Moto Metal 20" X 9" 951's [edited]
35x12.50 R20 Toyo Open Country M/T's
Hell Bent Steel 2.5" Level Kit [I was strongly advised against Auto Spring.]
Total parts, labor & out the door: $3175.15
Here's my story -
Originally, I wanted to put some 35" Toyo O.C M/T's on the OEM 18's with a leveling kit. I made up my mind, after weeks of searching, that these were the tires I wanted based on reviews on these boards, my guy's recommendations and their appearance/stance. Upon careful inspection, my guy said it was near impossible to put these on my OEM's because the sidewall "aggressiveness" of the Toyo's would most certainly rub and require too much cutting and, even then, he wasn't sure it would be possible without any rubbing, even with a leveling kit. He said either a different 35" tire [not as aggressive] or, better yet, aftermarket shoes was the way to go. There wasn’t any other tire I liked and I really didn't want to spend the $$$'s but, hey, you only live once...
I've always liked the Moto Metal 951's from the first time I saw them on Thumper's truck many moons ago [dang that was a nice ride!]; and every time I saw them from there on, on other people's rides. I was aware that he [Thumper] and several others had/have the Rize 6"- 8" lift kit and that played a big part in how they sat and how nice they looked on his and other's rides. I'm not a fan of lifted trucks .. even though there are some damn nice ones here. It's just not my cup-o-tea as I really don't do any "heavy-duty" 4WD'ing and I don't believe a jacked-up ride equates to an aggressive appearance/stance. No flaming anyone or their preference, just my opinion. I only do a little mudding every now-n-then and some beach cruising every year we visit the Outer Banks or Myrtle Beach, S.C. To each their own I guess...
My preference was a nice neat "street-level" stance with a [relatively] aggressive appearance as, IMHO, this is the best combination.
My guy told me the Moto Metal 20" X 10" 951's with the leveled kit and the tires of my choice would look the part, and I'd be happy with the outcome. Up front, I told him I had three prerequisites. One was I didn't care how much fender/inner guard cutting was involved, as long as I had NO rubbing whatsoever. The second was that I didn't want the tires to protrude too much from the guards when viewed from the side, as that look/stance is not my preference. And the last request was that I didn't want too much of a gap between the roof of the tire and the OEM lip flare.
What you're viewing in the pictures below is the end result. I've waited several days of driving to forward my review. I have NO rubbing whatsoever [believe you me, I've checked] even though a decent amount of cutting was performed/required [see pics below], it drives, sits and handles like a dream [a lot better than I thought considering the M/T's] and the tires are [remarkably] very quite at 70-80MPH on the interstate. I've found, based on playing around with the tire's air pressure, that 34-36PSI is the perfect ride comfort. It has the stance I was after [there is exactly a 7.2" gap between the tire and the OEM flare; the front does sit about 0.25" higher but it will settle with time/driving] and the tires protrude from the OEM fender flares just the right amount to help with that "aggressive" yet “street” look that I was after.
Comments, good or bad, welcome.
PS: Please don't ask me about "backspacing" and/or "offset" because I have no clue what all that means. However, I can find out from my guy if anyone's interested in those facts/figures.
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Last edited by Grubrunner; 02-20-2008 at 11:21 AM.
"God, grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, courage to change the things we can, and enough money to mod the F out of my truck so I can be proud of it and show it off to my online friends."
Very nice stance! Just one question, you said you were strongly advised against AS, not to open a can of worms, but why?
My guy who did the work has leveled about 20+ '04-'07 F150's and he told me he used the AS for a good three-quaters of those.
He advised me that he's had more "combacks" and "reliabilty issues" with the AS kits than he cares to remember. I never asked him to elaborate further and he never did. I'm having a drink with him this weekend so, if you wish, I can ask him to explain further.
He recently switched to the Truxx 3" & Hell Bent 2.5" without any issues whatsoever, with about 8-10 trucks leveled thus far. His preference is the Hell Bent 2.5" and, seeing as he has done my cars for almost 8 years now, I always go with what he reccomends.
I doubt it.... What is going to settle?
I've had mine about 2yrs, with no "settle".
I don't know but that's what a neighbor claimed who has the AS 2.5" kit and he measured a 0.3" difference upon getting his installed which leveled after some driving, he claims. I'm not gifted in that area [ride height, springs, shocks ... etc] so I don't know what will settle... or not.
I measured mine when I took it home after speaking with my neighbor and he mentioned his difference upon install.
I'll bring it up with my guy Kev when I see him on the weekend.
No biggie about the AS unless you think of it. I'll be removing mine soon when I throw in new shocks. The only complaints I've seen were about the springs getting scraped and weird angles, but any spacer is going to give the weird angles.
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![Leveled with new shoes [Lengthy review and PICS]](http://www.f150online.com/forums/iconimages/2004-2008-f-150/leveled-new-shoes-lengthy-review-pics_ltr.gif)
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