More Lift or Highline fender flares ? Can't decide...

[POL]

Hi everyone,

I need your help:

I have a JLUR in the European specs.
That means Sahara Flares on a US Rubicon.

I am running 285/70R17 tires (33") (KO2 for summer and Toyo GSI-5 for winter) and probably won't ever go bigger, because I can't find a 35" snow tire here in Europe...

I have installed a spacer lift kit (leveling...) because I didn't like the stock european stance at all...
The lift is a TeraFlex one, composed of: 0.5+0.5=1" for the FRONT // 0.5" for the REAR.
The shocks are FOX IFP 2.0 0-1.5".

Now I think it looks quite fine, but I forgot to take in consideration the fact that I am going to put the fullwidth AEV front bumper + AEV rear bumper. (around 100 lbs front, and 56lbs rear). May add a Warn winch, and that gives another 70lbs at the front.

So, to compensate the loss of 1" with that additional weight, I have found two different solutions:

- >To Add more lift. That means to put the Teraflex 1.5 kit ( composed of 2.0" front and 1.5" rear).
But I am a bit afraid of the driving with such a spacer kit for just 33" tires... And read that @jeepauug found that setup harsh on the road...

->To put the US Rubicon fender flares.
But I am quite afraid of the 2" additional front clearance + actual 1" front lift with 33" tires... Don't want the look of roller skate wheels on a bike...

What do you think ?

Here a picture of the situation:

BEFORE the Leveling:

AFTER the leveling:

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[OffRoadWarehouse]

Adding highline fenders would make it so you could keep your shocks and not modify much, but it draws attention to the tire size since your wheel well opens up considerably.

Having the lift will restore your jeep to the current stance even with the bumpers, and will look great with 33's. If you do not plan on flexing the Jeep hard, you can run the current shocks without issue, but will be lacking the extended length for full droop.

The biggest contributor to ride quality is Shocks > Coils so you would benefit more from doing a spring 1.5" kit, but if you like the current ride of your spacer kit, its going to be very similar.

If you have any questions or need to get any parts, let me know!

 

[jeepauug]

Well I added the falcon shocks - those I found harsh...that said, the pucks alone i would assume are fine.

 

[POL]

Adding highline fenders would make it so you could keep your shocks and not modify much, but it draws attention to the tire size since your wheel well opens up considerably.

Having the lift will restore your jeep to the current stance even with the bumpers, and will look great with 33's. If you do not plan on flexing the Jeep hard, you can run the current shocks without issue, but will be lacking the extended length for full droop.

The biggest contributor to ride quality is Shocks > Coils so you would benefit more from doing a spring 1.5" kit, but if you like the current ride of your spacer kit, its going to be very similar.

If you have any questions or need to get any parts, let me know!

Thank you for your answer !

About the lift:

Right now I ride the FOX shocks (Fox rated it for 0-1.5" lift for ALL Jls...) + 1" spacer lift front and 0.5" spacer rear.

But considering that Rubicon coils are 1.5" longer than Sahara/Sport, Can I still use those shock with the 1.5 lift from Teraflex ?

Or should I go with longer shocks ???

 

[jeepauug]

the 1.5" spacers should be fine with the stock set-up. Tereflex sells the leveling kit w/o shocks.

 

[POL]

@jeepauug You are right, if it is sold to work with stock shocks it should be fine with the FOX 0-1.5"

 

[Andy2434]

Eventually, I will be adding an AEV lift when available. Initially, I had considered slimmer fender flares.

 

[ChattVol]

Thank you for your answer !

About the lift:

Right now I ride the FOX shocks (Fox rated it for 0-1.5" lift for ALL Jls...) + 1" spacer lift front and 0.5" spacer rear.

But considering that Rubicon coils are 1.5" longer than Sahara/Sport, Can I still use those shock with the 1.5 lift from Teraflex ?

Or should I go with longer shocks ???

Do you have the Fox 2.0 shocks? How do they ride compared to stock?

 

[POL]

Yes I have the Fox shocks + leveling spacers (1" front / 0.5" rear).

Running 285/70R17 snow tires right now.

I have not noticed a big change compared to the stock ones for now...

Sometimes a bit hard on holes/violent bumps.
But very comfortable for everything else.

 

[GlitteryPonies]

I would measure your current suspension height, install the new bumpers and remeasure. If you lose 1" of height, the teraflex 1.5" spacer lift will put the jeep back at the height it currently is. This would mean your fox shocks would be sitting just like they are now.

 

[GlitteryPonies]

I have the teraflex spacer lift right now and really don't think it changed the harshness at all.

 

[POL]

I have the teraflex spacer lift right now and really don't think it changed the harshness at all.

The 1.5" kit ? stock shocks ?

 

[GlitteryPonies]

The 1.5" kit ? stock shocks ?

Yes the 1.5" kit. Stock sport s shocks. Didn't change the ride at all, other than a little more top heavy.

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