Pictures of "unlowered" Gen1s....

[TRUBirdman12]

hell ya it bothers me, but driving in colorado, if i went with 20's i would have a really thin tire and it would be a lot easier to bend the rim. And i dont want to lower it cuse with the body kit its hard enough to drive it on some of the crap roads we have and parking lots with huge dips and crap. if i keep it, im goin to prolly put airbags on it, so i can drop it at shows and when its parked and crap to get rid of the fender gap, then i can raise it back to stock when im driving around on crap roads. I dont know what else i could really do to get rid of that, any suggesetions?!?

-BIRDMAN

[crispone]

Several thoughts....


- I think many of us are "bothered" by the gap more AFTER joining SG and being the subject of scrutiny for said GAP...

- Most of the options presented here (and in other posts) are not considering remaining with 17" rims. I did the drop, and kept my sidewall... currently 225/50/17's... and I am considering trying 235/50/17, or if that won't clear (which WOULD substantially close the gap AND give me a REAL MEATY stance...without sacrificing ride and weather) then I'll go to 235/45/17. I am pretty sure I can do that with the TRD drop. (Just going to the 17x8 from a 17x7 made a dramatic impact on my contact patch with the same set of tires... I was surprised at the effect, especially on traction performance.)

Anyway... for what it was worth.

BTW, I have ALREADY hit a POTHOLE while going around an intersection corner... one where a "blind grate" had been "tore up", and I hit it SO HARD the day after I mounted the OZ's, I almost had a STROKE! Fortunately, even when I HIT, I could tell the RIM never bottomed out against the INNER WALL of the RUBBER, in GREAT PART due to my 50 section sidewall... I am POSITIVE. (I suspect an inferior strength, thin lipped, large diameter, low profile tire combination could have been a day breaker real quick...) Between the quality of OZ's wheel design and hot forging process, I am sure these are robust rims for their moderate weight. This is the #1 factor in why I chose these rims. The shop that installed mine for me said I made a good choice, and showed me several cracked rims around the shop. They said our area roads combined with the "rubber-band" shod oversize rims was a real issue for alot of guys... even the the style is hot and loods good. Keep an eye out for those rough spots, and it can work great... but have a little mishap, and there's not alot of give... that's almost verbatim what the guy said to me... so it made me feel good about my choice, anyway.

As to the winter... I have a 4x4 for when it's REAL bad, and do mostly highway driving while trying to pressure-wash even in winter if I get a bunch of salt... but I haven't decided for SURE whether to switch or not. Part of my strategy with the setup I have is to be "all weather capable" with the sport rims ON...


-crisp