Of all the mods I have done, this is the only one that has made the truck far more enjoyable. I have about 90,000 miles on my truck now and have never been satisfied with the suspension. The shocks required to control the 65# wheel and tire were never found. The wheels are 16X7 off a 99 Navigator that I found on ebay for $150. The tires are Yokohama Geolandar H/T-S G051 255-65-16 at $103 each from Tirerack. The only down side is at least with this tire is the speed rating is less than the speed capibility of the truck. The truck is FAR quieter than with the 295/45 and the tread should where far more consistant. All three sets of the 295 all cuped the inside of the tire within a few thousand miles. The new wheels took off 20# a corner. The clear the front calipers by about 1/4 inch.



AW

 

So how does it ride? I'd imagine it would be a lot smoother etc...

I had been thinking of the same thing a while back as well. Driving in a city where the pot holes are 4" deep is no good.

 

Oh and BTW, I like how it looks.

Then again I also have a campertop. :o

 

Well since you put it out there for everyone to see, I imagine that you are looking for comments.

If this is for the winter then that's a nice set up. If it is a year round thing then you don't understand the concept of a Lightning. Seriously if you think that you have found a "solution" to your problem, then my friend are most likely the only one with the problem. I am guessing this is a joke.

As for your alingment problem, it didn't seem like you had much if you only had three sets of F1's in 90k, and keep in mind the safety factor. Your stopping distance just went up dramatically. Best of luck, but what you did is not a "mod".

 

I take some of my previous statement back. There is more than one of you.

 

As it was said above if that is a winter set up then its great but for all season it really makes the truck look like garbadge. Is this for winter or are you keeping the truck like that.

 

I have been thru the stock shocks then two sets of QA1's and now on a set of Bilstines. This set of tires transformed the ride and handling of the truck more than the shocks ever did. My son put a set of 17x8 on a typical rice car and saw the same sort of improvement on his car as he removed the large wheels and bought a set of 12# 15" wheels. Some people build for show (and ego) and others do ware the engineering leads them.

see www.ncs-stl.com/racecar and www.ncs-stl.com/xp for the sort of thing the Lightning is used to tow. I used to hang around here years ago but now have moved on to Megasquirt EFI. Talk about a bunch of creative engineers and gear-heads that think out of the box.

AW

 

It's still some sort of joke right?????

 

It is too late for Halloween, and too early for April fools.

Why not use four steel spare rims? I am sure they are lighter than those Navigator pieces? Hell, go nuts and spray them silver if you want to.

 

Just what sort of engineering are you talking about? You are correct about being "out of the box".

 

LOL, whats that supposed to mean?

 

google "unsprung weight ratio" An indy car engineer told me they were alowed to spend $5000 / # to remove weight out of the car unless the weight was unsprung. With that weight, he was never told it was too expensive to remove. He worked for Newman Hass racing at the time.

AW

 

So you did this for Unsprung weight? Let's do some math:
Your wheels:

help with softening the ride +1
Make your truck quieter +1

Kill your traction -1
Kill your stopping distance -1
Kill your looks -1

Your "mod" = -1

Just calling it how I see it. Please don't take it personally

 

Kill your traction -1 (undocumented)
Kill your stopping distance -1 (undocumented)
Kill your looks -1 (subjective)

At 48 my ability to "smoke the tires" or "get hook" is fairly insignificant. Stopping distance is more a function of brake pad choice and tire compound and a Lightning is realy not known for is ability to stop more than once. If you want to stop buy a car with the motor in the back that weights about 3500 lbs less. If you want a darn good tow vehical to pull a 4000 lb ski boat or your 800 lb 450 hp racecar and the next weekend pull the jetskis to the Lake, get a Lightning. Nothing else comes close.

 

Long time no see Andy!