mrsmoos

We recently got our soon-to-be-driving son a 95 Tahoe. It is stock 2 door LT w/ 98,000 miles on it. And his high school color-Dark Blue! Woo-Hoo! Nowhe wants to "lift" it. We want him just to put on some slightly "fatter" wheels and cool rims that we could get for a song from a friend. Drive it a while and then lift it. I am not thrilled with the idea of lifting it too much because it would make it unstable, correct? Plus it seems to cost a lot of $$$ too doesn't it? So what advice could you guys offer a Mom who is trying to mediate this situation. My husband says leave the car the way it is. Son wants it to be almost monster truck(6" lift). I can see lifting it a littleso the fatter tires we might get don't rub(I had a Suburban that I always wanted lift a little so I can have some empathy for son) So what to do, how high, what's the cheapest safe way to do it and pros and cons from those of you have "lifted"--PLEASE[]

ZX1100F1

Just be the parent.

I generally allowed my boys to fix up their vehicles provided that they pay for it or make arrangements with me.

But when either me or my wife said "No” then the answer was "No”, you have to stay on the same page. Now that they are in college and don't have the expendable income they are learning life's hard knock realities that other needs can take precedence and because we were somewhat lax with them it is proving to be a very tough lesson.

The only "pro" to lifting a truck is looks, everything else suffers.

Lifted1995Tahoe

It sounds like a fun project to me. I have the same exact truck with 110,000 miles and same color. I did put a 6 inch lift with 36 inch mud tires on it ,the price was around 3grand toput the lift and tires. If all you are looking foris to lift thetruck with some slightly bigger tires around 31"- 33" tires I would say geta 3-6 inch body lift which would becheaper than going with a regular liftand give you plenty of clearence for the tires.

mrsmoos

A 4x4 place here in town said that a "body lift" wasn't very good--that a "suspension lift" was best.They also saidthe drive train may have to modified and the car would not last as long as if we left it stock--nor get as good gas mileage (cough-cough)[:'(]as it does now. Does anyone have or can point me to some pics of Tahoes like this that may just have bigger tires or??? that I could try to "sell" him on"? Between the lifting issue and the loud stereo issue, I'm about to go crazy and he doesn't even have his permit yet![]

73shark

I agree with ZX. Unless your son has an inheritance or a really good job, I doubt he's going to be able to swing a full suspension lift (your 4X4 guy was right) and the monster tires and wheels (will require bigger brakes). All of these items add weight, so there goes the mpg. Good luck.

engine2

I agree with the other posters here. I also would also remind you that since this is your sons first vehicle and being a new driver he is most likely going to wreck it within the first or second year. I am not trying to scare you, but the odds are not in a young boys favor (just pray thats its a minor accident). Needless to say, The center of gravity is already pretty high and lifting it is going to make it worse and more prone to rollover. In case you have not figured it out by my screen name, I have seen my share of motor vehicle accidents - rollovers are almost always bad news for the occupants. Also keep in mind the older tahoes dont have the rollover sensors and side airbags the new ones now have. I would tell your son he should be happy he is getting anything to drive - especially a cool 2 door tahoe. I would leave it stock. When he gets older, more experience driving, and starts paying his own way and still wants to lift it, it will be like getting a new truck again. I would rather be safe than look cool. As a parent you need to make the decision for him, he might get pissed but will thank you in about 15 years when the superman complex (that every male has till there are around 25-30) wears off. Good luck