advice for silverado

[TexasCowgirl4]

my dad gave me his '03 chevy silverado, any reccomendations on what lift and tires would look the best on it?

[FenwickHockey65]

Not a big fan of lifted trucks...looks good as it is.
I wish my dad gave me an '03 Silverado...

[okyankee]

it all depends. is a 2wd or 4wd? how big of a tire do you want? there are a tons of questions you will need to answer before you would get suggestions.

[chakis24]

mines got a 3" body klift with 305/70/17 (34") tires- id say it looks pretty darn good.

[TexasCowgirl4]

love your truck chakis24! it looks nice

mine is a 2wd, id like large tires on it, whatever looks and drives best

[Uzzy]

I'm not a fan of lifted trucks and especially not on 2WD drives, as yours clearly is from the pic. BFG All Terrains or Toyo Open Country are popular tires for these. If you like big wheels, see if you can score a set of the factory 20" wheels. There's a couple to choose from now, but that's what I want for my truck. Every set of aftermarket 20" or bigger for trucks looks like as to me, too gawdy. :tdown:

[4wdaaron]

i wouldn't do more than 6 inches with a half-ton.. most installers will really prefer 3/4ton, even for a 6" lift... leveling kit and blocks maybe??

[cc1999]

I am not a big fan of lifted 2wd trucks either, and I am not sure with fuel costing close to 4 bucks a gallon these days and no end in site, that it would make a lot of sense to do something to a truck that will likley cut it fuel mileage in half (dependant how extream one goes).

I will say the old GMT800 did set sooooo low in the front that almost all our fleet trucks ended up with there front lower spoilers ripped off, or dragging barley hanging on when they came out of service. So if it were mine I probably would do a 2" level kit of some type on the front, and maybe a upgrade the tires to a 265/75/16 BFG ATKO mounted on the stock rims. That should give the truck a whole new stance and a more rugged look without hurting the mileage more than 5-10%, at a total cost of under a grand.

[SDRacing]

Im not a fan of lifted 2wd trucks either, unless you make a prerunner out of it:








OK, ok, a little extreme. A company called Boneyard out of Cali builds this bolt on 2wd kit. But I've been down the 2wd lifted scenario before, and it aint really worth it IMO, unless you can afford the above. I would definitely dig it. I would make an SS clone out of it, and treasure the saved mpg (!) than sticking bigger tires on it. If you want a 4wd, trade it for a 4wd.

[lio45]

Looks good as is. I'd leave it like that.

If you absolutely want to lift it, I say look at what others have done (other Silverados in parking lots, etc.) and copy the best-looking ones. For cosmetic mods, I've found it's the best method.

[chakis24]

Originally Posted by cc1999

I will say the old GMT800 did set sooooo low in the front that almost all our fleet trucks ended up with there front lower spoilers ripped off, or dragging barley hanging on when they came out of service. So if it were mine I probably would do a 2" level kit of some type on the front, and maybe a upgrade the tires to a 265/75/16 BFG ATKO mounted on the stock rims. That should give the truck a whole new stance and a more rugged look without hurting the mileage more than 5-10%, at a total cost of under a grand.

quick crank and its level. even when i had the 285's on it i was still hitting 19-20 mpg highway and 14 city. stock 265's it was low 20's regularly and maybe 15ish.

now that i have larger tires, wider wheels, 3 inches of lift, and the black air damn taken off, i get 17 highway and bout 12 city.

if you have the 17" stock wheels, you can fit 285's on them. (ill post pics of mine leveled with the 285's when i can, im not home right now)

my stock gearing was 3.42 as well, you might have 3.23 since its two wheel drive- bigger tires are gonna make it a dog.

[RSW]

Wow, nice dad!

Probably just me but I love the look of a mild lift with pretty much stock-sized tires.

[darndot]

I have 285s. I love them. Didn't really see a drop in the fuel mileage. I went taller not wider. I did crank the bars a few cranks to level them before having it aligned.
Here was my thread on my new tires.
Time for new tires.

[Uzzy]

Originally Posted by darndot

I have 285s. I love them. Didn't really see a drop in the fuel mileage. I went taller not wider. I did crank the bars a few cranks to level them before having it aligned.
Here was my thread on my new tires.
Time for new tires.

Nice truck, it's nearly idetical to mine. I have different wheels and I tinted the front windows to match the rest. I have the factory size Toyo Open Countries on it now, but I think I'm going to get BFGs when it's time for a new set. Not that there's anything wrong witht he Toyos, though. The BFGs look a bit more aggresive, but my friend had a big drop in MPG on his Dakota after going with a bigger set of the BFGs, so I'm not sure yet.



That is mine (and my old Saturn) except now I have a billet grille, tinted front door windows and a black bow-tie...I need some newer pics, I just clay bared and waxed it last weekend )

[chakis24]

sorry, i couldnt find a straight side view. here's a 3/4, it looks mostly like you guys (which all look good btw), and below it is a bigger side shot of now: