Driving Wrangler? How about the balance of compromises.

[TPS]

Hi
I am a newbie here, writing from Poland. I just ordered Sahara 2021 and am waiting to pick her around Easter. It will be my 4th car in the family, so I can't treat her as the DD. The main purpose of buying Wrangler is to travel with my family to the places I would not like to visit with my comfy station wagon. I am a petrolhead, and I love cars, so any overloading, abusing and long trips with my less considerate family members drive me a bit crazy. As they are never going to read this forum, I have the freedom to say I love driving alone.
My last trip with two teens and my SO ended almost with divorce. We took 4 bikes and mounted them on the hitch rack, and we barely arrived at the destination since the rack got broken and dragged the bikes on the pavement. As I investigated, such a malfunction is pretty common.

That day I decided to buy a rugged car for family trips and city cruising; that is why Sahara is on its way to my garage.

You know the drill - the d-day is coming, and I got my head full of different thoughts about possible upgrades. So...
... the first thing I am going to mount is the Rhino rack to carry 4 bikes. But I want to give my Sahara a bit of an aggressive look. The more I read forums, the more I understand all compromises.

1. Tires - Sahara comes with 255/70/R18 Duelers H/T. As I noticed, the first thing many drivers do is change tires with AT, which looks fine, but the game might not be worth the candle for me. I want to put 33" tires (275/70R18 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 seem fine), but buying such tires to stick to the black pavement in 99% might be overkill. 50% of the year in Poland is wet, so I am confused if it is a good idea. I drive a V8 GT and OPC station wagon with great brakes, so driving Wrangler with A/T tires on wet might be tricky for my routine.
2. Another thing I would like to change is the side steps - to mount nerf bars. As I discovered, it also comes at the cost of possible chips and rock dents from A/T tires. So, the side staps seem to be well thought before by the designers, I guess.

So, my question is - how do you handle all possible compromises if you like the aggressive look of your Wrangler, but you rarely leave the pavement?

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[Black Jeep Convertible]

Tires I would recommend the new Toyo Open Country AT3's in 285/75r17
https://amzn.to/2Pcp0r2


So far the dry, wet and snow traction has been excellent.

 

[drivingfool]

Weathertech has no-drill mud flaps for the front wheels that keeps the spray off the side of your vehicle. Teraflex has 'quick remove' rear flaps to protect whatever you're towing/trailering.

 

[DWS44]

(275/70R18 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 seem fine), but buying such tires to stick to the black pavement in 99% might be overkill. 50% of the year in Poland is wet, so I am confused if it is a good idea. I drive a V8 GT and OPC station wagon with great brakes, so driving Wrangler with A/T tires on wet might be tricky for my routine.

I have the stock BFG K02's on my JLR, and honestly, can't say I've ever had any complaints with wet weather traction.

 

[JackA]

Another choice on mud flaps: https://rokblokz.com/products/jeep-wrangler-jl-jlu-2018-mud-flaps
I have these on my 2021 Rubicon they fit absolutely perfectly on the front. On the rear you have a choice; leave a factory part off or modify it. Anyway, these are good looking, well designed and manufactured from excellent material.

 

[kermitjewel]

I have the stock BFG K02's on my JLR, and honestly, can't say I've ever had any complaints with wet weather traction.

i just went thru a sideways rain storm on my ko2's with no issues, 12k miles on the set

 

[aldo98229]

Welcome to the forum.

This is my Sahara when it had 275/70R18 KO2s.

You can drive around all year round on ATs. They give you better traction on slippery conditions than a normal all-season. They don’t corner as well, but you won’t want to take corners very fast on your Jeep, anyway.

Good luck!

 

[Wabujitsu]

Both of our Jeeps - a 2018 Sport JL and a 2020 Sahara JL - have AT tires on them. I use the Toyo Open Country AT2s, 33 inches, and my wife has Geolander hybrid AT/MT tires, also 33s. It rains a LOT here in Florida, as it’s a tropical environment. We have not had a single issue on wet pavement with our tires.

We also installed Smittybilt side armor rock rails with steps on both my Sport and her Sahara. We have had no issues with rock chips. You can see the rails in my profile picture. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C8LGRBM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Ruby Clatterbox]

Another vote for Rokblokz mud flaps. Unfortunately I didn't install mine till after the damage to the rear fenders from rocks. My Rubi came with Falken MT tires. You'll find the more aggressive the tread, the bigger rocks they pick up and sling at other parts of the Jeep. My next set will be AT, probably BFG.

 

[JJSix]

Another vote for ATs being a solid option. I didn't have as good a luck with KO2s however, the wet traction was not very good on my set and I have pretty bad chunking as well, traded them in at 25k miles for Patagonias. I think I just got a not so good set as others had great luck with them.

MY steps/rails are GoRhino but honestly, I wouldn't recommend them, they were a beast to get on right and a fairly soft steal. They are really wide though so my little kids can climb in easily!

 

[631_Islander]

Hi
I am a newbie here, writing from Poland. I just ordered Sahara 2021 and am waiting to pick her around Easter. It will be my 4th car in the family, so I can't treat her as the DD. The main purpose of buying Wrangler is to travel with my family to the places I would not like to visit with my comfy station wagon. I am a petrolhead, and I love cars, so any overloading, abusing and long trips with my less considerate family members drive me a bit crazy. As they are never going to read this forum, I have the freedom to say I love driving alone.
My last trip with two teens and my SO ended almost with divorce. We took 4 bikes and mounted them on the hitch rack, and we barely arrived at the destination since the rack got broken and dragged the bikes on the pavement. As I investigated, such a malfunction is pretty common.

That day I decided to buy a rugged car for family trips and city cruising; that is why Sahara is on its way to my garage.

You know the drill - the d-day is coming, and I got my head full of different thoughts about possible upgrades. So...
... the first thing I am going to mount is the Rhino rack to carry 4 bikes. But I want to give my Sahara a bit of an aggressive look. The more I read forums, the more I understand all compromises.

1. Tires - Sahara comes with 255/70/R18 Duelers H/T. As I noticed, the first thing many drivers do is change tires with AT, which looks fine, but the game might not be worth the candle for me. I want to put 33" tires (275/70R18 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO2 seem fine), but buying such tires to stick to the black pavement in 99% might be overkill. 50% of the year in Poland is wet, so I am confused if it is a good idea. I drive a V8 GT and OPC station wagon with great brakes, so driving Wrangler with A/T tires on wet might be tricky for my routine.
2. Another thing I would like to change is the side steps - to mount nerf bars. As I discovered, it also comes at the cost of possible chips and rock dents from A/T tires. So, the side staps seem to be well thought before by the designers, I guess.

So, my question is - how do you handle all possible compromises if you like the aggressive look of your Wrangler, but you rarely leave the pavement?

Just like you, my JLU also never really leaves the Pavement. I have a JLUR with Factory Stock Tires. I think if you keep your Stock Sahara Tires you should be okay. But if you want aggressive looks, see if you can swap Sahara Tires for a Rubicon from somewhere. The Stock Tires on my Rubicon are very good (ATs). A Rubicon is not needed given my use case (even a Sport S would have been ok). But my wife and I both liked the looks of a Rubicon so we go one. You will be surprised that over 90% of Rubicon owners actually do not off road and tend to stay factory stock like me.

I also do not think you really need nerf bars since you wont be off roading. The factory side steps will be significant.

 

[TPS]

Thank you all for your valuable input.
As far as side steps - I decided to take these rugged side steps, which look aggressive and still have protective functionality.

As far as the tires - in Poland, all JLUR leave dealerships with MT tires, which are both noisy and senseless for my type of using Sahara.

 

[Headbarcode]

Another vote for Rokblokz mud flaps. Unfortunately I didn't install mine till after the damage to the rear fenders from rocks. My Rubi came with Falken MT tires. You'll find the more aggressive the tread, the bigger rocks they pick up and sling at other parts of the Jeep. My next set will be AT, probably BFG.

Hate to say it, but the ko2's are also rock grabbers and throwers. I work at the end of a gravel driveway, and my rear fenders were nicked from stones. And that was a bone stock Rubicon that came with those tires from the factory.

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