Exterior
Who knew that the Explorer could transform from a blocky SUV to a Mustang beating sleeper? Why not show that power in the exterior?
Hitch Cover
The hitch-cover will give the rear of the ST a cleaner look in the rear. There are a few options to choose from, from the likes of Waido, Zeus3d, and a couple of others.
My favorite look, also because it is cheap, is a hitch cover cap. It looks really neat and costs around $25 at time of writing.
Front License Plate Delete
If you want to clean up the front end of the car, a front license plate delete is probably one of the best ways to do so. Bumperplugs.com is the best way to go. Their color matching the paint is amazing and is worth the extra price. To plug the whole in the bumper, you can go to your local auto parts store and buy some fender fasteners, and they will work fine.
Emblems
One of the things that is frustrating, is that the ST did not receive the black emblems from the Timberline, among other things (like a Torsen rear diff.). I love how a pair of custom emblems look. Emblem City makes a great pair of emblems if you are looking to go custom, and Ford Accessories have the Black emblems from the Timberline. The difficult part is you have to remove the front bumper to remove the emblem, unless you use
@UNBROKEN ’s, which you drill the tabs out through the stock emblems. Once you remove the bumper, you will need to drill some new holes for the emblem, even with Ford’s ones. It is quite easy though, when you use the included templates.
A cool idea that
@UNBROKEN came up with, is he removed the stock “ST” emblem on the grille and used an ST overlay to make it like a “ghost” emblem. It gets rid of the chrome too.
Rear diffuser
Waido recently released a new rear diffuser that slots beneath the rear bumper. I think it finishes off the look of the rear, as it will most cars will see as you speed away.
Hoods
There are two aftermarket hood offerings to choose from if you are looking to bring out a more aggressive look from the hood.
Stock Hood
There is an interesting thing you can do with the stock hood.
@UNBROKEN used Jeep Wrangler hood vents and cut into the stock hood. It looks pretty good but is not for the light of heart.
https://www.explorerst.org/threads/unbrokens-iconic-silver-st-build.503/page-51#post-74923 (Post 1,004)
I-5 Autohaus
I-5 Autohaus offering is a Raptor-style hood which is functional.
Austin Pucket
There is a custom carbon-fiber hood offering from Austin Pucket. It is also functional and is very aggressive looking.
Front Splitter
A front splitter is something that will give the SUV a sports-car-like front end look. There are two options to choose from: Waido and SS-Tuning.
Waido
Waido’s front splitter is very classic looking, bringing the front end lower, giving the car a low, aggressive look.
SS-Tuning
A very aggressive option is the SS-Tuning Front Splitter.
Side Splitter
Side-splitters help give the car a low look when viewed from the side. I think it complements the lines of the car very well.
Waido
Waido is the only true side-splitter offering. They look great and would work perfectly with their front splitter.
Aftermarket Step-Boards
Step-bars on a low car like these cars don’t make sense, but they would be more for cosmetic purposes than functionality. They actually look really good, and maybe even better than Waido’s actual side-splitters.
Waido Mid-Spoiler
The looks of Waido’s mid-spoiler are in the eye of the beholder, and there are a couple of different variants of the spoiler. The fit is good, but don’t expect to get any extra downforce.
Widebody Kit
A wide-body kit sounds awesome for the car, and SS-Tuning and Waido offer them. But in reality, to actually put that extra body width to use, you need a wider wheel and tire setup. At the offset needed to make the wheels flush, the front wheels will rub the metal on the rear of the fender and rub like crazy on the liner. So sadly, a wide-body doesn’t actually work.
Painted Exterior Trim
Some people are not fans of the painted trim that the 6g Explorer’s feature. Unfortunately, it is not cheap nor easy to do. You cannot just wrap the plastic, as the vinyl will not adhere properly. To paint the plastic, there is a lot of prep work. Once done though, many will say it is worth it.
Rear Windshield Wiper Delete
Pioneered by
@UNBROKEN, Houston Speed Freaks brought the ultimate windshield wiper delete to the market. This windshield wiper delete is so flush and transparent, it looks like it isn’t even there. Some people are worried about the rear visibility loss due to no wiper in the rear, but if you clean the rear window thoroughly with a good waxing cleaning spray, the water will just run down.
Roof Rail Delete
This is dependent on one’s taste, but if you desire to remove the roof rails here is a quick run-through. There are barely any parts involved, just two roof rail delete trim pieces. The hard part is you have to remove the headliner to get to the rail bolts. It isn’t hard, just time-consuming.
Headlight’s Chrome Black-out
DIY
Ford took the time to black out the taillights and the headlight marker lights but didn’t black out the chrome inside the headlight. The Interceptor’s receive the blacked-out headlights, but we don’t. There are a couple ways to hide the chrome. One way is to use headlight tint to cover the chrome, or you could open the headlights up (by baking them) and paint the chrome.
Professional
If you don’t want to tint the headlights and are too nervous to open up the headlights yourself, you can purchase pre-chrome deleted headlights from Bullseye Customs. There are also other cool options, like a color customizable DRL’s, Explorer lighting inside the headlights, and others.
LED Light Strip
A cool modification is the addition of an LED light strip. It connects the bright DRL’s with a bright strip, which is neat.
Functionality
Hood Strut Kit
If you are opening the hood often, it might be a worthwhile purchase for a hood strut kit. The best one, since it does not require drilling, is the no-drill MRT Hood Strut kit.
Reverse Light
The reverse lights that come stock are horrific. You are better off riding the brake so you can at least see. I highly recommend Houston Speeds Freaks reverse lights. They are brighter than most headlights and are of great quality.
Turn Signal Lights
This is a pure cosmetic mod, but one that I like. The stock halogen lights look cheap, and the LED turn signals look crisp and premium looking. Again, I highly recommend HSF’s LED turn signal lights.
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