‘18 vs ‘19

[Raptor Vet]

I think you are spot on...thanks

 

[Viper32]

I also traded my 18 Black Raptor today for a 19 Agate Black Raptor, Got a crazy deal I could not resist. The 19 to me rides better than the 18 did. I also agree it seems to sit higher than my 18 did.

 

[HoldenTX]

Everyone that I’ve spoken with about lift or leveling kits have said “no way”, it will mess with the shock calibration. However the lead Raptor engineer at Ford tells my buddy that a 4” lift kit is no problem, other than perhaps premature U-joint wear.

I think the takeaway is that you shouldn’t be a first-mover here. Let someone else figure it out first, before you spend a lot of dough, and potentially ruin your truck.

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Unless your other buddies (aka "everyone") have the same background and in-depth knowledge as the guy who designed and built the Raptor (aka lead engineer), I think I'd defer to his or her opinion!

Interesting to hear about the different height - I wonder if that changes the equation for people considering collars?

 

[rtmozingo]

Black to Black comparison

I did a lot of homework on Shadow vs Agate black. Here’s my takeaway...

When perfectly clean, shadow black gives off a darker, richer looking color, in my opinion. It is truly black, and nothing but, so that makes the ‘18 a big, bad black truck.

The ‘19 with agate, has a small amount of metallic flake to it; not much, but enough to give it a little glimmer. (I had a tuxedo black F150 previously, and that had a lot of metallic flake—agate has a lot less)

So, agate doesn’t look as black as shadow. And, if I were to keep my truck in a showroom or museum, I would choose shadow.

However, I drive my truck, and it gets dirty. The shadow black was IMPOSSIBLE to keep clean, and any little imperfection stood out in a major way. It literally always looked like it needed to be washed.

Shadow black is also terrible at showing swirl marks from car washes or even just drying towels. You had to treat the paint as if it were art that couldn’t be touched, and this bothered me. It’s a 4x4, not a Picasso.

Agate is much more forgiving when it comes to dirt, swirls, or just any imperfection; it hides well. This may be my misperception, but I feel the paint is “harder”, and more difficult to mar. So, I don’t have to be as careful with it, and don’t feel that it constantly needs to be washed.

Bottom line — I prefer agate over shadow, as I don’t want to wear gloves to close the door. I also want to feel I can drive it, and not be worried about hitting a puddle.

I’ll also note, that I considered a nano coating for the shadow, but I really didn’t feel I should spend $1,000 every two years just to keep my truck looking clean.

To each, his own. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Can’t go wrong with either.

Pretty good summary, although I like Shadow so much better it strongly deterred me from seriously considering a 19. It is a royal pita to keep up, tho.

 

[NH-Raptor]

The ‘19 is on the right. Notice that it sits higher than the ‘18.

Could be just that it is new. Who knows???

 

[kromealt]

I installed geisers/deaver+3 on my 2019...exact same setup I had on my 2018. The ride quality and measurements are exactly the same from ground to fender for both years. People putting too much assumption behind the live valve, no different than 2018 without.

I'd say any height difference people notice is just time for springs to settle and tire wear/psi.

 

[NH-Raptor]

Krome,

Could you give me more details on specifically what you did, and what amount of lift you achieved.

Check out my post with the photo. It’s not a huge difference, but my ‘19 sits higher in the front. Same in the rear.

 

[EricM]

From what i know- Fox has no upgrade coming out for those currently. And it sounds like nothing really in the works.

I would think your going to be stuck with those electronic shocks for a while.

I saw one down the street the other day and did notice the wires sticking out. Honestly for how much i run my truck down in Mexico there is no way a wire mounted in the wheel well will last very long for me.

Protecting that wire from rock damage would be pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things. How are your plastic IWE vac lines holding up with no protection? There are bolt on protective pieces for those lines on the Gen 1 trucks.

 

[kromealt]

Geiser w Deaver +3 on both 18/19...measures 43.5 to fender with Toyo MT in both front and rear. These are the same measurements I had on my 2018 post installation of the same mods. Tire size and brand is obviously a huge factor in measurements - I didn't measure prior to modding either truck.

As mentioned, only natural for a new truck to sit slightly taller than a used one with spring and tire wear - springs do settle.

 

[NH-Raptor]

Got it. Thanks.

What did you do for tire and wheel size?

I’d like to do 37” and 20”.

Are you happy with the ride quality?

Thank you.