Badlands Non-SAS - Your Thoughts & Pics?

[DaveInSA]

The non SAS Badlands wheels and tires are really nice.. Granted I had the optional bead lock wheels. I think the tires are a little better than the SAS ones. And I actually like the beauty rings on the non-SAS better than the SAS ones. But that can be fixed with powder coating.

Buuuut I went to the SAS wheels and tires personally

I'm seriously considering ordering another Bronco to replace this one with. I'd really like the Lux package and automatic for the nifty off-road gizmos that manual can't do. If I do I'll be starting with the SAS package.
Switching from non SAS wheels & tires to SAS wheels tires is just swapping them in, but that slight different in suspension bugs me a little.
Course if Ford Performance ever releases their lift then any suspension difference would be mute as I fully plan to go to it as soon as I can. (unless I swap to a wildtrak with hoss 3.0...)

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[mtheawesomeone]

I love my non-sas Badlands with the upgraded wheels. It's all personal preference but I think the 2 door looks perfect with 33s and the smaller fender flares. If it was a 4 door I might have been OK with sas since 35s and the wider flares seem to look proper to me on the longer vehicle. That and my wife has a hard enough time as it is getting in I also think pictures never capture the size as much as in person. I'm 6'3 and even with the stock height and 33s its a hop to get in.

 

[F OR D]

stock bl for the win. can always add more later if you need it. i mean you have the lockers and disconnects now, and if i remember correctly the non-sas blistens have the most articulation.

i think the bl is unique to sas and either way is a win, but i'd start non and see what i want to do next.

 

[Coldsmoke]

Agree with many above. I much prefer the non-SAS for a variety of reasons, but IMHO the 33’s look very nice and provide more than enough height for off roading. Let’s face facts…..if you are going off roading you normally have many hours of “on road” driving to get to the off road trails and the stock 33’s are very quiet on highways but yet significant enough for some serious off road trails.

 

[DrewBronc21]

I have a Non-Squatch Badlands manual so wheels, tires, suspension, flares, 3rd brake light, bumper ends only differences. Ended up Self-Squatching with OEM Sasquatch suspension and the other parts after a few month of ownership. It’s only .5 inch taller and I don’t really notice height difference but the wheels and fenders give a more aggressive look. There is less wheel gap with the bigger tires. MPG is about the same but it probably handled, accelerated better with the 33s but hard to tell. My wheels are 17x8.5 +25 with 35s. Poke a little more than the OEM Sasquatch wheels but Not as aggressive and less poke than the zero offsets that are really popular. No off-road comparison yet.

 

[Dayton1984]

The non SAS Badlands wheels and tires are really nice.. Granted I had the optional bead lock wheels. I think the tires are a little better than the SAS ones. And I actually like the beauty rings on the non-SAS better than the SAS ones. But that can be fixed with powder coating.

Buuuut I went to the SAS wheels and tires personally

I'm seriously considering ordering another Bronco to replace this one with. I'd really like the Lux package and automatic for the nifty off-road gizmos that manual can't do. If I do I'll be starting with the SAS package.
Switching from non SAS wheels & tires to SAS wheels tires is just swapping them in, but that slight different in suspension bugs me a little.
Course if Ford Performance ever releases their lift then any suspension difference would be mute as I fully plan to go to it as soon as I can. (unless I swap to a wildtrak with hoss 3.0...)

Did you remove the rock rails and add a different tube step?

 

[Gizmo]

This thread is awesome, I have been flip flopping on the same thing, leaning towards non SAS, I live in Mi, and have heard the 33's will be better in rain and snow-I like the possibility of a few extra MPG's and I do not plan to be in the woods very often.

 

[Flourman]

Another vote for non-SAS Badlands. I wheel with a lot of SAS’ed Broncos in CO. I admit, I’ve got SAS envy but, in the end, mine gets everywhere the SAS’ed Broncos do. Maybe a bit more in line choice.
I admit, I do have 35’s planned in the future but I’d like to keep a low COG lift/no lift. It lets me work on the Bronco, get to know it and upgrade where I need to. Most of my upgrades have been skids.

IMHO, buying a non-SAS Badlands allows the aftermarket to catch up a bit while you can still wheel the crap out of it and get everywhere I want too. Finally, I think mileage would be a bit better with 35’s and the Badlands axle gears.

 

[Joez60421]

Stock badlands with upgraded wheels here. We love it. While it's not as tall, it does have more wheel travel, and considering most rigs I build are always low slung, with lots of tire and lots of travel, this fit right in. Once these BFG's wear out, will replace them with a set of Nitto 35x11.50r17's, and should be about perfect.

 

[Oneand0]

Super happy with my 33” stock Badlnads. I’ve seen some Badlands SAS around in same color and realize that if I do upgrade after the rubber wears off, mine will look different with some nitto 35” and 2” lift, if I decide to change it up. Perfectly happy!

 

[Enginerd39]

Don't underestimate the Self-Squatch.

The 33's are a sweet spot for the Bronco imo, between off-raod prowess and on-road comfort/livability. Also, some aftermarket wheels, which I planned to do from the start, make an enormous difference in the look and allow you to set your Bronco apart from everyone else. Those wheels sit a bit further out (+12 offset) and makes the truck every bit as aggressive as a Sasquatch, but without MT tires and a MPG hit.

The BL is the perfect trim to go non-Sas as well, since Badlands already has the off-road suspension and drivetrain goodies. Couldn't be happier with the choice.

 

[Boreal]

Non-Sas is more than enough for me! It also wasn’t worth $6500 to upgrade for 35’s from factory, IMO

 

[Tricky Dick]

Get the standard now and maybe down the road if you decide you want bigger tires add them. There's little difference between my non-squatch on 35s vs a factory squatch.

 

[Thrawn2k2]

I was in the same boat. For me - I knew I wanted 35's, thought about saving a little bit and swapping myself, but in the end decided to just get it from Ford with the fender flares, computer module, and slight lift all good to go. I think 4d's look perfect with 35's/315s.

 

[RagnarKon]

If you are getting a manual transmission, the Sasquatch package is 1000% not worth it. It’s effectively a $4090 set of tires, and you can do much better aftermarket

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If you are getting an automatic transmission, I personally would argue that it is unnecessary, but it ultimately depends on what you are doing with it.

If this Bronco is a daily driver, I’d definitely skip the Sasquatch package. If it will be traveling on-road 95%+ of the time, I’d skip Sasquatch. If this is a vacation vehicle that you will be taking off-road a handful of weekends out of the year, then I’d still skip it.

BUT if this is a dedicated off-roader, a rock-crawling rig, or you someday plan on going bigger with 39” tires… definitely get the Sasquatch package, as it is the only way to get the 4.70 axle ratio with an automatic.

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Personally, I got the manual transmission, so I skipped the Sasquatch package. No brainer for me.

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