Olive - Meanderthal’s BS BL

[Meanderthal]

Olive

On Wednesday, 26 October 2022 I took possession of my Cactus Gray Bronco Sport Badlands. Here it is in my driveway after the 90 mile drive home from Colorado Springs.

Why “Olive”? Well for me the color is the thing that really stands out and has gained a lot of comments and attention. For me, this color reminds me of the Russian Olive tree’s leaves.

There’s some green and some gray. So, I gave it the name “Olive”

With about 7 months between ordering and delivery, I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do. I also got a lot of inspiration from this forum and the member’s posts. I started to build a list of the the things I was going to do, along with ordering the parts and supplies I would need.

I took some pictures and collected some experience/thoughts while I was making these changes. Each item in the list below that I worthy of creating a post, is (or will be) a link to a separate post in this thread.

Here is my list:

Grille Letters
Door Badges Removed
Bumper Marker Lights/Reflectors
Fender Lights - WinPower LED Side Marker Light Turn Signal (instructions)
Hatch Letters
Hatch Ford Logo/GOAT Badge
Rear Bumper Top Protector
Bump Step
Hood Deflector - AVS Aeroskin II
Blind Spot Mirrors
Cup Holder Trays
Arm Rest Console Phone Mounting
Trunk Organizer - works with Cargo Management and a set that doesn’t
Antennae
Lift Kit - HRG
Brake Pads - Power Stop Ceramic
Hood Struts - Sukemichi
Wheel Spacers
Fender Flares - Air Design
Wheels/Tires/lug nuts
Fitting 245 Spare
LEDs for Tail Lights
Bike mounts
Oil drain valve - Fumoto F107SX

Ceramic Coat
Cerakote Trim

CarPlay Wireless Adapter
Speakers and Subwoofer

Paint Correction and Ceramic Coat

Measurements

Ground Clearance (stock and after) - 9” stock, 10.75”​

Tire Diameter (stock and aftermarket) - 28” stock, 28-7/8” Toyo​

Wheel/tire weight: Stock Spare - 50.5 lbs, DX-4 - 53 lbs​

Drive line angles (stock and after)​

Stock​

Sitting: FR-7.7, FL-6.4, RR-1.9, RL-2.9​

Full Droop: FR-20.7, FL-17.3, RR-13.5, RL-12.1​

Lift​

Sitting: FR-14.6, FL-12.7, RR-6.6, RL-7.1​

Full Droop: FR-26.6, FL-22.5, RR-14.1, RL-12.7​

Front Tire clearance/rub at full lock - see pics​

​

Reference

Front Tow Hook attachment points​

Jack and Jack Stand points​

Now today after a week of working on it mechanically and aesthetically this is the transformation.

Sponsored

 

[Meanderthal]

DX4 X-Trail

https://www.dx4wheels.com/copy-of-x-trail

Discount Tire: https://www.discounttire.com/buy-wheels/dx4-x-trail
Not listed as a fit match for the Bronco Sport but it does. Offset is potentially the issue for the 16” size but the 17” size has a 38mm offset. I think this is an oversight and I just happened to find it by snooping. This is a nice low cost option ($190/ea).

I chose the 16” size in order to get the taller sidewall. More sidewall is good for rocky trails and I live in “The Rockies”. The rule of thumb is the tire diameter should be double the wheel diameter. Not quite there with the 245/70/16 but it is a little closer.



Tire is Toyo Open Country A/T 245/70/16


It appears that there is potential to run a 15” wheel with a 75 series tire. It is hard to get anything in there to take a measurement but I can easily fit my fingers between the brake caliper and the wheel barrel.




Just to add a little bling and to get rid of the dreaded 2-piece Ford lug nuts, I went with these colorful lug nuts.


RYANSTAR 20Pcs M12x1.5 Wheel Lug Nuts, Closed End 6 Spline Nut, Bulge Acorn Cone Seat Wheel Locking Nuts, with 19 Hex and 21 Hex Security Key Multi-Color


Interesting that the weight of this combination is not much different than the stock setup.

Here is the new wheel/tire combo:


Here is the stock spare tire with steel wheel:


I couldn’t get a picture while trying to hold the stock wheel and tire, which a now separated to harvest the sensors for the new wheels/tires. Those came in at just over 51 lbs. So, just a couple of pounds difference between the setups, which is less than the difference between one tire/brand and another in general. That is with a 245 tire instead of a 225.

 

[Meanderthal]

Fitting 245 Spare

Just to document what I did and others have described.

First remove the foam blocks from the sides of the spare tire area, and cut the center of the “carpet” out. I used a 1” snap knife to cut the carpet.


I went a little further than I think most do and cut the center of the carpet out by following the indentation left by the stock steel wheel.


Then just put the jack back into place.


Now the 245 tire will fit.


Slide the floor panel back in the the “high” slot at the front. Basically, if you just lay the panel on the tire and slide it forward, it will go into this slot. Sorry, the panel was dirty from wet cardboard boxes that I brought the stock wheels home in sliding across the panel.


 

[Meanderthal]

Hatch Letter Removal

Starting with a hair dryer to warm things up which should make it a little easier to pry the plastic letters off. I used a plastic razor blade to help start the process. I tried to use some dental floss but these letters are really held on with this tape.

Once the plastic was removed, I was left with this mess.


I continued with the plastic razor blade to get the bulk of this tape off.


At this point it was some repeated sprays of the 3M Adhesive Remover and gentle scraping of the gunk. Scrape what has been loosened by the spray and then wipe that off on a towel and repeat until all evidence of the letters has been removed.
3M General Purpose Adhesive Remover, 38983, 12 oz Net Wt
4 Pcs Plastic Razor Blade Scraper and 100 Pcs Blades, Remove Label Decal Tool， Forwithout Scratches Plastic Razor Blade Scraper, Adhesive Remover for Stickers, Gaskets and Paints on Window Car Glass

 

[Meanderthal]

Grille Letters

The giant 3D letters on the grill has always been something I didn’t really like. The white letters makes that worse. I’ve seen so many people post about putting the overlays on the letters. This is an improvement for the white letters but still a compromise to me.

So I started thinking about what I could do to change it to something I would like. I looked at eBay for pictures of the grille without the letters. Which started to spark some ideas.

At first I wanted to eliminate the “BRONCO” all together. I decided in the end that it would be too plain. I also thought about putting a light bar to carry the light all the way across from one headlight to the other. That too would have issues in that there would be a spot between the headlight and the custom light bar. Then would the light bar light match the headlight light? Again, another dead end idea that just had too many issues.

So, I decided it was really the “white” and the “3D” that bothered me. I was determined to do something different that what I have seen others do. That really comes down to a PlastiDip spray or the sticker overlays.

Removing the 3D letters is quite the ordeal. There are a couple of hurdles here. The first try was to just pull the letters off, thinking that they would just be glued on. Unfortunately, Ford got way more aggressive than that. Pulling on the letters just did not seem to be an option. There is some adhesive but also a mechanical attachment. To get to the inside of the grille, you really have to remove the whole front of the car.



Once you get to this point, you’ll realize that Ford used push-nuts on the inside of the letters. These are essentially something that cannot be removed because they slide over the plastic during installation but will bite into the plastic when you try to remove it. Now, I was left with the decision to go “all in”. And I did, by breaking the plastic pins on each of the letters so that the push-nuts could be released.

The interesting thing is that Ford put a different clip on each end. On the “B” and the trailing “O”.


The other letters just have 2 posts


The other thing you might notice is the gate vestige from the injection mold in the field of the letter. This is in multiple letters.

Now how do I get all of this smoothed out? I started with some JB Weld Plastic Weld Putty. Which allowed me to fill in the big holes relatively well but still hard to get somewhat flat/even. The big holes in the end letters is the real problem area.
J-B Weld 8237 PlasticWeld Plastic Repair Epoxy Putty - 2 oz.

I had some regular JB Weld in the garage that is more liquid to fill in some of the smaller gaps. I then had to smooth all of this out as best I could. Using some razor scrapers got everything closer (including the gate vestiges). It was then time to sand it smooth. This is a delicate operation because you don’t want to sand anything outside of the letters.

Here is a picture before the standard JB Weld and the sanding.


Here is a picture with the standard JB Weld and after sanding.


I have ordered some overlay stickers and I will see if that is good enough or if it needs something more. The stickers have not arrived yet, but I will update this post with pictures/thoughts once they arrive and are installed.

Update (I finally got off my lazy a$$ and did it)

I did have some of the simple overlay stickers that everyone uses in there, but because the surface wasn’t perfect they just didn’t look very good. I ordered a set of the Tuff Skinz overlays and I think this is 90% of what I was hoping for. I actually ordered a set in black at first and they stood out like a sore thumb. So, I ordered another set in carbonized gray and they look much better.

Anyone interested in a set of Tuff Skinz overlays in black?

I was originally hoping to 3D print some very thin pieces (about 0.5mm) and glue/tape/epoxy them in there with just a very small gap around the edges. I had ordered a 3D printer from a Kickstarter and that never materialized. If I ever do get a 3D printer, I might try that in the future. For now, this is really close to what I wanted.

 

[Meanderthal]

Tire Rub

While installing my lift kit, I decided to pull the spring off the strut and look at how the tire approached the unibody. I think there is some interesting findings here.

With the steering at full lock and the suspension compressed (without the spring), you can see that there is little to no gap behind the tire. I’m predicting to contact to the liner.




What this tells me is that trimming the pinch weld will do nothing to prevent rub, at least not a full lock. It also tells me that a lift will help with clearance, a little bit.

Another interesting find is that the stock tires measure at 28-1/2” diameter, which is what the specs say they should be. These Toyo Open Country A/T’s measure at 28-7/8” diameter, which is about 1/2” under what the specs would indicate.




The pinch weld can be a rub point, but it is the upper portion of the weld, not the part at the bottom. As you turn the steering wheel back to center, the tire will move away from the pinch weld.


To give me all the clearance I could get, I trimmed that squeeze out along the pinch weld, which gives maybe 1/16 to 1/8 of more clearance. That allowed me to bias the liner to the back a little to give as much room as possible.

 

[Meanderthal]

Track Width

I really wanted to have a more aggressive stance. I didn’t want the tires to stick out but I don’t like the “fake bolt” fender flares. Luckily Air Design has nice clean fender flare set. This flare set looks very “stock”, which I like.

The 245 tire on a 30mm offset wheel sticks out just a little. When a 1” spacer is added, the tire really sticks out. Maybe something that some others would like. Adding the fender flares, brings it back to about flush. To me, this is perfect.

The decrease in wheel offset from 38mm to 30mm moves the outside surface of the tire out by 8mm (about 5/16”).

The increase in tire width from 225mm to 245mm means another 10mm (about 3/8”) of the tire pushing out, and also the same amount pushing in.

Stock


245/70/16 30mm offset (stock offset is 38mm)


245/70/16 30mm offset with 1” spacer


245/70/16 30mm offset with 1” spacer and Air Design fender flares


 

[Major Kong]

Olive

On Wednesday, 26 October 2022 I took possession of my Cactus Gray Bronco Sport Badlands. Here it is in my driveway after the 90 mile drive home from Colorado Springs.

Why “Olive”? Well for me the color is the thing that really stands out and has gained a lot of comments and attention. For me, this color reminds me of the Russian Olive tree’s leaves.

There’s some green and some gray. So, I gave it the name “Olive”

With about 7 months between ordering and delivery, I had a lot of time to think about what I wanted to do. I also got a lot of inspiration from this forum and the member’s posts. I started to build a list of the the things I was going to do, along with ordering the parts and supplies I would need.

I took some pictures and collected some experience/thoughts while I was making these changes. Each item in the list below that I worthy of creating a post, is (or will be) a link to a separate post in this thread.

Here is my list:

Grille Letters
Door Badges Removed
Bumper Marker Lights/Reflectors
Fender Lights - WinPower LED Side Marker Light Turn Signal (see link below)
Hatch Letters
Hatch Ford Logo/GOAT Badge
Rear Bumper Top Protector
Hood Deflector - TBD - Air Design II
Blind Spot Mirrors
Cup Holder Trays
Antennae
Lift Kit - HRG
Brake Pads - Power Stop Ceramic
Hood Struts - Sukemichi (see link below)
Wheel Spacers
Fender Flares - Air Design
Wheels/Tires/lug nuts
Fitting 245 Spare
LEDs for Tail Lights
Bike mounts
Oil drain valve - Fumoto F107SX (see link below)

Ceramic Coat
Cerakote Trim

CarPlay Wireless Adapter
Speakers

Measurements

Ground Clearance (stock and after) - 9” stock, 10.75”​

Tire Diameter (stock and aftermarket) - 28” stock, 28-7/8” Toyo​

Wheel/tire weight: Stock Spare - 50.5 lbs, DX-4 - 53 lbs​

Drive line angles (stock and after)​

Stock​

Sitting: FR-7.7, FL-6.4, RR-1.9, RL-2.9​

Full Droop: FR-20.7, FL-17.3, RR-13.5, RL-12.1​

Lift​

Sitting: FR-14.6, FL-12.7, RR-6.6, RL-7.1​

Full Droop: FR-26.6, FL-22.5, RR-14.1, RL-12.7​

Front Tire clearance/rub at full lock - see pics​

LINKS

Sukemichi Front Hood Gas Shocks Strut Lift Supports Spring Dampers for Ford Bronco Sport Accessories 2021+, 2 Pack
Fumoto F107SX M12-1.75 Sx Series Drain Valve
WinPower LED Side Marker Light Turn Signal Light Compatible with 2021 2022 Ford Bronco Sport Dual Color Light with Smoked Lens


Now today after a week or working on it mechanically and aesthetically this is the transformation.

Hope both you and Erthal enjoy the heck out of it

 

[Meanderthal]

Ground Clearance

The tape measure is 3-1/2” long, so add that to the measurements shown.

Stock


After big tires and HRG lift


I think HRG claims their lift on the Bandlands is worth 1-1/4”. They are close, with this Toyo tire only giving me about 1/4” of clearance and the lift giving another 1-1/2”.

 

[Meanderthal]

Ford Badge Blackout & GOAT Badge

There is a little gap between the badge and the hatch, which allows for the tape to easily slide behind the badge. With about 8 pieces of tape behind the badge to cover the oval shape. Then cut a hole in a trash bag and tape the bag to the tape that is under the badge.

I did a few coats of PlastDip Smoke Lens first and then a couple coats of the Nite-Shades. This comes out kind of glossier than I wanted, so a couple more coats of the PlastiDip to take it down to a more matte finish.






I used a little of the Nite Shades and PlastiDip on the GOAT Black badge too. I had originally hoped the GOAT badge would be big enough to cover the indent of the Ford badge, so that I could remove the Ford badge. That was not the case, so I added the GOAT badge to balance out Ford badge.

VHT SP999 Nite-Shades Lens Cover Tint Translucent Black Paint Can - 10 oz.
2 PACK PLASTI DIP Smoke Lens Spray 11oz Spray Aerosol

 

[Meanderthal]

Hope both you and Erthal enjoy the heck out of it

Ha Ha Ha, very Punny!

 

[Meanderthal]

Stubby Antennae

Not much to say here. Simply unscrew the stock antennae and screw on the stubby.

CravenSpeed Stubby Jr Antenna Compatible with Ford Ranger 2019-2022 | 2 Inches https://a.co/d/eu9bo4p

 

[Meanderthal]

Sidemarker & Rear Reflector Blackout

The same as with the Ford badge, I used the Nite Shades and Plasti Dip Smoke on the side marker lenses.

VHT SP999 Nite-Shades Lens Cover Tint Translucent Black Paint Can - 10 oz.
2 PACK PLASTI DIP Smoke Lens Spray 11oz Spray Aerosol

I think the biggest learning here is that some hose pliers work great to remove the “arrowhead” snaps that Ford seems to like. A nice long reach to get into tight spaces to remove these buggers and the hoop end will squeeze those arrowheads from many different angles.

Some pics with the lights on:

 

[Meanderthal]

Paint Correction and Ceramic Coat

I’m not going to post any pictures here trying to show how much better it looks after doing all this work. It just isn’t something I can capture with my phone camera. I tried, but I’m not sure it is anything that would convince anyone to take on this task.

For those that are interested in this sort of thing, I’m going to post the steps in the process and some of the products used.

◦ Power washer rinse
◦ Wash with Dawn dish soap
◦ Iron remover spray
◦ Clay mitt with Clay lube spray
◦ Wash again with Dawn
◦ Dry and use blower to get water out of crevices
◦ Apply Cerakote Trim Shield, mainly to protect plastic from polishing compound.
◦ Wipe down with IPA (isopropyl alcohol, not beer)
◦ Polish with Menzerna 1000 Heavy Cut on Meguiar’s Microfiber Heavy Cut pad
◦ Wipe down with IPA
◦ Polish with Menzerna FG400 on Meguiar’s Microfiber Medium Cut pad
◦ Wipe down with IPA
◦ Apply Dura Slic 1500 Extreme (pro level but applied by me)

What does all this give me? It does not eliminate the orange peel in the paint but is softens it a lot. The ceramic coating gives a very durable finish that cleans easily.

How long did this take? It took me 2 full days to complete this list. I could not make a living doing this.

Here is a picture after all this.


 

[Meanderthal]

Blind Spot Mirrors

I was inspired by @Petroph to get some blind spot mirrors that sort of follow the shape of the outside bottom corner of the mirror.

Sponsored