suspension lift

Do you have a preference?

It’s difficult to pinpoint who makes the best lift kit because what might be the best for one person, might not be best for another. Most people daily drive their trucks, some have show trucks, some use theirs every day for a work truck, and other guys are out there trying to set the record for the Baja 1000. The point that we’re making is your application might differ from someone else and you may agree or disagree with our opinions because of that, but either way, here’s what we found.

There are many different companies for suspension lift kits. We’ll be talking about Rough Country, BDS, Zone, and McGaughys.

Since we are truck enthusiasts ourselves, we have first hand experience in building and driving trucks. After getting our hands on all of these different brands, it’s easy to see that the gaps in quality are becoming smaller and smaller as the market gets more saturated. So, like anything, the more competition there is, the more companies are pushing themselves to innovate and invent new products.

One of the best examples of this is Rough Country. There’s a large demographic of people out there that associate Rough Country with a rough ride. That same demographic probably has a Rough Country kit installed on their truck.

The thing about Rough Country is that they can get you into the lifted truck game for less and likely the best bang for your buck if you’re willing to sacrifice a little bit of ride quality. This is because Rough Country pushes the limits of their products. The best example of this is the 6” lift available for the Chevrolet Silverado. They don’t give you the option for new upper control arms when you really should be upgrading those. But on the same hand, leaving those out allows you to get the kit for cheaper and shipped for free.

Then there’s BDS, which we actually have promoted on many 2015 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD’s. When we talked to the guys at BDS, it’s clear they know what they’re doing when it comes to engineering and testing because many of their guys are out on the weekends in their own rigs beating the crap out of various BDS products. This in return helps them build things stronger and better. The build quality is what really stands out to us compared  to other brands, and BDS has basically endless options and add-ons. You can get Fox shocks, Fox steering stabilizers, Recoil tractions bars, coilovers, upper control arms, and the list goes on and on. The only downfall is that its super easy to go over budget due to the extensive amount of products available.

Rough Country and BDS are the 2 most popular kits out there, but there are some great in between products as well. The first that comes to mind for us is Zone, who is actually the little brother to BDS. Zone steps up the quality compared to other entry-level kits without going up to BDS pricing. If you daily drive your truck but want it to withstand to some mild off-roading and abuse then Zone could be a great option for you. Zone is actually developed from some of the same teams as BDS, but the materials are sourced for cheaper prices, which is how they pass on the savings to customers. Zone offers a decent amount of options, with the most popular being the shock upgrades from the standard Nitrogen shocks to the Fox 2.0 performance shocks. Even if you pick up a different brand of lift kit, we would highly recommend the fabricated upper control arms that Zone offers.

Then we have McGaughys, which seems to be put up on a pedestal of being the best lift kit out there. But are they really? They look awesome, but when it comes to performance do they hold up? That’s the real question. From the guys we’ve talked to, you get some fantastic ride quality, but when it comes to the finish they say its worth it to spend the extra for the Premium kit versus the Basic kit. McGaughys also offers a stainless steel kit, but don’t get too excited because it’s just the decorative plates on the crossmember that are stainless, not the whole kit. So the real question is, for the price are they worth it? If you have a show vehicle or just a really clean daily, the McGaughys kit holds up well and it looks great. There’s no denying that they have the sexiest cross member compared to any other suspension brand.

Regardless of what we think, it really comes down to personal preference, how you use your truck, and what your budget is. There will always be a cheaper option, there’s always going to be something outside of your price range, and there isn’t 1 lift that’s the holy grail compared to the others.