What level of DIY are you planning for your Slate?

[Sl8rGrl]

I love the basic truck, but am personally considering a cool wrap, fastback SUV kit, and the higher suspension kit! However, I don't even know how to change a flat tire 🥲 lol
I know Slates' motto is "We build it, you make it", so I'm assuming only the blank slate will be delivered and the rest will be up to me or the repairpal center I choose.
Are you all planning to DIY everything? Or go through the service centers?

 

[Whitesands]

Maintenance wise, the most common items are brakes and tires which I will probably use a service center for. As for the fastback, I think I could take it on/off but I doubt I will do this very often. Other accessories may depend on the difficulty in installing them. I would like to change the upholstery colors since I live rather South and see a lot of sun.

 

[ScooterAsheville]

Honestly, same as I do for my Maverick. Zero. That includes washing it at least once every three years.

 

[atx_ev]

blank slate for me.

 

[sodamo]

Maintenance, like brakes, I’d use a service.
Accessories, DYI. Once the SUV mod was in place, it would stay, but I’m enthusiastic about that removable roof panel.

 

[SlateX]

First mod would be to lower the suspension as I don’t like SUVs and trucks’ height, I’m a sedan person.

 

[RevCaptJack]

I plan on painting the wheels, the grill and the top white. Kinda like some of the new Broncos. Love that look. No other modifications.

 

[bartflossom]

I will do the square back kit, then two tone mine in yellow or blue like my avatar to look like the 80's bronco IIs and the S-10 Blazers. Will do everything myself including a radio installation. Mainly because I just need something to do instead of sitting in front of this stupid computer all day.

 

[Paul]

A lot of it depends on how comprehensive slate university is. I'd actually like to do most of it. Aside from warranty work, there really shouldn't be much maintenance other than brakes which aren't very often on an EV and tires can be any place. I'm guessing they might be using a longer term Dot 5 fluid. I'm guessing there's some type of calibration for regenerative braking after you do brakes, so that would depend on if that's a DYI. Further down the line it depends on how good the documentation is and the tool requirement. I do like working on stuff. Obviously, im probably not going to have the tools for air conditioning, But you also have shops that just deal with air conditioning. It's just an electric air conditioning system that's common on any hybrid or EV. You have to remember that this is a really simple vehicle. You're not likely to have issues as much as a complicated climate control system and A lot of electronics and obviously there's no head unit issues because there's no head unit. I'm curious to see how they integrate the software updates with the phone app. There might be some troubleshooting going on there that will work with slate University?

 

[KevinRS]

Almost everything should be relatively easy to DIY. On repairs and maintenance, the same except the battery and motor. All those things should be relatively cheap at a shop once the standardized labor rates go out. Battery or motor are going to be in the same category as if you blow up an engine or transmission on an ICEV, will require longer work, with special tools.
Of course you'd likely be dealing with a basically plug and play motor unit or battery, while ICEV motors have many more electrical, coolant, oil, etc type connections to get right, then have to get the ECU to recognize the motor, etc, and can take weeks.
People have talked about getting the wrap professionally done, because they don't think they could get it right on the first try, I'll probably wait a while on a wrap and see what people say after doing it.

 

[null98115]

Blank slate for at least a year. I really want to get a feel for the truck and how I used it before I commit to any changes.

 

[ZuliMuli]

It really depends; I'd need to drive it and see if it felt deficient in any way that modifying it became justified. As far as what do I feel comfortable doing, most things.

I'll probably never touch the drive/battery system not due to fear of it, I do industrial maintenance and I know the risk of arc flash and high voltage high current devices, but I don't see the need to mess with it myself but if a kit came out that gave more power it would be a consideration.

Other than power there's only so much you can do with suspension, we just got confirmation the rear suspension is torsion beam axle style and that's pretty limited in what you can do. But also it's a small truck, it's not my STI and I don't expect it to be.

So the interior is probably where any real modifications would be made. While I do love the idea of having my phone be the infotainment system and I'm willing to give it an honest try, I'm more of that 90s mindset and the idea of having a dual din is hard to just brush off, along with having a full speaker setup (so some full range speakers, or could go with woofers and tweeters It's a hard choice as I plan on keeping it a truck config) which would also lead to not only fabbing a place to mount them as there won't be prestamped holes for speakers but also trim pieces to make them look good and not like someone took a Sawzall to a door card.

There's also the idea of having a bench seat, I personally wouldn't but I've seen it requested a lot and it wouldn't be hard to make. I think a kit could be made for a little over 2k for a nice bench seat that folded forward, little less for a fixed back.

There's also going to be people that want a tanto cover (myself included) and I might not DIY that just because I'm sure someone will make a hard cover cheaper than I could make it myself.

 

[Firstevexcited1]

That reminds me,on lowering the cost of the build,are the brake pads and other maintenance items already off the shelf items being used in other vehicles? Seems to me it would definitely lower design and maintenance costs

 

[Luxrage]

Blank slate for at least a year. I really want to get a feel for the truck and how I used it before I commit to any changes.

This, one of the things we always tell people coming into the tuning/mod scene in our group is 'It really helps if you to like the car unmodified before you start modifying it.'