New shoes for the RR

[saf1]

BTW, I had that GT dialed pretty good.

Mods:

FP Stage 2 Power Pack
FP Short Throw
FP Braided Stainless Clutch Line
BMR adjustable bars front and rear
BMR IRS bushings
BRM Street Lowering Springs
Steeda Roll Center Correction Rear Front Links (yes, I corrected the roll center for the lower ride height)
RTR Tech 7 Fow Formed Wheels (I think they were less than 21lbs each) with a square tire setup 275/35R19 Pilot Sport 4S
Corsa Cat Back Exhaust
Tinted windows

Last mods were going to be functional spoiler front and rear + FP Track Struts...until the clutch / dealer fiasco which ended the reign of the GT.

I was cleaning out my garage the other day and noticed I still have a set of Steeda pro active shocks and struts boxed and unopened. I guess I was going to swap out before I traded it in.

Nice car and color. Ours was Shadow Black. Only mods that I did was also the Corsa exhaust and swapped to a GT350 steering wheel. shocks, struts, and a few other parts I purchased but did not get to install.

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[Lion77]

Thank you for the detailed reply. I apologize also because I didn't mean for you to do all of that but it makes complete sense. I only owned my 2015 for about 18 months before I traded it in for an explorer. It was not due to issues but it was just too low for me to get in and out of after a hip replacement. The recaro's didn't help but it was just too low so it had to go.

After reading your experience I'm wondering if we didn't encounter these due to low mileage we put on it and length of ownership. The original plan was to buy a GT350 but the dealer markups got into stupid territory and no one was budging unless you know the dealer owner and they liked you. Otherwise it was all 25K and over here in northern Cali.

Glad it worked out. We are also happy with the Raptor. Sort of like a mustang with a bed attached.

Agreed. I love my RR. Now I do miss the melodic sound of the 5.0L + Corsa Cat Back with FP Stage 2 Power Pack (different timing, fueling actually made it more aggressive tone on the same exhaust, just a happy byproduct of the calibration), BUT, I dont' miss the massive inconvenience of a low sitting car that had about ZERO utility.

It looked cool, sounded amazing, pretty fast, handled great after some suspension work + tires, but aside from that it was a headache. The RR goes through anything, isn't that much slower, vastly more useful (I could literally tow an entire Mustang GT with it), I can jump it and already have, has a much higher seating position which is nice for long trips and has a great payload comparatively, especially the square footage of the bed which is massive relative to the tiney trunk in the GT.

I personally like the Rally nature of the RR over the more rock crawling nature of the BR or the bigger bulk of the F-150 Raptor. They are great in their own light, but I like the rowdy truck that can slide around corners, aka the Mustang of trucks, and I think the RR is just that, especially with a Pro Cal and eventually an intercooler and some better tires, although the KO3's have done very well off-road so far.

It's also the ONLY off-road production truck with a Watts link. So, the handling is just more buttoned down than its bigger brothers or competitors. The 37's on the BR look cool and it has excellent ground clearance / articulation, but it also doesn't handle nearly as well as the RR because of those things. The F-150 can come with 35's or 37's, but it's a BIG truck and it's EXPENSIVE.

So, I do like that FP designed the RR as a Rally truck and managed a price tag some of us can actually afford without selling a kidney to the CCP. The RR is something unique in the Raptor stable and honestly better suited to how most of us actually use our vehicles, 80~90% on roads of some sort (paved, dirt or gravel).

I like high speed off-roading, like dirt fire roads, sand dunes, gravel country roads etc.; I find rock crawling interesting for about 5 minutes then get bored with it, plus I'm always worrying about scraping the crap out of a wheel on a large rock. I don't have to worry about that with higher speed stuff (although you do need to be careful not to wreck it like a track car!).

I also like touring trips with my family, camping, doing practical things like helping others (utility), driving at higher speeds off-road where smoother terrain permits (and where the RR excels), jumping it and doing level 1-5 trails that more scenic and casual, for which it's a great fit, BUT I do want slightly wider 33's as the OE spec K03's are indeed strangely narrow compared to industry standard (almost 1" narrower).

 

[Lion77]

I stayed OEM size, ford performance tune warranty will void your waranty with bigger sizes but i think it suits the truck

I get that, but the tire has nearly 1" wider contact patch and your wheel offset is 20mm more than stock (aka ET35 wheels stick out 20mm more than ET55).

I have the same method 705s you do, just in the titanium color. If you turn your wheels all the way left or right, how much clearance is still left with the wider AT4W vs. what you had before?

Im on Method 705s and OE KO3s, have about 1" gap, so I dont expect issues with a standard sized 285/70R17, but was curious since you have the same wheels and wider tires.

Method 705s on stock KO3s:

Your AT4W definitely look to fill out the fender more despite being only a 1/4" bigger diameter, which is why ive been saying the extra width makes them look bigger than they are.

Im staying on 33s til warranty is up for sure, also on Pro Cal tune, but may eventually do 34s or true 35s a few years down the road when its paid off.

 

[Jabberwocky]

I don't have much to add as I am here just to learn, but I would like to say these Method wheels are growing on me.

Also happy to see that I can upgrade the wheels, keep the same tire (maybe upscale to slightly bigger size), achieve a more OEM+ aggressive look and traction, without compromising ride/MPG/clearance.

 

[Lion77]

Btw, you wont void the warranty by going to another brand of tire in the factory size. The warranty is only voided with the FP tune when you go up in tire size to something bigger like a 285/75RR7 or 315/70R17.

You can run any brand of tire in 285/70R17 which is the factory size. The KO3s are 1/2" narrower tread than their competitors like Falken, Nitto, Pirelli etc. Then the Ford OE spec KO3s are another 1/2" narrower yet, making them almost an entire inch less tread width than industry standard 285/70R17s, which makes them look a bit small on the truck.

Running a normal sized 285/70R17 makes the 33s look a lot bigger, but functionally it also give you more flotation for loose terrain like sand without going up to a 315 and voiding the warranty or making the truck sluggish.

So a standard width 285/70R17 is a much better compromise for a general use RR that sees road use, towing and offroading. And on a prepped track, 33s are going to run faster than 35s.

Bigger tires really have a benefit in ground clearance for rough terrain and adding some cushion to the suspension for impacts, which matters in rough terrain, but costs a lot of onroad performance and slows you down on smoother off road terrain where there isnt a premium on ground clearance (i.e., like sand dunes, width and rotating mass matters more than ground clearance).

So its all situation dependent. My truck sees a wide variety of uses, so for now im stocking with 33s, but looking to move to something other than the OE spec KO3.

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