Question, got an idea...

I want to lift my Xterra, but am worried about it being more top heavy, can you tell a big difference? what i was thinking is lifting it about 5 inches and getting some 33inch mud tires, and having them protruding farther out, so its like open wheel, about 5 or 6 inches out, on all tires, would that give me more stability? better for offroading? imput welcome

I'm going to try and be as nice as possible.

With 3 inches of suspension lift I feel my truck is more stable. Better suspension components easily compensate and then some for the extra height. You will have to do a suspension AND body lift to get 5 inches...allows for larger tires but gives you no clearance benefit except for the extra 1/2" you get from the 33" tire.

Having your tires offset like you are asking is stupid. Excessive wear on suspension, excessive wear on wheel bearings, excessive rubbing of bodywork, and most of all it looks stupid..REALLY stupid! It also has a negative effect on offroading...track will be too wide for many obstacles and among other things could get you stuck between two trees. First person who cuts down a tree because their Xterra is 12 inches wider than it should be will get their ass kicked by me! Wider track also gives you more distance between tires and in most offroading situations the closer the better for clearance reasons. Most trails around here are barely wide enough for a Jeep...the Xterra is already too wide!

Search, search, search, search!!!

Good to know. Don't want to get my arse kicked.

I'm getting my body lift as soon as I sell my DR rims. A little bit of trimming though and I think the X looks great. Pay no attention to those afraid to modify their X beyond "bolt on" parts.

Axle

i tried searching, didn't find anything when looking for 'getting wheels to stick out' but thanks for the advice, if i get good suspension could the handling with a 3inch lift be better then stock? anti sway bars, etc, and what would be best, thanks!

There is a very good reason why the tires/wheels tuck under the fenders. If you plan on doing any severe off-roading you want to be aware that your up travel will bring the wheels and tires into the front and possibly rear fenders.

With the added travel of a lift and extremely offset wheels there is the very likely chance that you will do damage to the fenders and the bumper. (or the plastic bumper trim at a minimum).

I personally know of two instances (although it was jumping thus bringing the suspension travel through it's full cycle) that the off-set of the wheels coupled with the limited space and extended travel practically blew the front fenders off the truck from the bottom up.

You either need to do some extensive trimming in front or go with fiberglass fenders and at a minimum go with bumpstop extentions to limit your uptravel in the rear as minimal preventative measures.

Trim away it's fun and educational.

The following picture was found in the "Pictures" section in this thread .



It may not be exactly what you want to do, but it gives you an idea of what it would look like with the tires sticking waaaaaaaaaaaay out...

umm..steroidal!

so i would have to trim up to be able to go muddin with tires that far out? if they are such a pain why do people do it? i don't see any advantages of it, what are they?

That's what I've been trying to figure out!

The silver Xterra shown is so cranked up on the front that there is no downward travel left in the suspension. The camber is also way off and the driveshaft angle into the CV joints is constantly excessive. Breakage city! And I can't even imagine how horrible that thing must drive on the street.

As far as cutting metal goes, I'm sorry but I still have a couple years of payments left. Cutting and destroying my fenders and the paint on them is not high on my list of things to do to the only vehicle I own and drive everyday. If I wanted to run super huge tires and cut stuff I'd buy something old with a solid axle up front that I didn't care about looks with.

Nope; I'm pretty happy with the 3 inch suspension lift and 32" tires. If it weren't such a PITA I would consider a 2" body lift but the truck is good the way it is.