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2009 Silverado, 4" Or 6"? Cst Or Bds?

traviscruz

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traviscruz Enthusiast

traviscruz

Posted
Posted

EDIT: Gear Ratio is 3.42

 

Seeing as this is my gear ratio, would I be able to run 35's without losing tooo many mpg, and without regearing?

 

These are the tires and rims package I'm looking at getting now. 35x12.50x18 (If i can run 35's without much of a hassle), 33x12.50x18 if not. I love this combination. They both have 5" backspacing.

http://static.zoovy.com/img/westkycustoms/...8_toyo_mt_1.jpg

 

 

 

This was the final straw, after wanting all this for roughly a year now, I've finally decided to go for it.

 

So so sad. It just had to be a ford that drove by...

 

So, I posted on here roughly 6 months ago, as a newbie to everything to do with trucks, asking what y'all thought I should do. At the time, I was looking at the 6" BDS lift, with 35" Mickey Thompson ATZ with Either the Xd hoss or Xd addict (Chrome). I have now completely changed my mind. I think? Hah. I've been looking into it and talking to friends with lifts since, and I've started to narrow down my search, but I still have a million questions. Hope you guys can help!

 

For starters, I drive a 2009, Chevy Silverado 1500, 6-Speed automatic. It came with 265/55/18 Bridgestone Dueler a/t, which as you will see in a minute didn't help me out too much. I'm looking to make sure this situation doesn't happen again (along with me not being so stupid).

 

One of the lift kits i've been looking at is the CST 4" lift. It's definitely on the more expensive side, but from what I've read and heard, it's top quality.

I've also been looking at the BDS 4" and 6" lift kits. I'm a bit confused as to why they are the same price, and would love to know why if anyone could help in that area, but I've actually been looking at the 4" instead of 6". The reason? I want to run 33's instead of 35's, and Im thinking that 33's would look small on the 6". I want 33s because, (correct me if I'm wrong), I wouldn't have to have to re-gear, and if i had 35's without re-gearing my mpg would be much worse.

 

Tires tires tires. Until a few hours ago actually, I had been looking at the Mickey Thompson ATZ (33s), and the Nitto Trail Grapplers, but while reading through posts in this forum, I saw that the Toyo Open Country Mt's looked pretty sick and it got me interested in these, although I don't know too much about them. One major thing I have to think of though, is that I make a 700 mile round trip back home from college every 3-4 weeks. I don't offroad too much either, although I plan to start going more.

 

I'm pretty set on getting 18x9 Xd Monsters, and I was wondering if 33x12.5's would fit on them? What about 33x11.5s?

 

Here are a few pictures of my truck from over the weekend, which started out great, but didn't end well at all.

 

After a few small mud holes, before I got stuck. Still looks like a beast stock.

20100912180945.jpg

 

 

The hole I got stuck in. I swear it didnt look bad before I went in...

20100912192836.jpg

 

Stuck from the Left side.

20100912182957.jpg

 

Front Right...

20100912183009.jpg

20100912190638.jpg

 

Reason I got stuck, hit the dry patch and stopped. Front License Plate broke off ha. Easy fix though.

20100912190652.jpg

 

Bouta be cleaned! Took over 2 hours..

20100913121015.jpg

Matt_ Senior Enthusiast

Matt_

Posted
Posted
One of the lift kits i've been looking at is the CST 4" lift. It's definitely on the more expensive side, but from what I've read and heard, it's top quality.

I've also been looking at the BDS 4" and 6" lift kits. I'm a bit confused as to why they are the same price, and would love to know why if anyone could help in that area, but I've actually been looking at the 4" instead of 6". The reason? I want to run 33's instead of 35's, and Im thinking that 33's would look small on the 6". I want 33s because, (correct me if I'm wrong), I wouldn't have to have to re-gear, and if i had 35's without re-gearing my mpg would be much worse.

 

The 4" lift is the same price as the 6" kit because it comes with all the SAME components, just the spindles are 2" shorter and the diff isn't dropped as far. You're not paying per inch, you're paying for the contents of the kit and the engineering/manufacturing involved.

 

Do you have 3.08 or 3.42 gears? With 3.42s you're alright with 33s but would more than likely need to regear for 35s. With 3.08s you'll still be OK with the 33s but may struggle to hold 6th gear while cruising on the highway.

 

Out of the tires you mentioned... you really can't go wrong with any of them. I'd highly recommend the ATZ's, but I think the Nitto Trail Grapplers may be considerably cheaper.

traviscruz Enthusiast

traviscruz

Posted
  • Author
Posted
One of the lift kits i've been looking at is the CST 4" lift. It's definitely on the more expensive side, but from what I've read and heard, it's top quality.

I've also been looking at the BDS 4" and 6" lift kits. I'm a bit confused as to why they are the same price, and would love to know why if anyone could help in that area, but I've actually been looking at the 4" instead of 6". The reason? I want to run 33's instead of 35's, and Im thinking that 33's would look small on the 6". I want 33s because, (correct me if I'm wrong), I wouldn't have to have to re-gear, and if i had 35's without re-gearing my mpg would be much worse.

 

The 4" lift is the same price as the 6" kit because it comes with all the SAME components, just the spindles are 2" shorter and the diff isn't dropped as far. You're not paying per inch, you're paying for the contents of the kit and the engineering/manufacturing involved.

 

Do you have 3.08 or 3.42 gears? With 3.42s you're alright with 33s but would more than likely need to regear for 35s. With 3.08s you'll still be OK with the 33s but may struggle to hold 6th gear while cruising on the highway.

 

Out of the tires you mentioned... you really can't go wrong with any of them. I'd highly recommend the ATZ's, but I think the Nitto Trail Grapplers may be considerably cheaper.

 

 

I thought i had 3.73 but I guess I could be wrong. How can I find out?

 

Edit: and what are the downsides about not being able to stay in 6th Gear?

blackout07 Senior Enthusiast

blackout07

Posted
Posted

If there is anything I have learned about our trucks it's that the fenderwells are narrow and not well suited for flexing a larger tire. If you plan to offroad like seen in the above video, then a 6" suspension with 33's would be ideal IMO. I personally like the look of clearance, as if you couldn't tell by my truck, and it serves a purpose. I can actually recall at least one thread where a 33x12.50 rubbed with a 6" lift and stock wheels. A 33x12.50 on a x9 wheel will look great with a 6" lift and I have seen countless similar setups being sold at local dealerships.

 

So now that you have my vote on the lift height, I would go with the ATZ's. With the amount of highway driving you do those tires would wear better, ride smoother, and generally be alot quieter. And they are aggressive enough to do well offroad.

 

Oh, and the warranty from BDS gives it the nod over CST IMO.

Matt_ Senior Enthusiast

Matt_

Posted
Posted

Look at your original window sticker, look at the RPO codes in the glove box, call the dealer and give them your VIN and they can tell you.

traviscruz Enthusiast

traviscruz

Posted
  • Author
Posted

I think I know the answer to this and it might be a dumb question, But, is there anyway I could do this in steps? Could I get a leveling kit for the front so the 33's fit? or would they rub since the 33x12.50s are so wide

Matt_ Senior Enthusiast

Matt_

Posted
Posted

I had to cut metal to get 33x12s fit on 20x9s with 5.7" backspace with a 3" body lift. And that's not offroading, just normal daily driving.

 

Id rather do the lift first and roll on stock wheels... at least you can tell people that new wheels/tires are coming.

Matt_ Senior Enthusiast

Matt_

Posted
Posted
It would probably end up being 4+ months of driving around on the stock wheels, wouldn't that look a little goofy?

 

Don't be so self conscious!

traviscruz Enthusiast

traviscruz

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Haha okay okay. I'm sure I'd get some pretty strange looks from other students around campus though.

 

Also, how do you think Black Chevy emblems would look in replace of the gold ones on the front and back? Since the truck has mostly black trim and all, with black xd monster rims in the future

jimmyboy8301 Senior Enthusiast

jimmyboy8301

Posted
Posted
I think I know the answer to this and it might be a dumb question, But, is there anyway I could do this in steps? Could I get a leveling kit for the front so the 33's fit? or would they rub since the 33x12.50s are so wide

 

 

the 33s will fit with a 2.5" leveling kit and trimming, and i have pictures of the truck to prove it. i've also seen the truck with my own 2 eyes in person. as for the kits i would go with the 6" kit hands down and i would choose the BDS over the cst for price and warrenty. almost EVERYONE that gets a 4" kits wishes they went with the 6" kit either right away or very shortly after.

jimmyboy8301 Senior Enthusiast

jimmyboy8301

Posted
Posted

as for wheels just about all the XD's are nice and for tires i have the Toyo's and i'm VERY VERY happy with them. they wear, ride, and look EXCELLENT

Bvonscott Enthusiast

Bvonscott

Posted
Posted

I disagree. I think a 6" lift is perfect for those that want that high look, and do alot of offroading. I like the stance of the 4" better, and I'm more a speed-demon but still want to go out in the sand every so often. Plus a 4" on the NBS is the same overall height as the 6" was on the old body style, since the NBS trucks had 2" rear blocks factory. It just looks like the right height to me.

 

Well I'm still deciding between CST, BDS, SST, and forgot the other one for a 4". Ive looked at several 6" lifts in person, and the other thing that bothers me is step in height. Im not short, but its uncomfortable stepping up into one without step bars, and the step bars bug the crap out of me when getting out because theyre in the way of my natural leg movement. So a 4" is what I have to get.

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