- Wassup, bros?
Today, we're gonna talk about the Cali Lean.
No but for real guys,
Fuller here with Custom Offsets,
Custom Offsets TV on the Youtube.
You guys asked for it in the comments section,
so we're bringing you another episode of From the Inbox,
we're gonna talk a little bit about
Cali Lean, where it came from, and what the heck is it.
So, not only is it called Cali Lean,
you could also hear people call it
the Carolina Squat or just squatting,
or the Bulldog look,
so we'll kinda jump into the history of the Cali Lean.
(upbeat hip-hop music)
So, what is Cali Lean?
So, a lot of you may have heard of it,
but not know exactly what it is
and essentially it's pretty simple.
It's when the front of the vehicle is higher
than the rear of the vehicle.
So, people achieve this in different ways.
Most commonly, people are installing
just the front half of a lift kit
and leaving the back out,
but if they're going for an extreme look,
they might take the rear blocks out
or even install a lowering kit in the rear
to really make that back end drop.
So, as the name implies,
the Cali Lean originated in California, specifically SoCal
and why it happened there is because
everybody was big into the Baja trucks
and the PreRunner trucks a couple years back.
And so as people started buying more and more trucks
when the economy was good
and they were more affordable
and gas prices weren't so expensive,
a lot of people were picking up those trucks
and wanted to replicate that Baja or PreRunner style.
So, in doing so, they would install like I mentioned before,
just a front part of the lift kit
and leave out the back.
However, the Baja trucks and the PreRunner trucks
are specifically designed with long travel
or mid travel suspension,
which allows them to eat up bumps at high rates of speed,
whereas if you're putting in just a spacer lift
or even a strut replacement lift in the front,
they're not really designed for that off-road use.
It's more of just a style.
So, those long travel kits, not only are they good for
going over bumps at high-rated speed,
but the reason why the front of the truck
is higher than the rear is so that
when they're taking these things off jumps
and they're getting these trucks airborne,
not only does it keep the center of gravity lower
because the rear of the truck is lower,
but when they're in the air,
they have a better chance of landing
with their rear tires touching first
which prevents the truck from nosediving
and therefore resulting in a crash.
If you can keep the truck level,
as in the front wheels and the rear wheels
landing at the same time,
although the body is angled,
your tires and your suspension is all gonna land
at the same time which creates a softer landing
and keeps you in better control of the vehicle.
So, it used to be common in all the off-roaders,
but as more and more people are buying trucks like I said,
now you get the Cali bros coming in
and these guys are just walking around
with their hats backwards, driving down the street,
and the reason why they have their hat backwards
is because you can't see out of the windshield
if they got the brim in the front,
because they're sitting at such a high angle.
So, if you have a truck that has Cali Lean
and you put a picture on the Internet,
I guarantee you somebody on Instagram
has commented on it and gone
oh, he could only afford half a lift kit.
Well, achieving Cali Lean doesn't really
save you that much money,
because if you do it right
and you're putting in a long travel suspension,
that's actually gonna cost you a lot more
than what it would if you have a standard lift kit.
But if you don't want to spend the money
in putting a long travel kit,
you can also do it with a standard lift kit as well.
Not saying that I recommend it,
but it can be done.
So, it doesn't cost you half the price unfortunately,
because a lot of the engineering
and the components that go into
assembling a complete lift kit,
most of that is directed towards the front
'cause that's where all the suspension geometry
is really important and that's where the most material go,
because in the rear, it typically does blocks.
So, in doing so, you don't save a lot of money
like I mentioned, there's only probably about
$250 on average per kit, it all depends what you want,
because you can still upgrade the shocks
and whatnot for the rear as well.
I know a couple of people that have bought kits from us
that have wanted that Cali Lean look
have selected a six inch lift kit
for the front and then ordered
like a four inch lift for the rear
or what would be equivalent to a four inch,
so they have about that two inch difference.
Now, there's people that go really extreme,
and they might put a 10-inch lift in the front
and nothing in the back so they have that extreme angle.
No reason for that really other than
that's just style they want.
If you're going for that bulldog look,
that Baja or PreRunner style,
you're only gonna be about one to two inches different
and that can be easily achieved by
even just putting a leveling kit in the front
and removing your factory blocks in the rear,
and that'll get you that little bit of a California Lean
or Carolina Squat or a bulldog look,
there's tons of different names for it.
As far as which companies will piece together a kit for you,
not every lift company is going to do that.
A lot of them just sell one complete kit,
so if you want a six inch lift in the front
and nothing in the back, you'll have to buy that
full six inch kit and then the other parts
are basically just scrap
or you can try to sell 'em to your buddy.
Now, there are companies that do offer it,
I know BDS and Zone are one of 'em,
but it's not something that you can just
come out to our website and purchase that kit.
You have to talk directly to one of our lift kit experts,
Brad's typically the guy who's on the phones
or doing e-mails with everybody
to get them the exact what they want.
So, if you're interested in getting a kit for yourself
that's gonna give you some squat,
you can choose to e-mail at info@customoffsets.com
and that'll get directed over to Brad
and he can help you out.
Otherwise, if you just want a standard lift kit
they're all available on customoffsets.com website.
There's a whole lift section where you can just plug in
your year, make, model and find everything
that we offer for you.
So in short, the Cali Lean is purely aesthetic
and there's no performance point to it at all
unless you're doing a real long travel suspension build
and that's gonna naturally give you some squat in the rear
as compared to the front.
If you're just doing it with the standard spacer lift
or even a strut replacement lift,
it's just for looks, it's not gonna get you anything
other than, I don't know,
you could try to pick up chicks at the mall with it,
but my guess is you'll just find dudes
that are like ahhh, yeah!
So as far as my personal opinion,
I actually do like a little bit of Cali Lean
and you guys are probably gonna hate on me for that
and drop the comments below.
Go ahead, do it, I'm ready for it,
but I'm not like an extreme Cali Lean guy.
If you've got that 10-inch kit up front
and nothing in the back, that's a little too much for me.
You're gonna have a hard time seeing your headlights,
you're gonna be pointed up in the air,
and it's just completely pointless,
but I do really like that Baja and that PreRunner look.
So, if you're just up above two inches in the front
and squatting a little bit in the rear,
that's cool with me.
If you do any towing though,
you're probably not gonna wanna do any lean at all,
because once you put that weight in the back of your truck
or on your bumper,
then your truck's really gonna be squatting
and you're gonna have a hard time towing
and steering and all that.
So, we're kinda gonna go around the shop now
and ask other people what they think about Cali Lean.
What do you think about Cali Lean?
- Don't do it.
- You heard it from him.
Next.
Erik, Erik, c'mere, important question for you.
Yeah, what do you think about Cali lean?
- Who?
- Okay, here we go.
What do you think about Cali Lean?
- I love it.
- Grady loves it.
Wait a minute, why do you love it?
- It's different.
- Nice, that's the first one.
Hello, computer programmers.
What do you guys think about the California Lean?
He's never heard of it.
- It should make a comeback.
Dun-dun-dun.
Cory.
What do you think about the chicken?
Don't eat the microphone.
- It's really good.
- What do you think about the California Lean?
- I like it too.
- Do you know what it is?
- It's when, it's like the truck out there.
How the lift kit isn't done in the back,
but is done in the front, yeah.
I like it sometimes.
- You heard it here first, kids.