txblktrk

Hello all,

As we all know XL's can be a bit plain. I've just had mine leveled and now I'm contemplating the different things I can do to make it really special looking. I do like the slightly lifted (3-6 inches) w 35' tires look but I'm just not spending 2K on my truck right now to lift it.

I'm going to do most of the standard black mods: new grill, black lights, black wheels blah blah blah, but I need some other opinions on what makes XL's really pop without lifting them.

Do we like fender flairs on a non-lifted truck? How large of a wheel should you use on a small frame truck like this one? Should you try and cram a 20 or 22in wheel on such a small truck? What is the best looking tire ratios? What about a smaller wheel and huge tires? Is a grill guard to much on such a small truck? Would a bull bar be better to visualy balance out the front end?

Hoping to get some discussions going rather than specific answers to my questions. I've added a pic of what I'm working with to help spur discussion.

Ready,
Aaaaaand GO!

Lenn

Me personally (looking at your whip) would say to take it to a body shop and have the front bumpers PTM and add a 33' AT tire. The fender flares will most likely look a little off with only a 33 but that is entirely up to you. If you wanted if you want the fender flare look, go to a salvage yard or tascafordparts.com and order some Lariat trim over the fenders. That should look decent. In order to fit larger than 33's, you will need a 6" lift and that is expensive. Maybe also try to find someone selling power mirrors from an XLT or lariat even though you will not be able to use the power function unless you wire it up. That would be for a subtle yet different look on an XL.

Lenn

You might even want to try to find an STX front bumper with the fog lights that will match the truck if you didn't want to paint all that.

FightnFires311

you can do plenty of things to do to make em stand out....heres pictures of my xl, has a 2.5 leveling kit on 33/12.50/17 mickey thompson baja claws, 17in Chrome Ultra Wheel peacemakers, Flowmaster dual exhaust, black painted headlights, lights behind grill and tinted tails and 3rd brake light and all emblems painted black

nagata

I started off with pretty much the same thing as you, except white with black rally stripe package. To make mine stand out, I added a custom Flowmaster 40 w/ dual pipes out the side in front of the rear wheel, I put on a set of FX4 rims w/ Goodyear Wrangler AT/S 32s, and then added a color matched grill surround and upper bumper. Here's some pics:

Stock


Mods completed:






Exterior mods aren't all that I've done, but they're the relevent ones to this discussion. The mods have dramatically improved the look of the truck, and I think the only other exterior changes I'm considering at this time is to finish color matching everything by getting the bumpers painted, swapping to a nicer set of color matched mirrors, and adding some fog lights.

ATOM

you can mix and match parts and make your xl look like anything....xlt, harley, lariat, roush, nightmare...the possibilities are endless...i would love to see someone do a harley regular cab shorty clone...it would be sick

if i had an xl, the first thing that i would swap is those sucky flag style mirrors......yuck

FightnFires311

Did you take your surrond and bumper cover and get them painted at a body shop? im looking to get mine the same way just not sure which way to go about it.

FightnFires311

A mini harley version would be awsome

nagata

No, the textured plastic that the XL surround and bumper cover is made out of will not take paint well. It can be done, but requires a LOT of prep work (ie: sanding to all hell to try and smooth out the texture), and there's a good chance the paint will eventually flake off anyway.

I found both a grill w/ painted surround and a painted upper bumper on eBay, paid around $70 shipped for each one. These painted pieces were found on just about all FX4s & STXs, and most XLTs. Neither was perfect, but suitable, so I simply cleaned them up a bit, then took them to a paint shop to be painted. I think it was around $300 in prep, prime, and paint, but don't remember for sure.