Exterior
Who knew that the Explorer could transform from a blocky SUV to a sports car beating sleeper? Why not display that power in the exterior?
Hitch Cover
The hitch-cover will give the rear of the ST a cleaner look in the rear. There are a few options to choose from, from the likes of Waido, Zeus3d, and a couple of others. The following link should be helpful when deciding:
https://www.lethalperformance.com/s…024-explorer-st/body-and-styling/hitch-covers
My favorite look, also because it is cheap, is a hitch cover cap. It looks really neat and costs around $25 at time of writing.
Front License Plate Delete
If you want to clean up the front end of the car, a front license plate delete is probably one of the best ways to do so. Bumperplugs.com is the best way to go. Their color matching the paint is amazing and is worth the extra price. To plug the whole in the plastic part of the bumper, you can go to your local auto parts store and buy some fender fasteners, and they will work perfectly.
Emblems
One of the things that is frustrating, is that the ST did not receive the black emblems from the Timberline. I love how a pair of custom emblems look. Emblem City makes a great pair of emblems if you are looking to go custom, and Ford Accessories have the Black emblems from the Timberline. The difficult part is you have to remove the front bumper to remove the emblem, unless you use a different, more nerve-wracking method. You can drill the tabs out through the stock emblems and the emblems will fall out from there. You will have to drill in the grille anyway, even if you remove the bumper, as you will need to drill some new holes for the emblem, even with Ford’s ones. It is quite easy though, when you use the included templates.
ST Emblem
A cool idea that @UNBROKEN came up with, is he removed the stock “ST” emblem on the grille and used an ST overlay to make it like a “ghost” emblem. It gets rid of the chrome too.
Rear diffuser
Waido offers a rear diffuser that slots beneath the rear bumper. I think it finishes off the look of the rear, as it will most cars will see as you speed away.
Hoods
There are only two options to choose from if you are looking to bring out a more aggressive look from the hood.
Stock Hood
There is an interesting thing you can do with the stock hood. The Explorer ST Forum member @UNBROKEN used Jeep Wrangler hood vents and cut into the stock hood. It looks pretty good but is not for the light of heart.
https://www.explorerst.org/threads/unbrokens-iconic-silver-st-build.503/page-51#post-74923 (Post 1,004)
I-5 Autohaus
I-5 Autohaus offering is a Raptor-style hood which is functional.
Front Splitter
A front splitter is something that will give the SUV a sports-car-like front end look. There are two options to choose from: Waido and SS-Tuning.
Waido
Waido’s front splitter is very classic looking, bringing the front end lower, giving the car a low, aggressive look. Waido offers two different styles of their splitter.
SS-Tuning
A very aggressive option is the SS-Tuning Front Splitter.
Side Splitter
Side-splitters help give the car a low look when viewed from the side. I think it complements the lines of the car very well.
Waido
Waido is the only true side-splitter offering. They look great and would pair perfectly with their front splitter.
Aftermarket Step-Boards
Step-bars on a low car like these cars don’t make sense, but they would be more for cosmetic purposes than functionality. They actually look really good, and maybe even better than Waido’s actual side-splitters IMO.
Waido Mid-Spoiler
The looks of Waido’s mid-spoiler are in the eye of the beholder, and there are a couple of different variants of the spoiler. The fit is good, but don’t expect to get any extra downforce.
SS-Tuning Drag-style Rear Wing
SS-Tuning offers an wing that overlays on top of the stock liftgate piece. It is an aggressive piece that looks good.
Widebody Kit
A wide-body kit sounds awesome for these cars, and that’s because it is! Pictured above is Travis Ellisor’s ExST with the Waido widebody kit. It is a killer setup, and that setup is 18×11 0-offset with massive 325 Hoosiers! The fit looks great, and is perfectly flush. Travis says that the setup only has some minor rubbing on the fender liner at full lock.
Painted Exterior Trim
Some people are not fans of the plastic trim that the 6g Explorer’s feature. Unfortunately, to paint it, it is not cheap nor easy to do. You cannot just wrap the plastic, as the vinyl will not adhere properly. To paint the plastic, there is a lot of prep work. Once done though, many will say it is worth it.
Rear Windshield Wiper Delete
Houston Speed Freaks brought the ultimate windshield wiper delete to the market. This windshield wiper delete is so flush and transparent, it looks like it isn’t even there. Some people are worried about the rear visibility loss due to no wiper in the rear, but if you clean the rear window thoroughly with a good waxing cleaning spray, the rain will just run down.
Roof Rail Delete
There are barely any parts involved in a roof rail delete swap, just two roof rail delete trim pieces. The hard part is you have to remove the headliner to get to the rail bolts. It isn’t hard, just time-consuming.
Headlight’s Chrome Black-out
DIY
Ford took the time to black out the taillights and the headlight marker lights but didn’t black out the chrome inside the headlight. The Interceptor’s receive the blacked-out headlights, but we don’t. There are a couple ways to hide the chrome. One way is to use headlight tint to cover the chrome, or you could open the headlights up (by baking them) and paint the chrome.
Professional
If you don’t want to tint the headlights, you can heat up the headlights in an oven, and open them up and painting them. You can then also add other cool options, like a color customizable DRL’s, Explorer lighting inside the headlights, and others.
LED Light Strip
A cool modification is the addition of an LED light strip. It connects the bright DRL’s with a bright strip, which is neat.
Ford Accessories Lighted Emblem
Ford Accessories offers a lighted emblem. Ford states it does not fit the 2020-24 Explorer’s, which is odd because that is what is pictured.
Lit Logo’s ST-Emblem
Lit Logos makes a lit “ST” emblem.
Front Strut Bar
A great way to add cosmetic appeal to the engine bay is an aftermarket strut bar. Houston Speed Freaks, aFe, DX, and Steeda offer aftermarket strut bars for the ExST. Note though, none will add performance. All the bracing is towards the bottom, so the strut brace does not help.
Windshielf Wiper Fluid Cap
Houston Speed Freaks offers a 3d-printed windshield wiper fluid cap. It looks neat.
Functionality
Hood Strut Kit
If you are opening the hood often, it might be a worthwhile purchase for a hood strut kit. The best one, since it does not require drilling, is the no-drill MRT Hood Strut kit.
Reverse Light
The reverse lights that come stock are horrific. You are better off riding the brake so you can at least see. I highly recommend Houston Speeds Freaks reverse lights. They are brighter than most headlights and are of great quality.
Turn Signal Lights
This is a pure cosmetic mod, but one that I like. The stock halogen lights look cheap, and the LED turn signals look crisp and premium looking. Again, I highly recommend HSF’s LED turn signal lights.
Thanks for reading!
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Explorer ST Enthusiasts 