CO-Stark

Well gents, it FINALLY got done! 6" BDS lift, with full replacement leaf pack (still on stock rear block), 18x10 -19 offset Ion wheels matte black with 305/60/18 Micky Thompson Baja ATZ P3. These are some of my first pics, truck wasn't cleaned by the shop which was a bit of a bummer, but didn't matter much as I got 'er muddy already at work! Some notes bout track width, often talked about in this thread (by no means do I claim perfect measurement technique, but I did use levels and such and tried to get it right): -I measured both compared to fender walls and actual track width, front and rear, before the lift (I can't quite say "stock" because this truck came to me with High country wheels, 20x9 +27, and my understanding is that 18x9 +31 was actually stock) and after. -Compared to the fenders there was already a 1" difference from front to rear, front being wider/rear tucked under more -Actual track width was 1.25" wider in front before lift. Fenders were at 37" front height, 38" rear height. -After lift, I measured the front sticking out 1.875" further than the rear (from fenders) -Actual track width after lift about 3.5" wider in front than rear. Fenders now at 43.75 and 43.25 front and rear (slight squat) SO, based on my experience I would say the usual line that the BDS kit PUSHES track width out 1.5" per side isn't quite right (my track width went from 1.25" wider to 3.5" wider in front than rear, so just over 1" per side), however, it does push and combined with the initial difference in track width puts you in the 1.5" to 2" range (per side) depending how you measure it. I did take some pics/video of the 'stock' track width difference too, in case you think I'm full of sh.. I'm not saying you're wrong about that, just that I have some proof in this case. And I somehow didn't get the best angle on it but I took the one pic with my level sitting 2" outside the rear sidewall to try to illustrate. I'm going to get spacers to even that out, just trying to decide between 1.5", 1.75", or 2", since I'm sitting at 1.875" difference compared to fenders, but only 1.75" of track width different. I doubt any one would ever notice the difference from the front either direction, but I overthink everything (if you hadn't realized yet by reading this book of a post). Finally, the Titan in the one pic is my old truck. Funny thing is being the 'off-road edition', it sat about 3" above the stock height of the Chevy, so I'm not that much taller than it now. The look of the new one is MUCH more aggressive though (read: AWESOME)! I do apologize for the long post, just giddy as a school girl right now and wanted to share as much info as I reasonably could.

I know, it's ridiculous. Everybody on here has mentioned the increase in track width, but the shop doing mine swears that doesn't happen. I did take some stock measurements the other day and was surprised to learn I have almost an inch wider track in front than back, even at stock. Had never noticed it but if you look REAL close down the side, its there.

I'm doing 6" BDS (not magneride) and was told (and seen all over the forum) stock wheels would not work without spacers. The backspacing becomes an issue after being lifted. You might get away with pretty thin spacers, but I think you'll need something.

I came to my Silverado from a Titan and miss my back window big time. I have the power sliding window in this new(er) truck, but it's not remotely the same. Isolated incident but once or twice I had to climb in/out of that window in a super tight parking situation where the bigger size of it saved me. Also you can partially open for a little venting and/or to hear your exhaust noise better, without an unbalanced look on the back because it slides down, not over. Also also with it open you don't get the double tint right in blind-spot area in your rear-view like someone mentioned. I'm glad to have the powered window, it's better than nothing. And if I never had that Titan I don't think I'd care. But I miss it. It's a great feature and while I generally hate mods in this vein, this one has me thinking...

Can't help you on that one. I am getting new rims but trying to figure out exactly what offset I want and whether I want spacers or not. Don't have experience with them as of yet...

Check out customwheeloffset.com Check in the gallery. You can search exactly what you want to do and get an idea what it would look like or just browse for ideas. Others suggested it and I was a bit skeptical but they have a TON of pics. I even found something for my weird taste.

Yeah that's mine. They are the in-channel visors. I don't get whistling at all. Might be a slight increase in road noise because they are squeezing some of the weather stripping, but barely noticeable if at all. Only 'issue' i've had is sometimes the auto-up thinks it hit something and rolls the window back down. Might be partially because i didn't realize they want you to leave the window up for 72 hrs or something in 60 degree plus weather. I installed them in my garage on a 20 degree night and I think I had to use the window the next day. So maybe if it had the right environment to 'cure' it wouldn't do that.

Right. I'm not a huge fan of mine anyway. As my friend said they kinda look like the guy wearing blue jeans and polished glossy white dress shoes (translation: too much chrome for my work truck). So I was planning to change them out, and my tires don't have much left so I'm not worried about that. Just didn't like the push to do them right now, thru them, at their crazy prices. This is the wheel I kinda like. Simple, chaep, symmetrical, cheap, and doesn't hurt that it's call the TKO which has been a bit of a nickname for me (my initials are TK). Oh and they're cheap.

I went to AutoPlex here in Colorado to get quotes on the lift (couple other places but they didn't measure up for me). The guy was really helpful figuring out how to do what I was hoping for (no blocks or spacers), but with the BDS 6" he said "We HAVE to do wheels and tires at the same time! Can't even bolt up your stockers to roll her out of the shop!" I was pretty sure that was BS and if a 1/4" spacer solves it, it had to be. Doesn't really matter, not a chance I was going to pay them the $2500 he wants to do wheels and tires there anyway.

Nice. I can handle a couple hours just can't really budget the time to do the whole lift. Too much other junk going on. Thanks for the info! Looking back I noticed you have bilsteins but didn't think about it, that probably helps with the ride for you. Nice thing about going BDS is it will ditch the ranchos in the process.

Ok how much do the UCA run and how hard was the install on those? Might be one I think about adding later.

Good info thank you. I'm planning to have a shop install for me. Time, cutting/welding tools, and I think I might freak the eff out cutting into this truck myself (previous nicest truck I had was a '06 Titan that I bought in 2014 with around 100k already on it...) I remember others mentioning Cognito UCA, what's the benefit of that? Side question, looks like you were running the same wheel/tire setup before and after? What size is that? This is one I KNOW I'm weird on but I don't really want to step up tire size much, but don't want to look like I'm riding on bike tires.

Hi guys, Fairly new to Chevy although I've always been a fan and had a few GM company trucks over the years. I read 30 or so pages of this thread trying to decide what lift to go with as I've never lifted a truck before. Based on all the info here I was pretty set on zone as a nice combo of the quality (ish) of BDS but closer to the price of a rough country type. Someone said the price difference between BDS and Zone is just for the warranty. If I'm seeing things right, though, the BDS kit gets you struts to lift the front while Zone is a spacer. That right? To me that makes the price difference seem more worth it. Also I might be weird, but I'm heavily considering the $400 or so for a rear leaf pack instead of the rear blocks. That isn't even an option on the zone kit, or rough country, that I could find. Input?