What did you do to your 5th Gen? | Page 110 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

What did you do to your 5th Gen?

I got all my OEM wheels repaired and powder coated a nice gloss black. These look so much better without the two tone in my opinion. And Ford and many other companies are finally producing production vehicles that come with black wheels.





20210116_145755.jpg
20210116_145741.jpg
20210116_145723.jpg
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





I just had my Steeda lowering springs installed yesterday. I’ve seen pictures on this forum of other members rides who have done this and I’ve even taken measurements but it didn’t prepare me for actually seeing in person my X lowered for the first time. It was a shock seeing the drastic change in the X’s stance... I love it! The handling is amazing for a nearly 5,000 pound suv. I’ve already had Steeda’s sway bar, trailing arms and toe links installed a few months ago and I am very happy with the handling, lots of fun. I’m going to drive it for a week and let the springs settle then take it back in to Pure Performance Automotive to do the alignment, no use in paying twice. I also got SPC’s front and rear alignment bolts to go with the springs. In the mesntime my X is riding straight and not pulling to the left or right.

View attachment 325710
How is the ride with the Steeda springs? Is it close to stock or harsher than stock?
 






How is the ride with the Steeda springs? Is it close to stock or harsher than stock?
The ride was a bit stiff and harsh on some rough patches of road and a couple of bad expansion joints were hard on the first day. By the second day for a lack of a better description it was loosening up and riding much more smoother and has steadily improved. In my opinion the ride is surprisingly close to stock. I am very happy with the ride and of course the handling. I have a back and spinal injury and some nerve damage and ride comfort is very important to me so I am pretty critical about the ride quality. The lowering springs passed their toughest test, my wife has not noticed or complained about any difference in the ride quality. I hope I’ve been some help in your decision, let us know if you get them.

0E9DACE7-7AD7-4C73-9E65-B1962DEB7527.jpeg


6A72EFD7-A115-454E-BE22-986CBCA0BEB5.png


4B8CA789-205C-4043-B880-3E1E607D1EDC.jpeg


F4304413-624E-44C5-88D5-94B79435F7D3.jpeg
 






The last two pictures are of a local road I’ve been driving on for years and my X with the Steeda springs and other improvements to the suspension is more fun to drive on this road then some of my past cars.
 






The last two pictures are of a local road I’ve been driving on for years and my X with the Steeda springs and other improvements to the suspension is more fun to drive on this road then some of my past cars.
What about that new sway bar?
 






What about that new sway bar?
The Steeda sway bar is a great improvement to the handling of the 5th generation Explorers. I have been driving with the sway bar installed for 9 months now and have enjoyed the improvement in cornering. The “X” not only corners better at speed but also driving around slow she is much more stable and you’ll definitely have much less roll on turns and curves. In my opinion it is definitely worth the purchase.
 






The Steeda sway bar is a great improvement to the handling of the 5th generation Explorers. I have been driving with the sway bar installed for 9 months now and have enjoyed the improvement in cornering. The X is not only corners better at speed but also driving around slow she is much more stable and you’ll definitely have much less roll on turns and curves. In my opinion it is definitely worth the purchase.
One thing about the lowering springs I forgot to mention is the front air dam is now 5 and 3/8” lower from the bottom edge to the ground on the corners and 7and 1/4” in the center. I am even more diligent when parking in public places not to run into the cement stoppers and curbs. I also have to be careful when visiting my son’s house, his driveway meets the main street at an steep angle so I have to take it slowly. I have forgotten once in each circumstance, ouch! Just scraped the air dam in both times, so you do need to remember you’re sitting down lower than what you’re used to.
 






Inspired by @realscot2 I decided to get black wheel caps and black lugs nuts for my EXP.

It was freezing out today, but I did it anyway. I had to clean one wheel off for a good pic.

I have also added a pic of the wheel caps that fit. They are about 2 5/8".

IMG_4595.JPG


IMG_4598.JPG
 






Again being inspired here, and from this thread:


I decided to add my own amber grill lights. Wasn't too bad of an install. It was cold here today, but I wanted to get it done.

IMG_4649.JPG
IMG_4657.JPG
 






Can you share how you accomplished this? How did you power them? They look really nice.
 






It seems, i am never satisfied. When I purchased my 2015 XLT, i knew nothing about it. I soon educated myself on this forum. I immediately researched the sync systems. I started purchasing the necessary components to upgrade to Sync3. Not happy with the sound, I upgraded all the speakers. Still missing was the subwoofer (9 speaker system). I found a stock subwoofer enclosure with Sony 8” on Ebay. I purchased the Pioneer 8” low profile sub and removed the back panel and installed the package.(I found the plug and play guy that makes pigtails for sub output). It’s not JLAudio, but 1/3 the cost. Now i needed the speakers powered to match the sub. Enter the same plug and play dude that made my sub pigtail. Got the kicker amp/pigtail setup from him and what a difference.
I have a coworker that bought a Dodge Ram with the 12” Android head unit and was intrigued. After 6 months of his boasting, I decided to research these head units. I purchased the latest, which is 13.6”, Android 9.0, 4 gb ram 64 gb memory. My Sync3 apim screws on the back and all OEM features are retained. I will be the guinea pig and report my experience….that is as soon as this arctic weather leaves Austin Texas, and I can install it😎
 


















Finally was able to get the X into my local mechanic to take care of minor issue and bolt up the PPE downpipes. Glad I did as he had two bolts break and one stud. I made sure to get studs and nuts from the local dealer before taking it to him. I also had Bilstein B6 shocks and struts installed!

Progress!
 






Can you share how you accomplished this? How did you power them? They look really nice.

Got the lights from Amazon. I measured and made them the right length. I used heat butt connectors and heat shrink. I then wired the black to a screw in the engine area and the red to a fuse in the fuse box.

I can maybe more pics if you want.

It really was a simple install, even for me.

I looked at a lot of Raptor and Tacoma videos.
 
























I am tweaking it, as i learn the ins and outs. I used to know a lot about Android, so i am giving myself a refresher course. I am looking at a launcher, like Nova. The equalizer makes a big difference over the simple sync3. By the way, the Sync3 apim attaches to the unit and uses all the oem components. I will give a better review, as i get more comfortable with it.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





I've read that Sync will likely be done away with in a couple years and be replaced by an Andriod based system.

Peter
 






Back
Top