1994 Chevy C1500 Wheels, Tires & Lighting Upgrade

Before we ripped into the truck, you can see this was an old build that had some custom parts on it already, so we are going to fill in the blanks.

What kind of magazine would we be, if we had a mail-order makeover theme issue and didn't include Stylin' Concepts? Not a very thorough one. Well, that's not going to happen, so we logged onto Stylin's website and surfed around looking to improve our '94 Chevy truck. We had an idea to build this truck into a G-machine, but we still had to get the basic modifications out of the way first. Who cares how fast it will corner, if it looks like a pile of junk? We do.

The truck was customized back in the day, but somewhere in its life, most of the good custom stuff was taken out, leaving us a truck with a lot of potential. We chose projector beam headlights and LED taillights to bring us into the new millennium, along with a matching set of Crystal Clear turn signal lenses. To lower the truck's center of gravity and make it handle better, we opted for the 2/4 kit Stylin' offers.

Here is the Chevy, after we got all the cool parts on it. The projector beam headlights and LED taillights not only work exceptionally well, but they also look very modern. The 2/4 drop from Stylin' sets the ride height perfect for the Nitto 295/45ZR18 Ultra Wheel combo. In the next story, we will strap on some sway bars to see just how good we can get this truck to handle.

Now, this kit is not a slammed truck kit, but it will be a perfect balance between stance, performance, and functionality, or in other words, a daily driver. There are already custom wheels on the truck but in a 15-inch variety, and that will not hold up to our G-machine theme, nor will it give us any street cred. The wheels for said rolling stock are Ultra Wheel's new Hot Schott. These wheels are a Counter Pressure Cast one-piece construction that will provide plenty of rigidity and good looks to boot. Wrapping the Schotts is some high-performance rubber from Nitto. A set of NT-555s, size 295/45ZR18, will give us the 28-inch outside diameter that we need and the fat contact patch we want for traction.

Instead of getting our delicate editor hands dirty, we called in a favor and asked Shaughn Reid at Streetshock Advanced Suspensions in Redondo Beach, California, to install all of our parts. Since he loves us and we bribed him with a greasy cheeseburger lunch, he couldn't say no. So, follow along as we have Shaughn, Brian, Ryan, Lucky, and Sam install the Stylin' package on our future G-machine.

Here is our wheel and tire combo, assembled and ready to go. We chose a 295/45ZR18 tire from Nitto's 555 line because it features a 28-inch outside diameter, which is about the max we could run in front, even with this mild of a drop. By using a racing concept design, Nitto Tire's engineers developed the NT-555 Extreme ZR with a specially formulated compound for excellent grip. The Hot Schott from Ultra Wheels' Platinum line is a Counter Pressure Cast one-piece rim with a nice, easily maintained chrome finish. It's an 18x9-incher with a 10mm offset setup and features five-spoke styling that not only looks perfect on the truck but will also be plenty strong when we start slinging this truck around corners.

While we were pulling the truck into the shop and getting it up on jackstands, we sent Sam to the tire shop to have the Nittos mated to the Ultra Wheels.	The lighting accessories we got from Stylin' Concepts are built by In.Pro.Car Wear (IPCW). The lights are all SAE/DOT compliant and shouldn't attract any unwanted attention from Johnny Law.	Here is the drop kit we got from Stylin'. This 2/4 kit is built by DJM and uses a drop coil for the front and a shackle/hanger kit for the rear. The shocks are also built by DJM, are the correct length, and have the proper valving for the truck once it's lowered.
To start on the lighting installation, we had to remove the grille shell. The turn signal lights were removed to access the two screws that hide behind them. All the other screws were visible and pretty much self explanatory.	Here is a comparison shot of the stock and new IPCW Crystal Clear Diamond-Cut Parking Lights; it's pretty easy to see why we installed them. These IPCW parking lights are available for '88-'99 GMC front end trucks.	ith all the screws out, the shell was removed to gain access to the headlight assemblies. The headlights were held in with four 10mm screws; make sure to be gentle with the wiring harness, when you are unplugging the lights. Special thanks go out Sam and Lucky for providing the muscle on this extremely heavy piece of plastic.