Ford Bronco Aftermarket Essentials: Buyer’s Guide

Updated on Oct 12, 2023

The release of Ford’s 2021 Bronco marked a new era in sporty, off-road-geared, four-wheel-drive SUVs. Not only is the sixth-generation Bronco the first vehicle to wear the iconic “Bronco” title in 27 years, but it’s also the first Bronco that’s ever taken direct aim at the Jeep Wrangler, besides the first-generation. Speaking of the original, the sixth-generation Bronco pulls inspiration straight from the first generation, sporting a familiar boxy shape, round headlights, rectangular front markers, and even the straight bodyline running the length of the chassis. These similarities, along with its use of the proven T6 chassis (shared with the 2019+ Ranger), sparked massive interest in the Bronco.

While not Ford’s most impressive launch, the sixth-gen Bronco has sold approximately 100,000 units each year since its release; counting this year’s numbers (48,000+), that’s over 250,000 Broncos on the road! These substantial sales figures, paired with the Bronco's legendary name, helped to propel the T6 Bronco to the top of most aftermarket companies’ to-do lists, with everyone from suspension manufacturers to performance brands offering parts for the Bronco as soon as it hit dealer showrooms. After nearly two years of production, the 2023 Bronco has a substantial aftermarket presence, which is great news if you’re a new owner! However, it also poses a problem: What do you buy first?

Not to worry! Our experts are here to help streamline your decision-making. Whether you’re looking for performance parts, interior protection, or exterior accessories, we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of the top 10 products to make your Bronco turn heads. Now, let’s get started!

Floor Mats & Liners

To kick things off, let’s climb into your Bronco’s cabin. As with any four-wheel-drive vehicle, one of the first places to incur wear is the interior, specifically the carpeting. From spilled coffee to dusty and muddy work boots, it only takes a single trip to the job site, hiking trail, or farm to wreck your brand-new carpeting, especially if you didn’t option factory all-weather floor mats, which is why our first recommendation is a set of quality floor mats.

Though carpeted options are available, we recommend heavy-duty rubberized floor mats for easy cleaning and maximum protection. With waterproof construction, molded ridges and edges to capture contaminants, and precise fitment, premium floor mats are the first steps to protecting your Bronco’s new interior.

Aside from protection, aftermarket floor mats offer a sleek, stylish appearance that enhances the look of any interior! Most all-weather mats are precision-molded to fit your Bronco’s floor pans, hugging every contour for a factory-like finish. Mats are also offered in numerous hues, ensuring a perfect match to your Bronco’s interior plastics and upholstery.

Seat Covers

Keeping with the trend of interior protection, let’s turn our attention to arguably the most stain and wear-prone part of the interior: the seats! Your Bronco’s seats, especially the cloth variety, are highly susceptible to staining, rips, and tears. Whether resulting from a mud-soaked dog, your kid’s spilled juice box, or your own spilled lunch, a nasty stain on your brand-new seats is enough to make you want to throw the whole Bronco away!

Luckily, RealTruck carries a massive selection of stylish, durable, and highly protective seat covers to guard your Bronco’s upholstery against unnecessary wear and tear. And with vehicle-specific fitments, exciting patterns and colors, and luxury fabrics, a set of quality seat covers won’t just protect your interior but enhance it!

Heavy-Duty Bumpers

Now that we’ve tackled the interior, let’s turn our attention to the fun stuff: exterior accessories! First on the docket are heavy-duty bumpers, enhancing styling and impact protection. We carry all the top brands and styles, including tubular, stubby, rear bumpers with integrated tire carriers, and more!

Aesthetically, aftermarket bumpers effectively toughen up your Bronco’s exterior. Whether tubular or angular in design, aftermarket bumpers take a stock Bronco from mild to wild, especially when paired with a lift and oversized tires!

Regarding impact resistance, most aftermarket bumpers are overbuilt to withstand significant impacts. Whether constructed from durable plate steel or rugged tubular DOM steel, most aftermarket bumpers can take a beating on the trail and still look like new!

Aftermarket bumpers also feature mounts for accessories, like off-road lights, winches, and recovery gear.

Wheels & Tires

As mentioned in the previous section, the ultimate compliment to your new lift kit is a set of premium wheels and oversized tires! We offer all the top wheel styles from Method, Fuel, Black Rhino, and more, ensuring a rim that pairs well with your Bronco’s rugged looks.

Aside from improving your Bronco’s aesthetics, you can also bolster performance off-road with burly all-terrain, mud-terrain, and hybrid-terrain tires from your favorite brands, like Nitto, Falken, and Toyo. Off-road tires feature aggressive tread patterns and sidewalls that bite into mud, loose dirt, and snow, providing your Bronco with the traction it needs to conquer even the most demanding trails.

Lift Kits

Unless you opted for the Wildtrak, Sasquatch, or Raptor package with a factory lift kit, your Bronco could likely use an altitude adjustment. Lift kits increase the ride height, ground clearance, and fender clearances, transforming your Bronco from a simple, stock-appearing rig to a muscular off-roader! Aside from increasing off-road prowess, lift kits are aesthetically pleasing, especially when paired with aftermarket wheels and 35-inch tires!

Off-Road Lighting

Whether your Bronco’s a hardcore wheeler or your daily driver, ample visibility is crucial. In low-light scenarios, nothing lights up the night like high-output off-road lighting! We carry everything you’ll need to install an LED light bar onto your Bronco’s aftermarket front bumper, pods on your Bronco’s rear bumper, or even round lights on your Bronco’s A-pillars as ditch lights. From light brackets to LED lights and wiring harnesses, we have you covered.

Winches & Recovery Gear

No off-road rig is complete without a backup plan; as true wheelers know, it’s not if you’ll get stuck, but when. If you plan to use your Bronco as designed (ie: tearing up trails), then we recommend picking up a quality winch and recovery gear to go along! Products like recovery straps, soft shackles, traction recovery kits, and a convenient bag or hard case to carry it all are lifesavers in a sticky situation, whether you’re pulling yourself or another driver to safety.

Tops

One of the most enticing aspects of Bronco ownership is the iconic removable and interchangeable top popularized by the first-generation Bronco! Nearly six decades after the first Bronco hit the showroom floor, the sixth generation follows closely in its tire marks, sporting your choice of a removable hard or soft top. However, if you’re looking for something special, like a sporty bikini top or transparent panels for your factory hardtop, check out our wide selection of tops and accessories!

Air Intakes

Next, let’s dive under the hood. While none of the Bronco’s EcoBoost power plants are slouchy, extra weight and rotational mass from heavy-duty bumpers, lights, winches, aftermarket wheels, and oversized tires can place additional strain on the drivetrain, especially when weighed down with gear and passengers. To recoup some lost performance, consider installing a premium air intake!

Air intakes replace your Bronco’s restrictive factory filter and intake tubes, installing a high-flow conical air filter, large diameter piping, and smooth silicone couplers in their place. As a result, more air can enter your Bronco’s intake manifold, which increases combustion efficiency and, thus, boosts power!

Exhaust Systems

While we’ve covered feeding air to your Bronco, what about exhaust getting out? Unfortunately, most factory exhaust systems are highly restrictive, employing small-diameter tubing and multi-chamber mufflers. Now, air can only enter an engine as fast as the exhaust can get out; the more exhaust flow, the more power! One of the best ways to improve exhaust flow is to ditch your Bronco’s restrictive factory exhaust system for a performance-inspired aftermarket setup.

Aftermarket exhaust systems are all about sound and performance, focusing on large-diameter piping, mandrel bends to reduce restriction, and high-flow mufflers and resonators. As a result, the exhaust flows more efficiently, the engine inhales more air and, thus, makes more power! Plus, it’ll sound better too!