We all know that the right wheels are an integral component of any serious vehicle build, and this Ford Everest, built by ARB, demonstrates how the right wheel can visually lift any vehicle, into a new dimension. It would be fair to say that wheels are the car world’s equivalent of ‘icing on the cake’.

The wheel you’re looking at here is the CSA Hawk, but more on that it in a moment. Let’s take a closer look at exactly what ARB has changed or added to transform this Everest from an urban crawler into a tough, rough-terrain adventure wagon, and the best way to do that, is to start at the front.

Protecting the front radiator pack, engine and guards, is ARB’s new Next-Gen Ford Everest Summit MKII Bar and it’s the epicentre of a modular ‘protection pack’ that ensures this Everest returns safely from its adventures.

If you’ve ever fitted an ARB Summit Bar, you’ll know that they’re designed to deal with animal strikes, and as such are a solid piece of gear. That solidity also makes them a great platform for an electric winch, which isn’t fitted to this Everest, but could be added if you’re off-road adventures can get hectic.

Steel ARB Summit Side Steps have replaced the Everest’s flimsy stock side steps and provide much needed sill protection. Retaining the step feature is important, if you want to protect the paint on the lower door areas from stones kicked up by the front tyres.

Stick your head under the front of the Summit Bar, and you’ll spot a set of ARB’s Under Vehicle Armour (UVA), or bash plates as they’re better known. Most modern 4WDs are factory fitted with stone guards, constructed from light gauge mild steel, or even plastic (don’t laugh, it’s all about weight saving).

The job of these stone guards is, as the name suggests, to keep stones and debris out of radiators and sumps, but they don’t deal well with solid hits off-road and offer little in the way of real protection in challenging environments. ARB’s bash plates are designed to take the sort of punishment that rocky tracks dish up, and in doing so, protect engine and gearbox vitals.

In addition to the bash plates, ARB has fitted a set of its Forged Rated Recovery Points. They’re rated at up to 8,000kg, which makes them safe to use in any type of recovery situation, from winching to snatching.

The suspension in almost all new 4WDs is average quality at best and isn’t designed to deal with significant additional constant load, or variable loads, such as hooking up the 3-tonne Jayco Palacio.

Upgrading to better quality aftermarket suspension can also have many benefits, including an increase in ride height, improved road manners and load carrying ability. The extra clearance gained can often open up the options available when it comes to fitting new wheels and tyres.

In this Everest’s case ARB has fitted its Nitrocharger Sport suspension kit (also available for the Ranger). It’s a rock-solid twin-tube shock absorber-based suspension system, which means it’s built to take plenty of punishment, and it’s made fitting a set of CSA Hawk alloys and larger Maxxis Razr AT tyres a breeze.

The CSA Hawks are an 18×9 35 POS fitment compared to the OEM wheels 18×7.5 55 POS sizing.

CSA has also developed a less aggressive 18×7.5 50 POS fitment, specifically for the Next-Gen Fords, that’s an option in its popular Ridgeline and Raptor ranges, as you can see below.

Next-Gen Everest & Ranger ‘Zero Poke’ fitments

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Other notable additions to ARB’s Next-Gen Everest include the following:

• ARB Base Rack
• Base Rack Light Bar
• ARB Intensity V2 Driving Lights
• ARB Drawer System
• Frontier Long Ranger fuel tank
• Safari Snorkel
• GME UHF Radio

Sure, it’s a build designed to showcase ARB product, but look at the depth of the design and engineering that’s on display here, qualities that are particularly obvious with the front bar, recovery points and bash plates, that integrate to offer significant levels of protection and safe recovery options.

It’s a quality build and those CSA Hawks are the icing on the cake.

If you’d like more information on CSA alloy wheels for your Next-Gen Ranger or Everest, you can find out more about the various fitments available at this link – CSA Fitment Guide – or you can get in touch with our sales team here – Contact CSA

If you want to know more about this Everest and the products on it, you can head over to the ARB website here > ARB’s Next Gen Everest

Images courtesy of ARB Australia.