If you've been staring at your worn-out truck sitting in the driveway and contemplating swapping it for a new ride and a hefty payment, think again. A few well-spent dollars at CK Resto and a few hours in the driveway with your ex-love will renew the romance you once had for your truck and save you from years of financial hardship. We've been toying with the idea of selling our dualie, in favor of driving something newer, but the prospect of shelling out 500 bucks per month for a new truck just didn't seem appealing enough to justify it. On the other hand, our current truck was pretty beat up. After dropping 1,000 bucks at the local tire store for new rubber and another 600 to fix the air-conditioning system, we thought we'd just sell the beast and move on. A quick glance at CK Resto's wide range of products made us realize that we could stave off the inclination to sell our worn-out tow pig awhile longer, by replacing some worn-out and broken pieces.
Most of our fixes were done to the exterior of the truck because that's the part that depressed us the most. The headlights, taillights, and cab lights were all faded and dim, so we ordered new fixtures with bright lenses. The old, phantom billet grille and fiberglass surround were broken in spots and held together with zip ties, and the headlights were so dim that they might as well have not been on when driving at night. We wanted to replace the phantom grille because it obstructs the headlights, so we opted for a stock, chrome front end that wouldn't need painting and added inserts from Precision Grilles. The white bumper was so rock-chipped and rusted that it looked like we drove through a sand storm and then dumped the truck in saltwater. So, once again, we went with a chrome replacement part. The rear bumper was also dented, and the front plastic valance had been ripped off because we'd pulled too far forward over one too-many parking blocks at the mall. The body panels weren't too bad, though, so replacing these accessories with new parts from CK really made a difference in our outlook of the dualie.
We went to a shop in Anaheim, California, for the installation. You're probably familiar with the shop; it used to be known as Billet Superstore, but recently the store underwent a facelift of its own and is now called Industrial Motoring. CK's parts literally bolted in place, which isn't always the case with aftermarket equipment. The quality was on par with the factory equipment, and the installation was a one-man job. Here's a look at how easy it was to give our Chevy a quick facelift.