2023 Lightning Lariat ER / Antimatter Blue / Leveled

My first EV! Just bought it used with 11K miles on it. Will start with the glamour shots then follow up with some background and mods listed.

Lift close-up:

bmm3k said:

My first EV! Just bought it used with 11K miles on it. Will start with the glamour shots then follow up with some background and mods listed.

View attachment 87379

power steps open:

Click to expand...

Congrats on the awesome new ride

Love it... about time we see some more leveled/lifted Lightnings around here... Lookin good!

Some details on the mods:

-3" F150 Lightning Lift Kit by Rough Country (sku 40900)
-Weld 20" wheels
-Nitto Recon Grapplers 275/65/20
-Hard folding tonneau cover
-Spray-in bed liner
-Ford factory power steps (not a mod)
-WeatherTech floor liners

Loving it so far. Ford really nailed it with this truck. Anyone who calls it a golf cart clearly hasn't driven it.

bmm3k said:

-3" F150 Lightning Lift Kit by Rough Country (sku 40900)

Click to expand...

I have the same leveling kit sitting in my garage waiting for a free weekend to get installed. I can’t wait. How’s the ride feel after leveling?

bmm3k said:

Some details on the mods:

-3" F150 Lightning Lift Kit by Rough Country (sku 40900)
-Weld 20" wheels
-Nitto Recon Grapplers 275/65/20
-Hard folding tonneau cover
-Ford factory power steps (not a mod)
-WeatherTech floor liners

Loving it so far. Ford really nailed it with this truck. Anyone who calls it a golf cart clearly hasn't driven it.

Click to expand...

Haha! My friends call it a remote control car. I think they're just jealous.

While I love all the mods, I can't take credit for doing them myself! I was searching for a used Lightning and found this one show up at a non-Ford dealer lot as a trade-in. It was on the website with a stock photo of white Pro model - it was so recently traded the dealer had not yet cleaned it or taken photos of it. It was only by looking at the VIN did I know it was blue Lariat, with extended range. Exactly what I was looking for. So when I show up to my surprise it was more than that - I hit the jackpot. The PO turns out is the owner of a local truck & jeep upgrade shop (the kind of place that installs lift kits, wheels and tires, lighting etc.) This was his personal truck he had for about 1 year and traded it in. Anyways, I new immediately I had to purchase it. If you factor that all the upgrades did not raise the value of the much depreciated used EV, I got a great deal and came away happy with it. If you live in GA and are interested please message me I can provide the shop details, they do great work and clearly aren't afraid to work on the Lightning.

mashiniblick said:

I have the same leveling kit sitting in my garage waiting for a free weekend to get installed. I can’t wait. How’s the ride feel after leveling?

Click to expand...

I can only compare it to the new 2024 Lightning Lariat I test drove from the Ford dealer before deciding "OK this is the future. Need to buy this." I drove that stock truck for about 20 minutes total. I've only had this for roughly a week, so it's not like I have tons of miles under my belt I can comment on...

-Speed and handling - no noticeable difference. It's still fast as h*ll and handles very smooth. I will say if I really hard punch it in sports mode I can spin the tires but I blame the all terrains not being as sticky as street tires made for speed. But quite frankly it goes faster than I am comfortable with anyways.
-Noise - I would have thought all terrain tires would be more noisey and noticeable since the truck is so quiet. Not the case.
-Ride quality - still feels very good to me. Not harsh or bumpy or floaty. I can't tell the difference from the stock one. The independent suspension on front and back makes it so much better than any truck I've ever been in.
-Visibility - This is probably the biggest noticeable difference. The lift is only the front but you are sitting 2-3 inches higher so yes that in some ways gives you a greater view of the road. *HOWEVER* because it is sitting level the angle you are looking out at is flatter and thus more of your view is your hood. This does impact visibility. That was probably the first thing I noticed compared to a stock Lightning.

Nice looking truck!! I love the leveled look. What kind of range are you getting with that tire/wheel combo?

Some other low-hanging fruit mods:
• Screen protector
• Stubby antena
• PPF (partial PPF with TWRAPS)
• X-Mod dash cam

Welcome to the Lightning club!!

Thanks @nathanjaybar for the complement and upgrade ideas. I thought about the antenna but sticking with it as my parking garage warning device.

As for impact to efficiency - so far this is all in-town driving. In normal flow of traffic driving I'm in the 2.3-2.5 mi/kwh range. If I go to sport mode or decide I'm in a big hurry it's more like 2.0-2.1 mi/kwh.

As for wraps - I'm curious if anybody has found a good headlight tint wrap to put on the LED light bar? I am *not* a fan of the milky white plastic look. Especially on such a dark paint job it stands out bad. On a white truck, probably wouldn't bother me. Anyways, I poked around this forum and saw a few people wrap the bar but haven't found a clear winner. Open to suggestions.

Also... I noticed since the front plastic "grill" is basically a bug wall to smash bugs on. It's always collecting dead bugs.

awesome, I have the same tires (P-rated recons that are 34+" and same width as stock) but I have the 2" RC leveling pucks in the front, it is a great setup and optimizes looks without too bad of a hit to range (around town essentially the same as stock, highway does worsen range especially above 75mph)

JerseyMike said:

awesome, I have the same tires (P-rated recons that are 34+" and same width as stock) but I have the 2" RC leveling pucks in the front, it is a great setup and optimizes looks without too bad of a hit to range (around town essentially the same as stock, highway does worsen range especially above 75mph)

Click to expand...

Your Lightning truck looks amazing, Mike! Thanks for sharing this beauty with the forum.

Nice truck @JerseyMike ! The lift looks good. I also like that you wrapped (or painted?) the plastic grill black to match the truck. That looks really good.

As for the Nitto Recons - yeah so far big fan. The tread looks pretty aggressive but handle nicely on the road and I barely notice any sort of road noise.