Cheap Lowering for 3rd Gen 2" or so? | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Cheap Lowering for 3rd Gen 2" or so?

4FordFamily

Been there done that
Joined
January 26, 2003
Messages
920
Reaction score
6
City, State
Fishers, IN
Year, Model & Trim Level
'16 Sport, 08, other ford
What's a cheap way to lower a 3rd gen explorer? I'm making it street, and the HUGE gap in the wells isn't working for me.

Is there a cheap way to lower these things? Remove leaf springs/ Torsion twist (explain these I've heard of them but don't know what they entail)

How crappy will the ride be?

Throw me some ideas... I don't have much money to put in this thing as I've thrown most of it in to my show car.
 



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!
.





All 4 corners are coils, so the only way to lower it is by installing lowering coils. The cheap version of that, and am I in no way recommending this, just saying it's an option, is to cut up to one coil off your existing coils - I would not go any further than 1 coil though, or you will bounce all over the place, and the coil may dislodge. I may or may not have cut 1 coil off mine originally, and it was fine.
 






Springs are cheap if you install them yourself. I have seen you mention putting 24s on that thing. I don't think you'll be able to run 24s if you lower it.
 






i have coils for same 100 bucks pluse shipping

they will drop 2.5 / 3.0
DSCN1400-1.jpg
 












Springs are cheap if you install them yourself. I have seen you mention putting 24s on that thing. I don't think you'll be able to run 24s if you lower it.

Theres a couple guys on car domain with a drop and 24's, they said they had no problem.

Thank you for the heads up though, I'll keep in mind it is a possibility.
 






Had it on 22's

they are from coilsprings.com
 






You can put 24's on with that much drop just choose your tires well get thick ones
 






Mine is dropped on 22s and there is no way 24s would fit unless there was literally rubber bands for tires on them. The tires I have been running are as low prifile as I would go anyway. The ride is rough and anything thinner would cause a bent rim the first time you hit a pothole. I went with the Belltech springs, which advertise a 2" drop in front and a 2.5" drop in the rear. Over time, and with the extra weight from my system, it sits at least 3-4" below stock height. My rear tires hit the fender every now and then over huge bumps.

Do you have a link or pics to these 3rd gens you're talking about with a drop and 24s?
 






I dont know what size tires you had but with my drop i had room to fix 265's

and could go way biger

my explorer was droped as you can tell the pic above


ill find a pic of the 24's
 






30215790011_large.jpg


theres a sand-ish colored one too... but here was the one lowered on 24's I found first.

And about tire sizes, 30 series tires are safe, hit many potholes with my 24's w/ 30 series. Wouldn't jump to 25 series though, personally.
 






Mine is dropped on 22s and there is no way 24s would fit unless there was literally rubber bands for tires on them. The tires I have been running are as low prifile as I would go anyway. The ride is rough and anything thinner would cause a bent rim the first time you hit a pothole. I went with the Belltech springs, which advertise a 2" drop in front and a 2.5" drop in the rear. Over time, and with the extra weight from my system, it sits at least 3-4" below sock height. My rear tires hit the fender every now and then over huge bumps.

Do you have a lonk or pics to these 3rd gens you're talking about with a drop and 24s?

You sure you had the right offset? Sounds like you have the wrong offset, the wells on my charger are MUCH smaller, and you can throw 24's on those with VERY little effort

He says he has the 1.6 ground force drop

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3021579
 






I dont know what size tires you had but with my drop i had room to fix 265's

and could go way biger

my explorer was droped as you can tell the pic above


ill find a pic of the 24's


265 is the width of the tire. How tall was your sidewall?

I ran 265/35s for a little over a year, and they were way too thin. Now I run 285/35s, and they make for a slightly better ride.
 






265 is the width of the tire. How tall was your sidewall?

I ran 265/35s for a little over a year, and they were way too thin. Now I run 285/35s, and they make for a slightly better ride.

265/35 i believe is the only 265 width 22" tire available right now
 


















My offset is perfect. Offset has nothing to do with the diameter of the wheel/tire combo.

No but if the wheel is too far inside the well (wrong offset) or too far out, it can change it's ability to fit properly.

What offset was it? We need a +12 thru +18

I had +38 offset thanks to an error from discount tire, the wheel sat so far inside it rubbed like a B**** (265/35/22)
 






30215790011_large.jpg


theres a sand-ish colored one too... but here was the one lowered on 24's I found first.

And about tire sizes, 30 series tires are safe, hit many potholes with my 24's w/ 30 series. Wouldn't jump to 25 series though, personally.

Wow. Rubber band tires on that truck FTL. I don't know how he can stand it.

BTW, "30 series" doesn't explain the sidewall height without giving the width as well. It just means that the sidewall is 30% as tall as the width of the tire.

265/30 would be way too small for me. Terrible ride, and the wheels would be ruined in the first week around DFW with the potholes we have here. Hang onto your teeth!
 






Wow. Rubber band tires on that truck FTL. I don't know how he can stand it.

BTW, "30 series" doesn't explain the sidewall height without giving the width as well. It just means that the sidewall is 30% as tall as the width of the tire.

265/30 would be way too small for me. Terrible ride, and the wheels would be ruined in the first week around DFW with the potholes we have here. Hang onto your teeth!

255/30/24

I've had 255/30/24 for over a year, in fort wayne indiana, pothole around every corner. No damage to the rims whatsoever.

My buddy has 25 series on his 24's on his 300c, had them a year, no damage with indianapolis potholes.

You know.. 3 years ago 35 series was "DANGEROUSLY" small.

7 years ago when the pirelli 265/35/22 came out, I put them on my 1995, they told me 35 series was WAY too dangerous, but they'd sell them to me. 3 years, one dent from a pothole a foot deep, and a foot wide in Indianapolis.
 



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!
.





No but if the wheel is too far inside the well (wrong offset) or too far out, it can change it's ability to fit properly.

What offset was it? We need a +12 thru +18

I had +38 offset thanks to an error from discount tire, the wheel sat so far inside it rubbed like a B**** (265/35/22)

I don't remember the offset measurement on these wheels, but they have been on my truck for almost 3 years. The outside face of my rim/tire lines up perfectly flush with the top of the wheel well. I wouldn't move them a millimeter in either direction.

The offset is not affecting anything on my truck. When I said that the fender touches the tire, I'm talking about the truck itself actually squatting down and sitting on top of the tire. It's not something that most people will experience, but I have less than two inches between the top of my tire and the lip of my fender, due to the springs settling over time, and the extremely heavy box/subs I have in back. It is more prone to happen when I have passengers in the rear, too. It's only happened 3 or 4 times in the past year or so, thankfully. If it were a regular issue I would have to change something.
 






Back
Top