Greetings From MI!

[OffTheAir]

Hi everybody!

So excited to be here, GM-Trucks has a lot of fascinating information that never fails to entertain me and so many great owners with cool rides. I've been a lurker for quite a long time now and I thought it was about time I register. I'm not too far away from the motor city in eastern Michigan and I'm a proud owner of a 2014 GMC Sierra which has been my daily driver for a couple years now. 

 

I'm putting all this ridiculously long information in spoilers for obvious reasons, but I would love for you guys to read my history and recent projects involving the truck! I'm not the oldest nor the wisest person out there, but one thing's for certain - love talking about GMC and Chevy trucks! Huge thanks for you all taking the time to read my post.

A little bit about my experience with the truck:

Spoiler

When I was younger there was this crazy game called 4x4 EVO that I had for the Sega Dreamcast (still have that thing laying around somewhere, even the original steering wheel plug-in!) with all sorts of emphasis on off-road capability, customization, etc. One of the vehicles I used in that game was a 2000 GMC Sierra and I remember that being the one truck I wanted to own someday. Now, until recently I was never really passionate about vehicles. It was never something that I really got into or educated myself on, and when I finally took my driver's test and got my license it was really just something I saw as obligatory and necessary for work. My first car was a 2012 Ford Focus and boy did I love that car. It may have had the awful transmission which had a couple uh-ohs and an alternator that crapped out but once we worked out the kinks it was a great car (...until it died a couple years later). 

Anyway, my Uncle runs a paving company and when the K2s first came out he purchased one as a work vehicle that was used to go and do estimates and other jobs across the state. Needless to say, it racked up quite a bit of miles within only a couple years. Flash forward and I was on the verge of college and the truck was supposedly going back to the dealer and being replaced, only to show up in front of our house again and street parked for a couple days. I was naive at the time and didn't realize until the keys were in my hands that the truck had been freshly detailed and was being passed on to me. I was and still am so incredibly grateful to my Uncle and family for doing something like that, I really don't feel like I deserved it at all, but I promised them I would do whatever it takes to keep the vehicle in tip top shape and I've been on top of that. When I got it, it had about 68,000-70,000 miles.

Now, I was a little bit of an idiot in my early ownership. Going from a compact car to a truck was a little daunting (especially since parking at my campus was god awful) and I was a huge cheapskate and didn't want to lose that sweet MPG the Focus got, so I only commuted in the truck once a week. As time went on, I really started to prefer the Sierra's driving experience more (it was essentially my dream vehicle after all!) and I decided the difference in gas cost didn't matter to me anymore. The Focus eventually went to my younger brother, and I began to drive the truck every day to school and work. 

Owning the Sierra is what really started to get me into vehicles and their care and maintenance. I was on top of having it washed regularly and properly (it's black so you know everything shows) and getting rid of all the salt during the winter season and I have always been great about changing the fluids. As of this moment in 2020, this truck has never broken down, never left me stranded, never had the check engine light on, nothing. I was fortunate enough to have got it when all of the recalls, the AC Condenser failure, etc. were covered under warranty (and boy were there a lot). I'll likely be reaching 100,000 miles by this winter and I had a full inspection done at the dealer and they found no problems. Truthfully, even though I'll be entering the big 6-digit territory and that seems to be where a lot of crucial things start to see wear, I'm really hoping I'll make it to 200k with minimum problems. Just love this truck, have no intentions of selling it, trading it in, etc, planning to keep it until the wheels fall off. Yeah, the frame has the oh so famous surface rust but hey, what can ya do?

Some things I've done to the truck:

Spoiler

- Had to change the battery at about 85,000 miles.

 

-Last Fall I finally got new Goodyear Wrangler SR-As since the original tires were in horrid condition. While I was doing this, I thought it wouldn't hurt to also get some new wheels since the old OEM 6-spoke aluminum ones were really beat up from the work this truck did in its early years. Near where I live there's a factory wheel place called Detroit Wheel & Tire where I was essentially able to give them my old wheels in exchange for the same ones but powder coated in gloss black. This was only a couple hundred bucks since it was an exchange, and it was the best money I ever spent. These wheels can take a beating as opposed to traditional gloss black painted wheels. I took the truck off-roading up north and expected the wheels to get scratched up - nope! I just love the way they look, and I'm really hoping they last a long time. This was the first real vehicle customization I had ever done and it was so much fun that it inspired me to black out the truck (which was going to be a big project considering it was an SLE full of chrome).

 

- For Christmas I got the Klearz side markers and LED switchbacks and I originally planned to open up the headlights and do an amber delete, but once I blacked out the truck the amber didn't bother me as much and I just didn't feel comfortable going through that whole process and was fearful I would never be able to fully seal them up again. Currently trying to sell them to someone and give them a good home.

- Right after New Years this past January my Uncle and I took the chrome bumpers off the truck to get powder-coated and it was a major PITA. Getting them back on especially since with all that driving on Michigan's pothole infested roads, the inner bumper was actually dis-aligned to the point where we had to bend the metal back in place so the holes would line up. Was it worth it? I think so. I'm fortunate that my truck is black because while the bumpers are clearly not onyx black, I don't think anybody but myself will notice the difference even in the harshest lightning conditions. Like the wheels, these bumpers are also very durable, although I'll likely be putting a film or something over them so they don't get chipped like the upper bumper piece.

 

- While we had the bumpers off I also went ahead and ordered an OEM onyx black grill (which I imagine was from the elevation and rally edition variants) for pretty cheap and sold the chrome one on FB marketplace.

 

- Got the OEM black GMC front and tailgate emblems. I originally considered vinyl wrap or buying cheap ones on eBay but I wanted the textured finish and I was confident I would never want to go back to the old red ones. I paid the $100 price tag but I figured it was worth it since they will never be coming off again.

 

- OEM exhaust tip with GMC logo.

 

- LED License plate lights.

 

- Z71 License Plate frame

 

- I had to buy a new gasket for the third brake light. I was blind and didn't realize that heavy rain and snow were definitely making it into headliner, it was stained very bad. Luckily I was able to get the stains out and everything is back to normal!

 

- I got black vinyl overlays for the Sierra and SLE badges from EmblemsPlus, which were a VERY great product. Unfortunately, I recently removed them because I started to just not like the way the chrome underneath shined but not the letters, it looked very cheap. I also was getting sick of having to be careful while washing the truck as the sponge/microfibers would get stuck on the letters. Nevertheless, they were very cool and I highly recommend them. These things probably would've stayed on top of those letters for years.

 

- Truxedo LoPro Tonneau Cover. I initially never thought about putting a cover over the bed, but I had a lot of people recommend it, and eventually I went with it since my truck's bed is very scratched up from all sorts of equipment being hauled around (no bed liner). Imperfections and appearances don't bother me, but that coupled with the ugly, faded bed mat definitely had to be hidden from others, lol.

 

- Steelcraft Oval Side Bars. I never use these when I need to get up into the truck, but everyone else who rides in it does and man do they look cool.

 

Things I plan to do:

Spoiler

 

I am very adamant about keeping my truck stock, I love how it rides, sounds, etc. But, I think there's some things I do plan on and/or need to do soon:

- New shocks and struts. By some grace of god, the OEM Ranchos are still doing their job, but for 'preventative maintenance' purposes I will be switching them out for Bilsteins before winter.

- This is going to sound ridiculous, but man I would love to get my hands on the OEM nudge bar with that Sierra script. I just found out from a thread on here that it does indeed fit 14-15 models.

- Personalized plate; also swapping my plain white plate for the Mackinac Bridge one. 

- Even though I don't want to, I will likely have to do some sort of LED/HIDs in the headlights at some point. I have the ones without the LED DRLs. Yeah, the light output sucks, but I didn't truly realize how dangerous it was until I was turning the corner one night and about near hit a walking pedestrian because they were just completely hidden on the right side of the truck.

 

 

And of course, pictures! Here's what my truck looks like now. There's also a picture I took from a couple years ago when it was bone stock, untouched.

[slj2008]

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