A New Lexus: The GX550 With Big 35" Shoes To Fill

For the very same reason that your $100 steakhouse ribeye might not be seasoned to your liking right from the chef's kitchen, your costly 2025 Lexus might not be tailored to your specific needs right from the factory floor. Stock, or as we like to refer to it at MLO, bland casts a wider net. Bland is more appealing to the marketable masses. Besides, if you’d paid attention during any of those expensive therapy sessions your mother bought, you’d recall that there’s always room for improvement.

Shoulder to shoulder, the two vehicles basically look like twins separated at birth - one went to private school and the other got kicked out of private school. The bland GX550 base has a certain buttoned up sex appeal, but that’s exactly where it ends compared to the lifted MLO model. However, before we go any further, let's be clear - the GX550 is the preeminent luxury overlanding vehicle of 2025. There's just a certain stiffness that needs to be replaced with a bit more… aggression. Easily done, thanks to the Westcott Designs preloaded collar lift kit, Method 503 wheels, and a set of Toyo tires. Easy-Peasy.

The preloaded collar kit for the GX550 provides a 2.5" lift in the front and 0.75" in the rear, which is just enough to easily accommodate 35" tires with the right wheel offset (which just so happens to be 17x8.5 +35mm). The kit employs the factory shocks and springs, maintaining the vehicle's ride quality and suspension geometry while allowing precise alignment after installation. No need for new upper control arms, making it a simpler (and less expensive) upgrade.

Final Thoughts? Just do it. Installing 35" tires on your overlanding vehicle is all about boosting its performance and your confidence in off-road situations - and the pros greatly outweigh the cons. The extra clearance, traction, and durability will make it much more capable on tough terrain, and the enhanced stability and improved aesthetics are downright kick-ass.

As your overlanding prowess develops, and you start to push your GX to its overlanding limits, you might need to make some necessary adjustments - to the suspension, maybe alignment, and potentially gear ratios. But that's for future you to worry about - and what have they done for you lately? Exactly.