Safety issues, safety issues, and more safety issues.

When a truck rolls off the assembly line, it was built as per a detailed, precise, expert-level design and engineering. And with all the safety regulations bestowed upon the car manufacturing industry, the truck was also built to be safe.

But when you make changes to the truck (mods), you change the way it was intended to behave. And it DOES change the way the truck behaves.

But what does that mean in terms of safety (yours and other people’s safety)?

If you’re running tubbed wheel arches or a full C-notch in the frame, the way your truck grabs traction and settles under pressure doesn’t match what your instincts expect, nor does it match what the stock design would ‘expect’.

Let’s dive into a bit more detail to see what’s going on here.

Emergency Braking and Stability with Extreme Mods

The moment you hit the pedal hard, you notice how different emergency braking feels in a heavily modified truck.

If you go with oversized wheels (or a wider setup), you’ll run into the issue of having A LOT more rotational mass than the truck was (originally) designed for. This mightn’t be a problem in some cases – but it could – so be sure to check with the company that’s doing mods before you commit.

If you’re DIYing the mods, then keep in mind the following:

• Re-gear the drivetrain so that the engine doesn’t struggle to rotate the new, heavier wheels.
• Make sure the engine has enough Torque to deal with the heavier wheels in the first place.
• You’ll likely need a stronger suspension and bigger brakes for safety and parts longevity.

The truck feels stronger and tougher, but when you need it to stop right now, all that added weight works against you.

A lot of lifted setups actually need to have their brakes upgraded to keep up, but the problem is that many owners decide to skip that part because everything seems fine during a normal drive. It’s only in a panic that you realize the brakes are doing way more work than they should.

A different suspension can also change how a truck behaves under ‘sudden braking’ conditions.

With a higher center of gravity (compared to stock, which will be better balanced), the nose will dive more. This can put EXTRA strain on the front brakes, causing you to have a longer stopping path. Plus, it’ll cause the tires to have less grip, which is a problem only when you need it. But the problem with that problem is that YOU REALLY need it when you need it.

Another thing that can weaken your stopping power is uneven tuning/ alignment in leaf springs (or coils). So be sure to check that before you take off on the road.

Factory safety systems don’t always behave the same after major mods.

ABS and traction control expect factory-size tires, and oversized rubber or different gears can confuse the computer.

That could result in the truck reacting late or the system might misread the speed of the wheels during a sudden stop. All you need is a short delay from ABS in the middle of an emergency to change the outcome.

And if you crash while driving a modified truck, you’ll probably need to look into some experienced reckless driving attorneys because you can expect plenty of questions about fault, since it’s tied to how the truck reacted because of the modifications. You might get accused of operating an unsafe vehicle, or improper equipment, or even negligence in terms of maintenance, or knowingly creating a (potential) hazard.

There could be a lot of things you might get in trouble for, so it’s best to consult a lawyer who handles these types of cases.

How Mods Change Key Handling Factors

Your choice of wheels and tires plays a huge role in how a truck reacts when something unexpected happens. Tires that are oversized or extra-wide look great and feel solid on straight roads, but they slow down the steering when you need to move fast.

You turn the wheel, and the truck takes a split second longer to follow.

Mud-terrain tires are also problematic because they’re built for soft ground, not pavement. If you need to swerve suddenly or brake hard, they can slide and grab in ways you didn’t expect. Even something as simple as running the wrong tire pressure will change how much traction you have when the truck quickly shifts its weight.

If pressure’s too low or too high, the tires can’t bite the way they’re supposed to, and nobody needs to tell you how big of an issue that is.

Ride height is another surprise.

Lifting a truck changes your view of the road, and that new angle makes it harder to judge distance in traffic. But there are also new blind sports that weren’t here before. So, from that point on, you’ll have to account for that every time you’re changing lanes. There are also new blind spots, especially in front of the truck, where small cars and obstacles disappear.

Some mods (e.g., hood scoops, roof-mounted light bars, etc.) look sweet; no one’s debating that. But they also block small parts of your vision that you need when you have to make split-second choices.

Suspension geometry changes how your truck behaves even more.

Unless you fix the alignment after the lift, the truck’ll start pulling to one side when the suspension moves, which feels shaky in an emergency. Softer setups make the truck lean more when you quickly change lanes, which slows down how quickly it settles.

All this affects how the truck handles when you need it to react instantly.

Conclusion

Unexpected mishaps don’t come as enjoyable experiences.

And this is especially true if you’re in a truck. When you mod your truck, you’ll have to re-learn how it behaves on the road, and you’ll have to get used to what it does when you do something.

Before the mod, it might’ve reacted a specific way, but now there might be a delay, or it might move sooner than you’d expect. It’s these types of little things that can completely change your driving experience, and if you aren’t prepared for them, they could prove dangerous, which is what you want to avoid.

And while there isn’t anything intricately wrong with mods, you DO have to learn to drive your modded truck. Familiarize yourself with it. Then, and only then, do mods become safe to use.

2 Interlinking Opportunities:

From https://www.streettrucksmag.com/wheel-tire-shootout/ with anchor style

From https://www.streettrucksmag.com/performance-vs-aesthetic-upgrades-best-roi/ with anchor turbo upgrade

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