Hey All,

I have a friend who just installed the Bilsteins 5100 adjustable height shocks on his 2013 F150. He loves them, but after reading up on them verses something like a Daystar 2" spacer, I just don't know what to go with for mine. I've read that the Bilsteins will make the ride more stiff, and that the spacers don't effect the ride all.
Need help making a decision on what's best to just level the truck out on the front end while keeping the best ride possible.

Thanks!!!

 

It's up to personal preference. Best thing to do is drive or ride in your friend's truck and compare that to how yours rides. My 06 still has all factory shocks and I put a 2" Autospring level on with around 80k miles and have 91k on it now. No difference in ride and no complaints about it either!

 

The Bilstiens are the best option by far. All of the spacer style leveling kits are about the same. Some just cost more than others.

 

I just had the 2" autospring installed , so far I like it no problems to report got a little more than 2" out of it.

 

To me (as a user of both the leveling spacer and currently the Bilsteins), a lot of it depends on your needs at the moment. If you like the ride you have and I imagine have low mileage on a 2013 so aren't in "need" of new shocks, I'd go with the spacers. More cost effective in the now. Use them for a few years and then when its time to replace your shocks, then if you've been happy either just replace the shocks and keep your setup or then make the move to the Bilsteins (or comparable at the time). I just replaced my AS level and stock shocks with the Bilstein 5100's and I love them. The handling of the truck is much improved over the ride of the stock shocks at 68k miles. Thats just my thoughts though.

 

I've been doing a lot of research in preparation to level my truck. Everything I've read about spacers seems negative, like its the 'cheap' way out. You essentially lose 2" of your suspension and get that annoying bang when you hit a dip or bump. The right way to do it would be leveling shocks like the 5100's or going with true coil overs. I myself am now stuck deciding if I need aftermarket UCA's or not to go with my Bilstein's or if I should go with high end Fox 2.0s and never have to worry about future upgrades. Just something to think about.

 

Getting aftermarket UCAs does nothing to correct the horrible CV angles that result from more than 2.5" of lift on the front end. They're all "cheap" ways out; buying a real subframe-dropping lift is the "right" way to do it.

 

Yes but if you stay at or below 2.5" of lift your CV angles will not be so so severe that is causes damage. Aren't aftermarket UCA's engineered to give you better ball joint/uniball wear as well as maximize available travel without binding or rubbing?

 

That's true, but the same applies to ball joint wear not being bad enough. Most people that get the kits you're looking at shell out for them (with new UCAs) in order to exceed 2.5". The ball joint wear at 2.5" is nowhere near bad enough to warrant spending another $700 on new UCAs, in my opinion. You can buy 3 sets of replacement factory style UCAs for that much. For $1800, you can get a 4" Rancho, which will put every angle back at stock and make your front end much tighter.

In my opinion, the Bilsteins and nothing else is the way to go as far as money is concerned, cause unless you're offroading frequently, I can't justify spending 3-5 times as much.

 

I highly recommend 1.5" auto spring level

That what I have it on my truck. Less wear, etc

It fits 33"

 

Thanks for all the replies.....definitely gives me some things to think about!

 

Ok guys, I ordered Daystars 2" leveling kit and found out that in order to install them I have to cut off about a 1/3 of an inch of the bolts on top of my coils in order to get them on.
Is that a smart thing to do?

 

I wouldn't. That's why I'd get an Autospring for half the price and not need to cut anything You can't go back to stock if you cut those. All four of us in this thread that had a level had an Autospring for a reason haha. I don't care for polyurethane spacers either.

 

Ok, thanks a lot! I'll return them.

 

No problem. Autosprings are like a forum-secret leveling gem. Arguably the best available, certainly the best design, and $75 to boot! Plus they're a small company and made entirely right here in the USofA.