Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys

Lifted and Appearance Mods

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by mikekey » Sun Jun 17, 2012 9:43 pm

Spent the whole weekend getting our Trailblazer lifted. Installed the BDS 2 inch front & rear kit, along with Z71 Springs, and Blistein HD shocks up front. Also took the time to delete the resonator, and flip the upper control arms.

The difference in ride is amazing. Like a whole new car. Just kinda wish we waited till after the lift on the tires. But I am thinking new rims and tires next year.

Image

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After that decided I was tired of looking at the faded black plastic, so grabbed some of the Rustolum Bumper Paint and decided to spruce things up a bit. Also debadged the rear deck and decided to paint our side door emblems and the front emblem. Since our truck is metallic grey, I did something a little different that I felt was real subdued and painted them metallica gun metal.

Image

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Anyways some final shots.

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Can't wait to get my front skids and up next comes the Baja Rack. We're getting ready to take our own road trip out west finally this August.

:flex dirty:
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by Mudwheelin » Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:34 pm

Looks great man!
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by NC_IslandRunner » Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:49 pm

That first pic is great, bds box shocks came in say NO FINE PRINT talking about the warranty that if you read the fine print does not cover the shocks!
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by DirtyBacon04 » Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:01 pm

Great lookin rig, man. Makin me wish my truck was same color.
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by HARDTRAILZ » Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:48 am

Nice
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by mikekey » Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:48 pm

NC_IslandRunner wrote:That first pic is great, bds box shocks came in say NO FINE PRINT talking about the warranty that if you read the fine print does not cover the shocks!


I noticed that myself, brillant marketing if you ask me.
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by HARDTRAILZ » Mon Jun 18, 2012 7:01 pm

I said similar about BDS and the "warranty " awhile back and several seemed to defend bds. Now w a few failures and it seeming that the warranty not only skips out on shocks but the busted parts as well, no one is defending bds.
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by Cable810 » Mon Jun 18, 2012 8:25 pm

HARDTRAILZ wrote:I said similar about BDS and the "warranty " awhile back and several seemed to defend bds. Now w a few failures and it seeming that the warranty not only skips out on shocks but the busted parts as well, no one is defending bds.


MarkMC :poke: Anyhow, Looking really good I love your TBs color especially with blacking most of the stuff out!
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by fishsticks » Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:06 pm

HARDTRAILZ wrote:I said similar about BDS and the "warranty " awhile back and several seemed to defend bds. Now w a few failures and it seeming that the warranty not only skips out on shocks but the busted parts as well, no one is defending bds.


:hijack: ...and not to bring this up again. But did someone manage to break a BDS lift spacer?
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by navigator » Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:18 pm

I think Roadie had an issue that caused him to get Mark's lift. I don't recall all the details.
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by mikekey » Tue Jun 19, 2012 12:01 pm

I feel so re-assured now.
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by Trail X » Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:07 pm

I'll still defend BDS. I have not had one problem. (now where's some wood I can go knock on?)

...and not to bring it back up - I thought BDS did warranty their shocks for infantile failures, but not against normal wear and tear... as to be expected since shocks are wear items. Like bushings.

By the way Mike, it looks good. I especially like the red painted tow hook.
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by fishsticks » Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:11 pm

mikekey wrote:I feel so re-assured now.



I wouldn't worry about it. I'd say you have less than a 1% chance of having any issue.
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by NC_IslandRunner » Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:24 pm

JamesDowning wrote:I'll still defend BDS. I have not had one problem. (now where's some wood I can go knock on?)

...and not to bring it back up - I thought BDS did warranty their shocks for infantile failures, but not against normal wear and tear... as to be expected since shocks are wear items. Like bushings.

By the way Mike, it looks good. I especially like the red painted tow hook.


No problems yet with mine, Knock Wood. And the shocks are expected to wear out, the issue is their warranty claim is total BS, When I replaced my brake pads and that is the #1 wear part on any truck they said lifetime warranty and they have stood by it. I have replaced front and back twice and only paid for the first set. So calling it a wear part is no excuse!

I like the bowtie on the grill that color, do you have a close up of the side? Might paint my bowtie to match the orange, thinkin the chrome colored plastic should be white to go with truck....I still need to flip UCA's
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by NC_IslandRunner » Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:30 pm

fishsticks wrote:
mikekey wrote:I feel so re-assured now.



I wouldn't worry about it. I'd say you have less than a 1% chance of having any issue.


:Iagree: I have full confidence in the BDS product. I just hate false advertisment.
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by mikekey » Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:58 pm

NC_IslandRunner wrote: I like the bowtie on the grill that color, do you have a close up of the side? Might paint my bowtie to match the orange, thinkin the chrome colored plastic should be white to go with truck....I still need to flip UCA's


I need to take one. But I still have to finish up the roof rack and the handle on the rear window.
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by The Roadie » Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:27 am

fishsticks wrote:But did someone manage to break a BDS lift spacer?
DirtyBacon and I, and probably Teebes all managed to kill our BDS upper bushings. With new data from v7guy, it seems there's no bump stop on extension, and no hard-wheeled upper bushing is likely to survive. Still trying to find time to write up my incident but I do have good pics.
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by fishsticks » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:18 am

The Roadie wrote:
fishsticks wrote:But did someone manage to break a BDS lift spacer?
DirtyBacon and I, and probably Teebes all managed to kill our BDS upper bushings. With new data from v7guy, it seems there's no bump stop on extension, and no hard-wheeled upper bushing is likely to survive. Still trying to find time to write up my incident but I do have good pics.


I suppose I should look at the bushings in my RC lift and see if they've suffered a similar fate...

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by v7guy » Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:32 am

The truck looks mighty fine sir! I like the red tow hooks too, it was a nice touch.
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