dre23

WHEELS & TIRES


Before: 275/45/22





After: 305/70/17



I realized that I wanted to use my truck as A TRUCK! (even tho I still got my chrome, lol) and that if I wanted to ride on 22's, then I should get an Escalade.

My tires after much thought, pressure, and questioning myself (and you guys) are the Nitto Terra Grapplers and the wheels are American Racing Clash. In the before pic you can see that my rims are 95% black w/the outer lip of chrome, but with these Ohio winters & salted roads, I just didn't want to deal with the hassle & upkeep that chrome wheels require.

I am VERY pleased with the overall Badass look (atleast I think so) and I realize now that I was so obscessed w/getting big rims when I first got this truck that I didn't realize that I might be sacrificing form (looks) over function (not having to worry about every little scratch and occasionally taking her offroad).

I know we have those (ALOT) who aren't too particular w/chrome on our trucks, and I do have the Putco chrome package (aftermarket), which I'm weighing whether or not I should have those taken off or not, and getting PTM door handles & mirrors. Hmmm...decisions, decisions. It's especially hard to think about taking off the Putco package after putting down the $$$ for it, but alas, it's a hard knock life.

dre23

LEVELING KIT

I went from the 2.5 inch Skyjacker leveling kit
http://www.jegs.com/i/Skyjacker/825/FF25MS/10002/-1
which took away that horrid stance that the stock trucks come off of the lot with and switched to a lift/leveling kit from www.truxxx.com
Here is the link to my specific model http://truxxx.com/ford_products/105035.htm which lifted the front 2.5" and 1" in the back, so along with the two inch rise in tire height, I can def feel the extra height getting into this baby.

I don't know how you guys with lift kits or wheels of 35"+ go thru any type of drive thru (banks, or fast food, whatever) cuz it was a tight squeeze BEFORE I made these changes. Guess I'll have to get used to walking inside the bank and Burger King, lol!

SinCityFX4

Looks bad brother.

dre23

Here's simply a close up of the new wheels & tires






Now I'm not knocking the Bushwacker Fender Flares that I got for my truck b/c I really like the look that they add to its stance. Now with that said, quoting directly from their site, "adding style, protection, and extra tire coverage" I would have to say that these flares are only meeting 2 out of the 3 criteria, and being that they are light, somewhat flimsy pieces of plastic, I'll let you guess which word it doesn't live up to. The four flares combined can't weigh any more than 20lbs and they scratch relatively easy as well. When I got the UPS delivery box & picked it up, I was like, "Whoa, did they forget to package them, and just fill the box with styrofoam?!" (Okay, it wasn't that bad...). But as I said, I DO like how they look.

So I racked my brain and said, what can I do to add more protection, toughness, and density to these Bushwackers? Eureka!...Line-X the suckers! And so I called around to my three local Line-X'ers and got the best quote of $75, and the shop removed them, Line-X'ed them, and reinstalled them for just the $75 plus tax. The other two shops quoted me "ballparks" of $175 to $200, but couldn't say for sure "until they saw them". Now it seems as though Line-X'ing your truck bed prices are all right around the same ballpark, but I def suggest if you are getting something else "weird" Line-X'ed to certainly call around cuz, being that they are independant shops, the prices may vary greatly.

So here is the pic of my newly Line-X'ed Fender Flares. Know it's kinda of hard to tell (especially taken with the camera phone) but it has def made a difference. I mean before, I could have easily snapped the plastic flare in half if I wanted to. But now...HELL NO! These things ain't breaking or scratching unless I get hit by an 18-wheeler, lol.

dre23

Thanks Vegas!!

dre23

Before:


Hey, I really can't complain. This rubber mat weighs about 100lbs (so it didn't move AT ALL in my bed, and pretty much anything I put on this mat stayed in place). But of course, as you can see...it's pretty much as ugly as hell, lol. Didn't spend no $$$ on it as when I was getting my roush exhaust installed, another customer wanted my stock exhaust ( I had no need for it) so we basically traded parts even steven.




After:


Now just like the Jeffersons, I'm "moving on up, (moving on up!) to the Eastside (moving on up!)/To a deluxe Bed Carpet in my bed", lol. I have been wanting to get this for a long time, but funds limited me to just getting a tonno at the time, but now I can use the tonno in the winter (hate snow in my bed) and show off this beautiful baby during spring,summer and fall. For those interested in buying one, www.autoanyting.com has them onsale right now (I ordered mine on the Feb 3 and got it on the 4th) marked at $349, but when I called in to place the order, the rep said, "And I'm going to take an extra $36 dollars off that price for you, so your total today Mr. Henry will be $313". I was like "WTH???" There was no tax whatsoever, and no charge for shipping, which as I said, got to me overnight! That was the bomb! So enough talking...here's the pics. Enjoy!

dre23

Windows Tinted:

(Or Re-Tinted Actually)

Well, we'll see how long I can get by without getting a ticket, but my very back sliding window is stock, but I got my rear passenger/rear driver sides at 5% which is Limo Tint. Front windows are 15%. Daytime driving is perfectly fine...no problems, but def gonna have to get used to nightime driving backing up specifically. I'll just take my time and be extra cautious, and if push comes to shove, I'll get 'em taken back up to a higher percentage...but you gots to admit that this look is sweet. Come on, just admit it, lol.





Hope you all have enjoyed my upgrades and mods and please give me your thoughts, opinions, praise, and hate mail...all is welcome! I'll just cry myself to sleep if need be...

98greensi

Truck looks great!!! i like it a lot but, i would take off the skull decals on the doors over the chrome any day.

PawPaw

Look's great with real truck tires and wheels!

LovetheTide

Looks good man. I really want that bedrug though.

you should get 35% on the windshield. I got mine done the other day and it's amazing with 15 on the fronts and 5 on the rear windows.