To Lift or to Lower? That is the question.

Sport truckers and Off roaders, I have a question.
As a sport truck fan, I know the reason why vehicles are lowered,
saddled with 20, 22 or 24" wheels and low-profile tires. We do it because.

Sport: Gallery of: Harley-F150 :https://www.f150online.com/galleries....cfm?gnum=1576


1.) It looks good.
2.) The vehicle is more stable and less likely to roll.
3.) Did I mention it looks good?
4.) Girls like it.
5.) Guys wish they had them.
6.) You get a lot of attention, and a lot of:
"Cool truck" "Oh wow" "How much did those cost?" "It sounds great"
7.) Free food at some McDonalds
8.) Easier to get into and out of.
9.) Still functional as a truck (Unless you go too low)
10.) Closest you can get to having a full-size, rear-wheel drive American Car.


Lifted: Gallery: Rhyno https://www.f150online.com/galleries...y.cfm?gnum=860


Now, this is a good-looking truck. Honestly, I usually don't like the lifted
off-roady look, but this is a d@^^3D good looking truck! I have listed the things
I like about lowered/sport trucks- Can anyone chime in on the likes/benefits of
the lifted look? I know they all aren't going off road, any more than I'm racing
Preludes, but I'd really like to know.

1.) What's the attraction?
2.) How do you short guy get in them? (That's who I normally see get out of them)
3.) In a crash, who'd win?
4.) Less likely or more likely to roll over in a wreck?


Now, this was not written to start a flame war; I would just like to hear why you like your lifted truck
or why you like your lowered truck. I'm am not, and I'm sure no one else is interested in how stupid you think sport trucks are, or how
redneck lifted trucks are. In the end, what anyone else
thinks about anyone else's like/dislike is irrelevant- you fix your ride they way you like.
I've never ridden in a lifted truck before, so I'm just curious as to what the benefit/draw is..

 

I still don't see the reasons you listed for lowering.

1. I think they look silly
2. Yes
3. No
4. Not really.
5. If they are under 21
6. Same with raised if not more
7. I don't eat at McDonalds
8. I think its harder
9. All lowering looses function. The lower you go, the worse it gets
10. That would be a Mercury Marauder though I prefer the GTO myself

I don't like lowering. I think its a fad that will last a few years and then in 2010 or so everyone will shake their heads and say why?

Why Raise?
1. Better offroad capabilites
2. Better vision on the road
3. You go over, they go under in a crash
4. Snow
5. looks
6. girls
7. guys over 21 like them
8. You don't ruin any truck capabilites
9. You aren't trying to turn a truck into a car. The opposite and equally silly a thing is the occasional raised, big tired Corvette.
10 people move out of your way in traffic instead of purposefully getting in your way.
The only con I could think of for raising vs. lowering is parking decks.

Call me old school, but you lower cars, raise trucks. If I want a muscle car, it doesn't have a non-functional bed out back, it has an emblem that says mustang or corvette instead.

 

cia-agent,

My answers may be biased because I've never had a lowered vehicle and probably never will unless it's only 1-2 inches on a sports car that I wouldn't drive every day.

I'm the kind of person that can't leave any vehicle stock for too long. All my trucks have been 4X4 and have been lifted. If I had a 4X2 truck I'd probably lower it unless I was making it into a baja/prerunner style.

Here's what I can tell you about lifted trucks.

1) With bigger tires you're going to lower your fuel economy. Most of the time you should regear higher which also lowers fuel economy.

2) It's generally more expensive to lift than lower. Definately true for the F-150.

3) Chances of a rollover may be higher, but could also be lower. Lifting a truck without changing the tires would raise your center of gravity and make it more likely to roll over. Normally when you lift a truck you add some bigger (wider and heavier) wheels and tires. The added width of the wheels and tires adds stability to the truck therefore adding stability. The added weight of the tires and wheels is all unsprung weight. That means that the weight is not riding on the suspension of the vheicle... it's planted directly to the ground. This weight lowers the center of gravity of the vehicle also adding stability.

4) I work for Ford in the Crash Development Center. After personally witnessing hundreds of vehicle to vehicle crash tests I would definately say that I'd rather be in a lifted truck than a lowered one any day. The only situation where I would say that it COULD be worse for a lifted truck is if it was t-boned and flipped over. Remember I said "COULD". If a vehicle hit a truck hard and fast enough to flip it over then most of your injuries are going to come from banging around during the roll. The same vehicle going the same speed hitting a lowered truck on the side would cause bodily injury directly from the impact... vehicle hits door... door hits you... HARD!!!

5) You get a lot of respect on the road. Everyone gets out of your way in fear that they'll get run over. This is one of the best benefits.

6) You'll get equally as many if not more compliments about a lifted truck than a lowered one.

7) You're field of vision is greatly increased. You can see what's happening ahead of you on the road much easier. However, sometimes it's harder to see directly behind you if a car is very close. Generally nobody will tailgate you though becasue they're afraid of driving under you if you hit the brakes.

8) About the short guys... I don't know. Maybe they feel they have to justify their size by driving a big truck... who knows. I'm 6'1" so I don't really have a problem getting in or out.

9) In my opinion driving a lifted trucks gives you that badass feeling. It's not only in my head either. Many people have told me that it's somewhat scary to have a lifted truck around them... especilly behind them.

Hope this helps.

 

Cia-agent - maybe this analogy will help. Say you're an FBI Agent. Your agency is set up to control domestic affairs, intel, etc.. So why would an FBi agent get all geared up to handle international affairs - that's more in the NSA and CIA's area of strength.

Trucks are built to rule the dirt, haul stuff, pull things. Why try and turn a truck into a car? I think lifting a truck and making it "more capable" in it's domain by lifting it is the way to go. And as far as the 10"lifted truck you highlighted, personally I think anything over 8" on a 150 is overkill. a 250 or 350 sure go as high as 12".

I saw an 8" lifted 04 FX4 yesterday it looked really mean.

I'm 5"10 so not sure if I quaify for the short guy syndrome but I've seen plenty of little guys getting out of a ferrari too.

Personally I think lowered trucks on 20's look bad - but that's just my opinion.

Tim

 

I agree w/ all tpeterson's points.

Not to change the subject, but do you know if this was the 8" lift you saw? CST Suspension

 

You think it's harder to get into a slightly lowered F-150??

What are you? 6'9".. 400 lbs.?

The lowered, big rim, flowmaster style is here to stay. What's not going to last is the bling-bling, I'm parked, but my wheels are still spinning, BS phad wheels. I'm surprised people still put that BS on thier cars & trucks.

I think what you will begin to see more of is 4x4's sitting on 20" = 22" wheels, with some 33" - 35" tires.

I have seen a few on this site, and in person- and they look great! No one wants a 14" wheel surrounded by 33-38" of tire diameter. That style will fade into oblivion as more tire manufacturers realize the bigger wheels are in demand, and make a wider selection of off road tires that will fit 20" wheels.

 

Being torn between the two looks as I am, I have decided to average things out. I'm leaving my suspension alone...

 

lower it for sure, but the lifted one looks awesome also.

 

correct, it'll be with us for a while. like i said in a previous thread your owning a lifted truck on these huge tires thats undoubtedly cool IMO, but you never go offroad. whats the point?

 

Lift it, lower it, they are both cool! Just don't leave it stock. Stock sux!

 

Lets just say I'm not small.

 

Lower it! Even I'm thinking of lowering my FX4.

1.Looks better.
2.Better handling
3.Easier to wash
4.Easier to get in and out of.



Beacause a truck is lowered it's still a truck. It still can haul a boat (and look cool doing it). You could go to home depot and gett materials (wood, paint cement blocks, dirt, sand, etc.)

There you go. LOWER THAT TRUCK!

 

 

 

As for lowering, I'd go along with a Lightning being lowered. The purpose would be for better handling, etc. Unlike the standard F150, lowering it really would be productive in making it better at what it was supposed to do and not just an all show no go kind of thing. I could agree that lowered trucks will be around for a while, but everything that is done for looks only goes away. It has to have a purpose to stick around or else it goes the way of the huge rear fender fins and chrome bumpers.

So if its a std F150, raise that puppy and make it bad azz, if its a lightning, lower it and do the same.