What Is the Carolina Squat?

Everything You Need To Know About The Carolina Squat Truck Mod

If you and the family have ever been to Myrtle Beach before, or anywhere in the Carolinas really, then in the middle of parading your kids down Broadway on the way to the beach you've probably seen more than a few trucks with the Carolina Squat mod, and wondered what it is.

It's a natural response, really, because the Carolina Squat is one of the most unusual mods we've seen being done to trucks. Rather than judge a book by its cover, though, we want to take you through the ins and outs of the Carolina Squat to show you what goes into it, how it became popular, and whether or not you should look into one for your truck.

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Features of the Carolina Squat

Long story short, the Carolina Squat is a popular truck mod done by lifting only the front of the truck, so the hood and front of the cabin are elevated on an angle above the rear of the truck. This is usually done by adding a ball joint lift or torsion bar adjustment to only the front of the truck, ending up with the squat look that's so prevalent in most areas of the south. With this lift in the front of the truck, most drivers will opt to add larger wheels and tires to their builds for better aesthetics and stance as well.

How Did The Carolina Squat Become Popular?

In today's landscape the Carolina Squat is very much an aesthetic look, but it actually has roots in performance applications, Baja racing in particular. Vehicles in California's desert racing scene often need bigger clearance in the front so that after jumps, the rear of the vehicle hits before the front. This way, there's less risk of the hood bottoming out or crashing. So, many Baja racing builds were done with the hood lifted up much higher than the rear to alleviate this.

That was the story for quite some time up until late 2017 and early 2018, when modders on Instagram figured out that the Carolina Squat offered a fresh new look. The build type then exploded in popularity, leading us to where we are today.

Read More: Easiest First Mods For Your Car

Should You Do A Carolina Squat?

It's really up to you, and we don't want to tell you what to do with your truck build. But for most practical purposes, we'd steer clear of the Carolina Squat look if at all possible. For starters, since you're either lowering the rear of the truck or otherwise making it lower than the hood, this renders towing much more difficult and sometimes impossible.

Also, since the headlights and front dashboard are angled upwards towards the sky, your visibility of the road is significantly diminished with the Carolina Squat, both in terms of sight lines and illumination at night. Because of this, the Carolina Squat mod is already seeing some pretty major crackdowns, with North Carolina recently making it illegal to do.

Read More: What To Do To Get Your Vehicle Ready For Winter

Shop Lift and Leveling Kits For Your Truck at Custom Offsets

Whatever you think of the Carolina Squat, it can be a pretty divisive mod to do on your truck, so keep that in mind and really weigh your options if you're looking into doing one. Otherwise, if you're looking for a more standard lift or leveling kit, we've got you covered in our inventory with some of the best suspension kits in the business. Check out your suspension options in our store today!