From the time I was about 15-years-old, I was really into motorcycles. I’ve ridden everything from a 400cc Kawasaki street bike up to a Vulcan 1600 Nomad bagger — greatly different in size, but always Team Green.
One of the most fun things about motorcycles is “farkles,” or all the extra stuff you add to a stock bike to make it your own. My Tesla is the first four-wheeled vehicle I’ve owned that I’ve felt that same urge to accessorize. Let’s go through some of the extras I’ve added to my Model Y.
Up first is minor paint correction and ceramic coating. I returned to the talented folks at 48 Detailing in Surprise, Arizona for this. If you look at your car’s paint under a microscope, it looks like a mountain range. Ceramic coatings turn that jagged landscape into a hydrophobic, yet dolphin-smooth surface which keeps tree sap and bug guts from sticking. The glassy coat also leaves your car shining brighter than it did when you drove it off the lot.
This YouTube link is the best video on the process I’ve seen.
I paid $700 for a five year ceramic coat. That’s the price for a two year coat, but the day of my detailing, they were out of the cheap stuff and gave me the top-shelf hookup.
Before they apply the ceramic product, a good detailer will do what they call paint correction. That is, getting rid of swirl marks and other minor imperfections they find. The owner of 48 Detailing told me my paint was the best he’d yet seen on a Tesla vehicle. Maybe the paint team in Fremont is getting better at the basics.
Up next is a simple item which adds a lot of utility to the Model Y’s newly-redesigned center console. The simple organizer tray was $17 on Amazon and adds a sliding tray for sunglasses, parking garage tickets, face masks and other every day flotsam. Slide it forward and the cavernous console still consumes larger items. This should come with the car.
A couple of vanity items finish the Model Y’s incomplete factory chrome delete. The vinyl decal (front) and plastic logo cover (rear) black out the shiny bits. The cover on the rear is better, coving all of the chrome and letting nothing reflective peek through, but they’re sold out and Abstract Ocean, the company that sells them, got a cease & desist from Tesla, so you can’t get them anymore. I fear the vinyl decal may not last.
Another exterior extra is front mudflaps. These were super-easy to install and involved no drilling. The Y’s wide tires throw rocks and road debris along the rear doors and rocker panels. This $50 addition prevents most of that. Still, Tesla sells paint protection film for the bottom of the back doors to further mitigate this problem.
Back to the interior. The performance pedals were actually the first extra I added. A penny shy of $20 from Abstract Ocean, they replace the black, rubber stop and go pedals that come stock with the Standard Range Model Y and look great! The red tint in the footwell comes from the replacement LED footwell lights. Those snap into place with the release of a connecting clip and come in the red you see below, as well as blue, purple and a brighter white. They sell them for the rear footwells, as well. I may add that someday.
The floormats are from Tesmanian and do the job. If you’re in the market for Tesla floormats, look at the ones from 3D MAXpider, as well. They’re more expensive, but I think they look better. The Tesmanian mats do provide more cover, especially on the dead pedal (where your left foot rests), so it’s a judgment call.
So what’s next? I’d like to add a stock-looking Tesmanian spoiler that really completes the rear end of the vehicle. I also think I’m going to do a front PPF treatment which covers where the grill would be on a “normal” car, the hood and the side mirrors. Arizona is notorious for rock chips and freeway debris. I probably should’ve done PPF prior to the ceramic coating. Live and learn.
