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This is day #5 of new truck ownership. New ARE topper shell was installed yesterday, so took some 1st pics. Here are those plus some comments and observations;
1) Love the power and sound of the 6.2. Even though well muffled, the rumble comes through with just a little throttle. Not bad fuel "economy" w/ nearly 400 miles driven since Saturday now showing 16.7 avg having driven up/down on several moderately steep mountain grades.
2) Truck is very solid and comfortable to drive. Lots of techie stuff to learn! Enjoying it a lot even though it make my Nissan Frontier seem like a Tonka Toy by comparison.
3) Shown w/ standard FX wheels & G-Y p-metric tires;
a) Have (5) Raptor wheels ready but those FX wheels have grown on me and
b) compliment the FX running boards nicely. Hey, its almost as if Ford planned it that way!
c) Seems to me Raptor wheels require Raptor boards to finish the black theme look, although finding as take-off items from Raptor S-Cabs is the rare minority of those advertised. Not gonna pay $715 or more + shipping for new ones!
d) Unsure which tires I'll settle on but will be OEM size or just a hair larger (32.1 --> 32.8" max). No lift or level kit planned plus Garmin GPS shows speedo spot-on accurate or maybe just .5 mph fast at 20 mph displayed. I'd rather keep that accuracy than go marginally bigger "just cus". Will be black side wall for sure, either; LT285/70R17D BFG ATs on Raptors or OEM size LT275/65R18E Toyo A/T II on those FX wheels and then resell the Raptors.
4) ARE Z-series topper/shell was a big disappointment in styling plus fit (especially at rear), although I do much prefer ARE's positive latching mechanism vs Leer's "slam latches". Immediately noticed muted rush of white noise at highway speeds, much like in a commercial airliner. Not nice. Unsure what I'm gonna do about those complaints but doubt I'll be happy enough to keep it as-is.
For comparison, here's a few pics of my Nissan taken same spot for local ads.
Its been a great truck - fun and nimble to drive plus stone reliable in 72k miles since new...
07-23-2014, 06:56 PM
New 2014 F150 S-Cab FX4 - pics & comments
I'd go with the Raptor rims. 
