No one ever said the Ford Raptor needs more attitude, but Shelby American found that an incredibly high number of their existing customers were buying the trucks for themselves. This, I trust, left Shelby assuming they had customers willing to buy a Shelby-ized Raptor. Enter the second hot-rod Shelby pickup in history (Shelby Dakota, anyone?). By starting with a great truck rather than the pile of crap that still gives parts delivery drivers nightmares to this day, the Shelby Raptor may be worth the minimum $17,995 premium over a base $45,000 Raptor. I headed to Texas to find out.Upon my arrival, I was confronted with Shelby Raptor #001. It was finished in Ford's "Race Red," a detail nearly obscured by a few zip codes worth of Shelby-branded vinyl and emblems. The rear window didn't escape the decal fairy, either, which had me paraphrasing Talladega Nights's Ricky Bobby, "this sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love Shelbys." After reading the complete exterior (don't laugh until you try it; it's not a small job) it was on to the interior and more Shelby branding, including the serialized dash plaque.
That's an important sales tool, as all Shelby Raptors will be in Shelby's own Registry, something their buyers prize.Beyond branding, where does the $17k go? Mainly under the hood, and that's good. Shelby fits a 2.9-liter Whipple blower that squeezes 164 more horsepower from the 6.2-liter V8 engine, for a total of 575, and sends the byproducts through a Stinger exhaust. The interior gains "Shelby" leather seat covers, and the exterior gets the aforementioned branding, with decals available in one of three styles: Traditional, Super Snake, and the Splash version, the latter of which #001 wore. I suggest option four, Delete. Numerous options are available beyond the base package, the only one #001 had was the optional $3399, 35" BFG Mud Terrain tires on Shelby wheels. Shelby will gladly help you outfit your Raptor to a nearly six-figure MSRP if that's your thing.So what does a supercharged Raptor on big-ass mud tires drive like? Texas-sized awesome, that's what. Nail it from a dead stop on pavement and it smokes those mud tires like Tony Stewart on a victory lap.
But the real reward is the noise the Whipple blower makes. It's this obnoxiously fantastic supercharger whine that propels this huge ball of Race-Red-and-Shelby-Splash-Bedazzled mud tire noise. It just makes you want to go find people you don't like and do lawn jobs at their houses. Really.And since I don't know of anybody in Texas that I don't like (with a lawn at least), I headed to the Bridgeport OHV park. It promised 300 acres of mud, hills, and dirt. The Shelby Raptor's freeway manners are unchanged from the non-Shelby version, minus the mud tires that shake like Lindsay Lohan in rehab until around 75 mph. The real bonus is what that extra 164 hp does for you. Passing is effortless, and every onramp is a visceral treat. Once set loose in the OHV park, I wasted no time in putting #001 in the deepest mud I could find, which had the added benefit of quickly obscuring the Shelby gingerbread. The truck then appeared like every other big, muddy pickup in Bridgeport, Texas.The supercharger's tuning is spot-on, and the integration with Ford's electronics, such as stability control, and its off-road modes was as seamless as it should be in a $65k pickup.
Acceleration in the dirt rivaled, if not surpassed, its numbers on pavement—the difference attributable to the right shoes for the right surface. The extra horsepower also further demonstrated that Ford's SVT team nailed the Raptor's suspension tuning, and while I hesitate to call anything weighing over 7000 pounds graceful or nimble, that is certainly descriptive of the Raptor's off-road manners. Is Shelby's optional suspension needed? I don't know, but I'd sure want to compare before checking that box.After a few hours of climbing through, up, and over whatever looked challenging, I grew pretty fond of Shelby's Wailing Billboard and decided to head back to civilization. Does anybody need a 575 hp Raptor? And rather than an additional Shelby vehicle, it could actually be a great Shelby GT500 Mustang alternative, especially if you live anywhere near an OHV park or where winter is a factor. Will Shelby's bet pay off and prove their customer want one of these? With one of the strongest brands in automotive history and an incredibly loyal customer base, I'm guessing they will.
Sloppy situations call for serious tires. Mud terrain tires provide aggressive tread patterns, big tread lugs, awesome mud performance and less than stellar road manners. Learn more about which tire suits your Ford F-150 or Super Duty below. This article applies to the Ford F-150 (2004-2014) and the F-250, F-350 Super Duty (2005-2014). Mud tires are great for those deep, sloppy, mud holes. The performance of a mud tire in the muck is unapproachable by all-terrains. The performance is gained through the use of large sidewall lugs and large voids in the tread. Typically, F-150 owners looking to get lost in the muck will opt for larger wheel sizes, often requiring a lift kit. Folks with an F-250 or any other Super Duty don't have to worry as much because Super Duties can accept larger tires more easily. Still, if you need more ground clearance and bigger tires, lift kits are available. A word on tire prices. While the brand of a tire model does have an influence on price, you also have to take into account tire size.
The larger the rim, the more expensive the tire is. To add to that, the wider the tire is, the more expensive it'll be. In both cases, the opposite also holds true. To make things simple, we used a standard 17-inch wheel with a 70 or 75 aspect ratio. This should give both Super Duty and F-150 owners a solid idea of what these tires will cost regardless of their application. They look downright awesome and perform amazing in the mud. The huge side lugs and large tread voids allow them to grip and clean out super easy. Road manners are almost non-existent on them however. They’re extremely loud, wear fast on pavement, heavy, and ride pretty rough. Forget about using them in snow, sand, or heavy rain, they’ll perform on about the same level as your street tires. Recommended if your driving is more than half off-road or you really want that extremely aggressive tire look. Great look backed up by even better performance. They’re at home in the mud, and will still outperform an all-terrain tire in the sand aired down, snow, and rain.
The road manners aren’t bad, noise is about on par with an all-terrain. Don’t wander much and the ride is relatively smooth for a mud-terrain. Recommended if you want an all-around great performer both on and off the road. These are two of the legendary mud tires, in most cases the weakest link in the mud with these tires would be the rest of your truck. These are literally pure off-road tires that somehow managed to obtain a DOT approval.Extremely aggressive tread pattern and side lugs make these mud monsters, but also makes them terrible on the road. They’re extremely loud, pretty hard to get balanced properly, and even harder to get them to hold an alignment. Wet performance isn’t too bad, but snow and sand leave something to be desired, and ice performance is non-existent. If you plan to run these on pavement, I suggest saving enough money to replace them pretty often. Recommended if you use your truck in the mud only, or, you really want that aggressive look and have a decent chunk of spare cash.
These are an all-around great tire for the trail and for the road, right on par with the BFG KM2s, both in looks and performance. While the tread isn’t as aggressive as the KM2, they still perform very well and clean out decently in the mud. The sidewall lugs really help this tire grip. Road manners aren’t bad, they ride smoothly for a mud-terrain, they balance easily, and aren’t excessively loud. In the rain and snow they grip well. In the sand, with the right throttling and airing down, they also perform well. Recommended if you need a wet trail tire that does well on road as well. These tires receive glowing reviews all over the internet due to their performance in many different conditions. While they can’t keep up with a dedicated mud tire in some sloppy mud, they’ll perform well for that person who occasionally sees that muddy road or trail yet needs to be able to maintain highway-tire like manners elsewhere. These tires have a noise level of around your average all-terrain, handle similar to your average OEM tire, and wear similar, too.