Another welcome from Houston, TX.
Agree with others on opinions on what to do.
Most of us that are into upgrading start with parts from:
https://shop.simple-engineering.com/main.sc
It tends to be a bit of a laundry list:
- Stiffening plate in the chassis section and then the rear cross member. Calms down the head shake over bumps, twisting and creaking and improves the handling.
- Upgraded pneumatic struts for the rear cargo cover, roof and hood (an upgrade for yours). The OEMs are done by now.
- Bilstein shocks, unless yours have been replaced, they are 14yrs old and have 100K. The new shocks will really improve the ride, mine had < 42K and they are awesome.
- Upgraded radiator fan, several to choose from, and cooling tune up kit.
- Radiator support
- etc.
@Mike in AZ is wealth of knowledge, fun to talk with and an all around good guy. His parts fit right, are high quality and “just plain work”.
@BYERS is very helpful and can get you the correct OEM parts, another good guy to work with.