars, but on a truck, they're pretty damn pointless. With less rubber around the wheel, and the massive weight of a truck, ride quality is compromised, tires will need changing sooner, and any hopes of going off-road are out of the question. Personally, I don't think they even look good on a truck.
12 Extreme Negative Camber
Pointless on cars, pointless on trucks, extreme angles of negative camber are the complete opposite of a functional modification. A bit of negative camber can improve cornering capabilities, but go beyond that, and your tire's contact patch is reduced to levels detrimental to even the most basic performance. Some people think it looks cool, which is reason enough for them to do it, but objectively, there's no reason to do this to your truck.
11 Tailgate Murals
It makes sense why people enjoy customizing their car aesthetically, it's a chance to inject some of your own personality into your vehicle. But the trend of truck tailgates being painted with odd murals is downright confusing. Even weirder, the majority you see online and in-person happen to have an image of the exact truck being driven featured in the painting (see above). Why bother when people are already going to be looking at the truck?
10 Giant Exhaust Stacks
A bigger exhaust isn't a bad modification, improved engine airflow and a meaner exhaust note are usually good things, but that doesn't mean you can't go way too far with it. A giant diesel engine you'd find in a Semi-truck needs exhaust stacks this big, your Cummins doesn't. I'll leave whether it looks good or terrible up to individual taste, but there's really no point in doing this regardless.
9 Truck Nutz
This really should come as no surprise, as Truck Nutz is a trend that's widely mocked and rarely seen anymore. Yet some people continue to put them on their truck anyway, seemingly in defiance of good taste. There's absolutely no functional purpose, and unlike non-functional mods like slammed suspension, it doesn't even pass as "cool" custom work. It's just bad.
8 Hot Tub In The Bed
While making a pool in the back of your truck may seem like harmless fun, and not anything to be taken seriously, it really isn't healthy for your truck's stock suspension. Water is incredibly dense, a bed full of water weighs more than a bed full of crushed asphalt, passing the maximum weight limit for most trucks. If you've got a heavy-duty truck like an F-450 Dually, then have fun with it, otherwise, it would be best to not do this.
7 "Dancing" Beds
Are hydraulic equipped low riders pointless? Yes. Are they fun to watch? Also yes. Combine that hydraulic bouncing with a truck bed, and you have "Bed Dancing." It's as ridiculous and pointless as it sounds, but admittedly, it is a lot of fun to watch. Unless you are really obsessed with it though, there's no real reason to do it to your own truck.
6 Fender Underglow
Remember car culture from the early 2000s? Some people clearly have quite a bit of nostalgia for the days of Need For Speed style customization, as lining the bottom of your vehicle colored LED strips remains an aftermarket option. It's a bit silly on a car, but on a truck, it's a whole other level of... interesting. Aside from showing off aftermarket parts at a nighttime car meet, there really isn't a point.
5 Big Wing
The fact that spoilers and wings this big are mocked on cars that would benefit from handling modifications should show how pointless they are on normal cars unless you've designed a full aerodynamic-enhancement kit to go with it. On a normal truck, it's extra pointless, as a 2.5+ ton machine needs absolutely no more downforce than what it has in stock form. If you like the look, go for it, just don't expect any actual performance gains
4 Small Wheels With A Lift Kit
Regardless of whether it's lifted, small wheels and tires on a truck are pretty silly. But with a lift, it's rather confusing. Big tires are typically the first things added after a lift, in order to get the most off-road capabilities out of the truck as possible. With small wheels and tires, there are no real benefits, unless of course, you like the look.
3 Carolina Squat
If you don't know already, take a look at the next truck you see, it probably rides a bit higher in the back than the front. Why? Because trucks are designed to haul heavy loads in their bed, having a higher rear end allows the suspension to level out under a heavy load. A "Carolina Squat" is the term for when people remove that functionality completely, dropping the rear suspension while keeping the front lifted. It looks as silly as it is.
2 Scissor Doors
A trend that should have died in the early 2000s, when it was born, "Lambo doors," AKA scissor doors, certainly stand out, but not usually in a good way. Once again, it's a matter of personal taste to decide if they look good or bad, but there's no point either way. A big truck is not difficult to get into like a low slung Lamborghini Murcielago, normal doors work just fine.
1 Rolling Coal
You've probably seen a video or two of coal rolling. If you haven't, it's basically just tuning a diesel engine to run as inefficiently as possible in order to spew clouds of black smoke out the exhaust (not all diesels that smoke do it for this purpose though). The only point to it is to entertain yourself by engulfing unsuspecting cyclists or convertible drivers in dirty smoke, so not only is it functionally pointless, but it also makes you a pretty nasty person at the same time.