2016 LX570 Air Down Gear Up build (1 Viewer)

[Air Down Gear Up]

Hello!

My name is Kyle Bell and I am the Co-Founder of Air Down Gear Up. I recently joined the 200 community with a 2016 LX570 and wanted to share my build!

The Purchase:
I knew I wanted a post-face lift 570 and was able to locate a vehicle with the right list of features, price, mileage, color etc. in Ogden Utah. This happens to be one of my old stomping grounds from when I was racing Xterra triathlons, so I was excited about flying out to pick it up.

I never had any complaints about the 100LC off-road so the upgrade to the 570 was almost exclusively motivated by improved highway performance, power, 8speed transmission, a heavy sprinkling of luxury and the upgraded suite of safety features. Starting my time in the 570 with a highway road trip was great, felt like I was piloting a spaceship for the first few miles. I achieved what is almost certainly some sort of land speed record from Ogden Utah to Erie CO, but since i'm unclear what the statue of limitations for speeding is, I won't get into specific times. haha.

A few pics from when I got the 570 home. Had to introduce her to the fleet!

Coming up! The plan:

1. Full PPF and ceramic tint
2. SS1 Storage system (obviously!)
3. AHC Service
4. Wheels/Tires
5. Sliders
6. Armor

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Paint Protection Film and Full ceramic tint

So one thing that I can not state clearly enough is just how pretty this vehicle is! The paint color absolutely glistens in the sun, and the paint on this particular vehicle was in amazingly good shape, you can count the flaws on one hand. We spend countless hours of time on the highway, and try to get on dirt as often as possible. This left our 100LC with a completely sandblasted appearance. Every single forward or downward-facing surface had significant rock-chip paint damage. We wanted to avoid that with the new LX, so under the wise guidance of @suprarx7nut we opted for basically a full PPF wrap of the vehicle.

First thing to note: The price tag on this is not for the faint of heart! Having said that, I will consider this as a requirement for all new vehicles we purchase from this point on. The benefits of a full PPF wrap just go on and on: No concerns of (most) rock chip damage, protection from pin-striping on the trail, UV protection for the paint, and just general paint protection from things like door dings in the parking lot, laying gear out on the hood, etc. In general you just stop worrying about the paint. One unexpected bonus is that it greatly enhances the glossy appearance, and gives the car that 'wet' look you're always chasing after. Another thing that I have found, the top-end PPF has all kinds of fancy features, like hydrophobic coatings, self healing to any scratches in the film itself, etc. I have found what this means practically is the car looks clean basically all the time. It takes a lot to make it look dirty with the PPF, and then a simple drive through car wash gets everything 100% again.

While the LX was in the shop, we also did full ceramic tint all around. Front windows to match the color of the rear, and a 'clear' windshield ceramic coat. The ceramic tint is amazing, and it's heat/UV rejecting capability is remarkable. Massive difference in the comfort of the vehicle, you simply don't experience 'hot spots' from being in the sun, and obviously all the dash, seats, etc aren't taking a UV beating.

This was all done at a shop in Boulder Colorado called 'Flatirons Tint and Clearbra' and they are absolutely amazing. If you are in the Denver-metro/front range area they are well worth the drive. The guys running the shop are truly committed to making everything perfect, and their results have been phenomenal. I stole these pictures fair and square from their instagram account:

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Air Down Gear Up SS1 drawer system

2021 has been a very busy year for us at Air Down, so ironically I had to run without a drawer system for a few weeks with the new LX and I hated every minute of it!! haha. It's difficult to convey just how much better the organization, ease of use, safety, utility, etc of having drawers is. Going back to the old days of having gear loose in the back really had me anxious to get my system installed!

We were excited to add a 200 to the air down fleet, so we could live with a system ourselves. We receive a lot of feedback from customers, but you can't beat the experience of thousands of hours of personal use. With that, we actually found an improvement to the structure and mounting system that will be standard for all 200s moving forward. We have been able to remove the vehicle-rear turnbuckles and replace it with our 'anchor bars'. This results in an absolutely rock-solid setup, there is ZERO movement/flex of the system. New anchor system is pictured below (on a customers carpeted system)

I went with a dual drawer, platform only, charcoal coated version of the system. This is available for everyone, nothing custom about the setup. With the twin 1-year olds running around now, I figured there wasn't going to be a lot of sleeping in the car happening, so I decided to drop the sleeper.

We also confirmed fitment of a half-system, and learned that you can accommodate one of the 3rd-row seats with a half system! That might appeal to a limited number of people, but if you need to use the 200 for people-moving duty but still want a single drawer/sleeper, rest assured we have you covered!

Here are a few pics of the system!

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Wheels and Tires

Wheels: Icon Vector 5 Bronze 17"
Tires: Toyo Open Country AT3 285/75/17 E

Wheels:

• 17" diameter x 8.5" width
• 5.75" backspace
• 25mm Offset

The Lexus 21inch wheels had to go!! It was almost a blessing in disguise that the factory wheels are so ridiculous, because it was easy to justify a new set of wheels! I wanted a wheel that had a 'clean' aesthetic, no fake bead locks or overly complicated designs. I really like the dark-bronze color of these as they don't necessarily jump out at you, but it adds a subtle bit of visual excitement. I saw these on an 2016+ LX570 in a slee video on sliders (coming my way in december!) and really liked how they looked.

I wanted to go as small as possible on the wheel for maximum sidewall on the tire, which is 17" on the LX. There is sufficient clearance on the front brake caliper, but just barely! I made a comment to the tire shop about being mindful of where they mounted the balancing weights, I wasn't sure it would clear if placed in the wrong area! The backspacing and offset put the tire tread almost exactly even with the body, with a slight protrusion by the sidewall bulge. This is pretty much exactly the alignment i was looking for, so I'm happy with how it worked out.

Tires:
Few things occupy the mind of the 'overlander' more than trying to find the perfect tire, and I am no exception to that! I was looking for the do-it-all tire that was quiet on the hwy, capable on technical trails and competent enough in the snow that I can somewhat regularly take on mountain passes in blizzard contitions. I found the need for snow performance to be one of the biggest challenges for tire selection. I can think of specific trips where I have needed both dry/rocky 4x4 capability AND snow performance both on and off the hwy in a single drive, and we are a 'ski family' so snow performance needed to be considered.

With all that in mind, the Toyo AT3 came into view! There is plenty of feedback on their performance both on and off the road, was available in the size and load rating I was looking for, and had the '3 peak Mountain Snowflake' rating. On previous vehicles i have run the terra grappler, KO2, Duratrac, and Cooper AT3, so I was also excited to try something new and see what I thought. I have only had them on for a few days with no off road or snow yet, so check back in for a longer term review of my experience with these tires!

So the 285/75/17 size.... million dollar question... does it fit without rubbing?? NO, no it does not! The correction is relatively simple, but 100% necessary. The rubbing was bad enough on the drive home I was genuinely worried about ripping a fender liner off. As always I found all the answers I was looking for on Mud, particularly the threads linked below. I deviated slightly for the 'rear' portion of the fender liner, and retained the 'step bracket' by hammering it 90deg, and using it as a point to zip tie the mud flap to. I used a heat gun and molded the rear mudflp after modifying the bracket, and was able to get enough clearance. On the passenger side, I found that I also had to cut out some additional sheet metal to gain the space needed. I marked up a picture showing the bracket and sheet metal in question. The dashed redlines show where the bracket is bent to, and what was cut from the sheet metal. With those components in place, you are able to gain over an inch of additional clearance once you heat-hold the liners and get enough zipties in place.

Modifying Splash Gaurds for 33's

Many of us with 33s (and larger) have had to remove the front splash guards. While it's a quick and easy solution, my intention has always been to modify the guards to maintain underbody protection and aesthetics. Without the guards, the tire kicks debris into the underbody, and more...

forum.ih8mud.com

Trimming Wheel Well for Larger Tires

What do you use for cutting the plastic lips in the inner heel-well ? Got new tires and having minor rubbing just on the lip in full tilt. What wheels are these

forum.ih8mud.com

Lastly: I wanted to be able to retain spare tire storage under the vehicle. The rear bumper is not in the current 'phase' of the build, and even then i'm not 100% sold on the idea a swing out tire carrier, but that feels like a conversation for another post, lol. You can indeed fit a 285/75/17 tire in the spare location, you just have to remove the bracket I have circled in red, which is just a matter of removing the two exposed bolts. Seems like there's even some room to go bigger if you wanted. The bracket that actually picks up the wheel (on the end of the hoist chain) didn't have any interference issues on the Icon Vectors. I've read some threads where people have had to modify this bracket, but i was able to use it as-is.

One last issue I am still working through; My TPMS is not registering. I reset and 'initialized', and had one glorious drive where everything was displaying, but at the moment I still need to work out how to resolve this.

Other than that wheels are tires are done, time to move on to the next item!

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Sliders:

In my experience, sliders are one of the biggest pucker-factor-reducing additions you can make to the vehicle. I'm generally impressed with how reasonably well protected everything is underneath the vehicle (still planning skid plates!), and ripping off an OEM bumper is just easy justification for an upgrade, but body damage to the rocker/doors would really sour the mood on a wheeling trip.

There aren't a ton of options that I found on the 2016+ 570, but Slee has an offering and I was happy with their sliders on my 100 so that's what I went with. The 570 offering from slee is impressive. Construction is formed sheet metal made from 3/16" thick steel, which is powdercoated. I opted for the AHC protection plates and light kit as well. The lights are tied into the factory lighting circuit, so as a nice 'parking lot trick' you get puddle lights that come on when you approach the vehicle with the keys, unlock and/or open the doors. I didn't think that was much more than a gimmick, but it is nice to have the light at night. Illuminating the ground and the step itself does make everything feel just a little user-friendly.

There are two basic approaches you can take for mounting this to the 2016+ LX: you can trim the rocker panel OR you can swap for an LC rocker. The LC rocker panel has much 'tighter' contours, and makes for a nice clean finished look. I opted to replace the rocker panel, which you can order pre-painted from Toyota! The LC colors aren't a 100% match to the LX, but honestly, you have to be REALLY critical to notice the color discrepancy.

I hit the easy-button on this project and had Slee complete the install, so i can't speak to the difficulty/time to install, but digging through their website it appears the sliders themselves mount to existing holes in the frame utilizing rivnuts. The lights are tied into the existing circuit for the LX running boards, and the rocker panels are held in with about a dozen clips. I would imagine this install wouldn't be too bad, but I opted out this time!

Pics and a video showing the fun lights:

 

[tbisaacs]

SUBSCRIBE

 

[AnyMal]

Congrats and great choice! Youre gonna love getting rid of those 21s.

Subbing to see how your sliders turn out.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Congrats and great choice! Youre gonna love getting rid of those 21s.

Subbing to see how your sliders turn out.

Thanks! So far this vehicle has been absolutely amazing. And yes, very much looking forward to getting a little more rubber on this! There's only so much the suspension can do with these ridiculous wheels/tires. Can't wait to see how this rides off road with some aired down ATs!

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

I was anxious to get this out into the dirt, so with the 21in wheels, highway tires, stock front bumper and the running boards in place we went and ran a local trail. This isn't a difficult 4x4 trail, but it does have just enough to make things interesting. Overall I was very impressed with the 570. I had the suspension in comfort, high, and transfer case in low range. No issues gettting up/down all this stuff, but the pucker factor was high due to the tires themselves. This trail is rocky in spots, and i was very worried about slicing a sidewall. I can't want to see what this is like on some proper wheels/tires!

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Just added the PPF post to the 2nd slot in the Thread! Go take a look for details on the paint protection film and ceramic tint!

 

[doublehundy]

Nice suby in that first pic! Swapped in a WRX or STi drivetrain yet?

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Nice suby in that first pic! Swapped in a WRX or STi drivetrain yet?

ohhhhh the elusive STI swap! I bought that car, stripped it and caged in within the first summer, and have had all the best intentions to STI swap it. but my list of excuses on that project has been looooong. haha. At some point before I die that car will have an STI swap!!

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Coming soon! Tires are on order and scheduled to be mounted November 1st! I'll elaborate more when everything's mounted up and installed!

 

[TheEvilPrince]

Following. I have a 17 LX with the SS1 that is great. I've swapped the 21s for 18s and it made a huge difference.

Any plans for a roof rack?

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Following. I have a 17 LX with the SS1 that is great. I've swapped the 21s for 18s and it made a huge difference.

Any plans for a roof rack?

Awesome to hear you're liking the SS1! I am excited to get some more sidewall on this! The ride is already incredible, but you can tell it's made more harsh by the 21s.

No plans for a roof rack in the first phase of the build here, but i'm not opposed to the idea long term! I do know that you have to drop the headliner in order to mount a rack. Not a show stopper, but certainly adds some complexity/time to a rack install.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

SS1 Drawer system details added to the beginning of the thread, go take a look and let me know what you think!

 

[iijchenii]

Are those anchor bars going to be available for folks who have the turnbuckles now? I replaced the turnbuckles in the front with the heritage edition bar but I would like to do the rear also.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

Are those anchor bars going to be available for folks who have the turnbuckles now? I replaced the turnbuckles in the front with the heritage edition bar but I would like to do the rear also.

Yes! Absolutely. This can be added as a retrofit to existing systems.

 

[tincan45]

sub'd - want to see those vectors soon.

 

[Air Down Gear Up]

sub'd - want to see those vectors soon.

Here's a sneak peak of the final results. Lots to talk about to make this actually happen, but here's some eye candy!