How Do You Like Your 37" Tires and 2.5" Lift?

[kurt13]

Tons of members have posted their awesome new lifts and tire/wheel upgrades in the last few months. Now that they've had some time with them, I was wondering if we could get a progress report from them, mainly from the perspective of a DD. I'm looking for operation, not looks (because they all look awesome!)

Does anyone regret the larger size? Does anyone have a lift that rides noticeably worse than stock? (Especially Mopar or RC.) Acceleration still good? Anyone switch to a tire that has a lot more road noise and they wish they didn't? Any other lessons learned you want to share or pitfalls others should avoid?

I know it's hard to admit that you don't like something about your Jeep, but I'm ready to pull the trigger on upgrading my Rubi soon. (Birthday's in 2 months!) It's a lot of money, but what's worse is the idea of spending $3K or more on something that ends up making the Jeep that I love worse. I think I'd rather go with 35s or even stay stock if that were the case.

Thanks in advance.

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[TTEChris]

Tons of members have posted their awesome new lifts and tire/wheel upgrades in the last few months. Now that they've had some time with them, I was wondering if we could get a progress report from them, mainly from the perspective of a DD. I'm looking for operation, not looks (because they all look awesome!)

Does anyone regret the larger size? Does anyone have a lift that rides noticeably worse than stock? (Especially Mopar or RC.) Acceleration still good? Anyone switch to a tire that has a lot more road noise and they wish they didn't? Any other lessons learned you want to share or pitfalls others should avoid?

I know it's hard to admit that you don't like something about your Jeep, but I'm ready to pull the trigger on my Rubi soon. (Birthday's in 2 months!) It's a lot of money, but what's worse is the idea of spending $3K or more on something that ends up making the Jeep that I love worse. I think I'd rather go with 35s or even stay stock if that were the case.

Thanks in advance.

Hey Kurt,

I say this a lot, with those lift kits tire choice is what's going to make/break the ride quality.
I've installed both kits on a few JL's , and with the factory C Rated tires they both ride great.
The first JL I lifted had a Mopar 2"(really 3") lift and 315/70r17(Almost 35) C Rated KO2s. That kit/tire combo rode the same or slightly better than my factory Rubicon at the time.

I didn't like the spring bow and short shock travel of the Mopar kit so I went with a RC 2.5" Spacer lift as a temporary solution. With the factory wheels/tires I didn't notice a change in the ride. When I mounted my E Rated 37" tires the ride over small road imperfections became quite a bit harsher (Even at the 27psi I run them.) The freeway ride actually felt a little more stable than with the factory tires, but I'm sure that's due to the stiffer sidewalls.

I had the RC kit laying around when we purchased my wife's JL so I put it on hers the weekend we got it. Again no change in ride quality. I wanted to get her the 315/70r17 C Rated KO2s, but they were on backorder so I settled for some 35" D Rated Goodyear Fierce Attitude. Her ride is better than mine when I had the same kit, and as soon as I get a programmer I will drop her tire pressures a bit as she currently is a little overinflated but I don't want to trigger the TPMS light.

Having driven both back to back yesterday I can say her lightweight 35" wheel/tire combo compared to my extremely heavy 37" beadlock/tire makes her Jeep a little more enjoyable to drive. You can really feel the size/weight even though I have 4.10 Rubicon gears and she has the stock sport gears(Both of us have 6spds.)

Hope that helps a little, I wish more companies made C-Rated 35's & 37's. I had the same Cooper's I have now on my 2dr JK. They were a C Rated 35x12.5r15 and they rode much nicer than the same E-Rated 37 I have now...

 

[yz kid]

Is a 3.5 inch lift on 37's overkill? Everyone seems to be just fine with 2.5 inch

 

[TTEChris]

Is a 3.5 inch lift on 37's overkill? Everyone seems to be just fine with 2.5 inch

On road you would probably never run into issues with a 2" and factory fenders.
Most of the 2-3" kits come with 2" bumpstops which are not enough to keep my 37s out of the fenders. I could add on to the bumpstops included in the kits but then I would lose suspension travel unless I went with longer shocks.
I went with the 3.5" kit because it was made around 3" bumpstops (which is what I need to keep my tires from contacting the factory fenders at full articulation.)
In this picture I'm already touching the fenders with my previous 2.5" lift and not fully "flexed" out.

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