THAT is exactly what the EX should have looked like from the factory!
Looks great and it still fits in the garage, good stuff. My rims had a lot of scratches too when I got em, spent a day with rubbing and polishing compund then wax and now they look pretty darn good for 10 year old rims!
Before you test drive it with a big ole camper you should look into the '08+ towing mirrors, they are great and decently priced from 1AAuto.

 

I will I am on the fence on the electric power fold in and telescope. Expensive but kinda needed especially on the passenger side. I will check out 1aauto. Thanks!

 

Not true. The sag is the same as it was 2 years ago and shackles were the best thing I ever did to the the truck. They haven't sagged 1/8" more in 2 years.

 

^none of that is true^
Not true, I love my stock springs. They sag about 1" in the first hundred k miles which isn't much.

 

That's great that it worked out. It's such a crap shoot usually.

How do you like the Open Country's so far? I just had a set of 305's put on mine about 2 weeks ago. I wasn't sure at first but it's the most aggressive set of tires I've bought and wasn't sure how they'd wear in, but they've done fine. Early on was a little scary. I lit them up at about 20 MPH on a good, dry concrete road. It scared me as much as it did the guy behind me. I'd never felt the effect of the "new tire" slick'm gunk as much before. For the 1st 200 miles or so higher speeds were a little squirrely too. I thought for the first time I'd return a set of tire. They'd float around at higher speeds. They're solid now that they've gotten a little road time. They're louder than I expected, before seeing them in person and seeing just how aggressive the "Xtreme" tread pattern was. They look great and drive and ride more like nice smooth AT vs an AT on steroids, or even a lot of mud tires.

 

Well I haven't driven much but I agree with you very unresponsive. I know about the manufacturing goo that can cause ill handling tires. Had some experience with the mustang on that. They float around at pretty much all speeds.

Like you I have had road tires only until these. No tire stores carry them around me so I had to special order them from discount tire. So basically I looked at tires online. I wanted the Nitto but they are reported to tow bad and not last long. So I went with the Open County AT II's which at least by one person said they are terrible for towing but he installed the tires and started to tow a 1k mile trip with no breakin.
When I saw them in person it was clear the tread is very aggressive for an all terrain tire. They look mean and very capable for off roading. To my wifes dismay I am keeping my old rims as insurance to keep a road tire for towing. Haven't decided on that yet. Got a bigger rim wider and taller to 18inches. Stuck with recommended size for my rim size. All that being said my hope is wider and taller rim might make it perform similar to the Michelin ltx..

I will follow your advice and wait a couple hundred miles before I make any rash decisions.

 

I had the same initial reaction about them. There was no way I was going to keep them the way they floated around but that's gone 100%. I think part of it was just wearing the tread too. They look great and now I'm happy with the way they ride and feel. They feel just as capable and firm yet have a slight softness that eliminates that jarring sensation.

I too had Discount order them and they matched their price on Nitto s I was happy with that considering the wide range of prices I found. I ofund 1 issue with Nitto's are that it's not the tire, it's the tire guys are putting on their truck, specifically when towing. A lot of guys put load range D on, or the tire store does, either way load range E are needed for towing and getting good wear. I think Nitto offers some sizes in both because of the OEM applications that don't require E's but people dont always pay attention to the load range, just the capacity. IN every case I was able to confirm, bad wear and towing issues were attributed to the wrong load range being used. I was going to put them on when I put the Destinations on but everything was on national b/o at the time,I was lucky to get the Destinations, and at the time they were priced right. The Terra's and Open Country ATii are really similar in core tread design and I think they don't push them through main retail channels so as not to compete with the Nitto's. Just a guess, but it would make sense to protect each market and since Nitto owns both.

Give them a few miles and you'll see. When I pulled out of Discount is when I had to jump on it pretty hard once I hit about 20 MPH (an a hole jumped out of a parking lot and apparently didn't see me in the intersection and we had an rig coming up quick) and when I did, they broke loose and I left a cloud of tire smoke and scared the crap out of the guy that jumped out of the parking lot. I'd never experienced the initial slick'm on tires like that. I'm just glad they're all good now. It runs steady down the road at any speed rather then be feathering the wheel back and forth. And they look great, and that's what counts, right?

 

yea they look great. Love the style of them. Now to see if they can last the 65k miles they advertise.

 

So I have 250 total miles on the Toyo Open Country ATII's E Rated. It in no way handles as good as the Michelin LTX's. Having said that I agree with you JKTex they do ride a lot better than the LTX's. If I sling it around I can feel the slide and a little slingback but it is very predictable. I am going to keep them around. I do have to drive it a little more on the highway but I expected that with an all terrain tire this aggressive. I haven't towed with them yet so no opinions there. Overall I like the tires and I am glad I got them.

 

yup been running 2.5" shackles for 3 years and 30k miles now..best bang for the buck there is!! i also have a f-350 4" tapered block in the rear. still sitting at the same height as they did when i installed them.

is it the best solution? no. I had installed X-code springs in my old excursion and if i could find another set for this one i would swap them in right away. but alas i have not found any although i have not looked all that hard either.

for reference i have stock sized tires (31.9" or so)

 

I have the AT2 all terrain 285/75r18 (34.8") I have about 5k miles on them. I tows great, rides and handles great. I love the tires. It does hum at highway speed because of the aggressive tread.

I had the michelin ltx/ms2 in stock size. They are great tires. No hum but they are stock size.

 

Predictable is a good description. I'm even more happy with them now with more miles on them. For how aggressive they are they plant on the road really well. Mine feel even more controlled whether cornering or highway speeds. Hopefully you'll feel that with more mile too. I think they just take some time to wear the tread in. Mine are 305's on 16" wheels so they're more balloon like. Basically 285's, about 1.5" wider, (much heavier than the 285 Destinations) and 15psi less max pressure. Considering that, I'm completely satisfied with them now. The first time I did a 40 to 80+ run getting on the toll road off 121 I thought I was going to rip a chunk out of my seat. It was like I was floating around on air. That's completely gone and they're completely stable at any speed.

The only negative is MPG. I'd just gotten MPG up quite a bit and then put the tires on mid tank and it seems like it slipped a bit. I'm on tank 2 and it seems like I may have given up about 1 MPG which is still about 2 better (around town, like 2-5 mile quick trips mostly) I'm not sure about HWY now but it appeared I wold have been back over 20 under good conditions and I may struggle to get there, but we'll see once I actually hit the HWY. I expected a loss, but actually seeing it after making strides to improve it is reality hitting me in the face.

 

Thanks Russ, you are the only one to agree with me but you are one of the few that have them. There are plenty of na sayers in here there that never tried them and love to oppose anything I say. Actually mine have been in for 2 years with zero sag and no caster issues..............surely rides well also.