Jeep Cares (HAHAHAHA) Really Jeep.....

[Revolution_322]

This is the 9th Jeep Wrangler I have owned in 12 years. I have owned 2-door and 4-door, Rubicons and Saharas, manual and automatic, stock and lifted, 32, 33, 34 and 35 inch tires. So I know what Wranglers drive like. None of them drove like shit right out of the lot.

For the record: my JL drives fine, but I test drove several that didn't.

Its a compromise of road quality to be able to perform the way it does off road.

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[JDM]

From my personal experience, everyone of the posts above is correct:

1. Many JLs do have a wonky steering. I don’t know the exact number, but from a dozen JLs I drove, I’d say a good one-third steered like shit.
2. Even after 3 model years, FCA still hasn’t come up with a sure fix for those who got a JL with a crummy steering.
3. As far as I can tell, all FCA cares about is selling units and making a quick profit, that is it. Once you buy one of their vehicles, you are pretty much on your own.
4. Jeep dealers are mostly useless, even more so when it comes to fixing this steering issue.
   
5. If your Jeep came with a crummy steering, modifying it risks taking you deeper into a rabbit hole.

I feel for the OP. I got burned by my local Jeep dealer with my prior Wrangler: it wouldn’t warrant a $52,000 JKUR Recon, with thousands of dollars in MOPAR accessories, because it had been “modified.” And FCA allowed them to get away with it.

It was a very expensive lesson. But the fact is I love Wranglers.

So these are the lessons I learned:

1. BE VERY CAREFUL before buying a JL. Test drive very well before buying one. If you don’t like how it drives, DONT BUY IT!
2. DO NOT BELIEVE THE DEALER when he promises that they will fix the steering after you buy it. There’s enough evidence on these forums that that’s not going to happen. FCA either doesn’t care or doesn’t know how to fix the problem. And dealers won’t do anything more
3. DON’T START MODIFYING your JL until you have driven it for awhile and are completely satisfied with the way it drives

Unfortunately, none of these helps the OP at this point. The only thing I can suggest is what has already been proposed: bring the Jeep back to stock form and re-assess. If at that point you like how it drives then keep it stock. If it doesn’t, then see what your options are at that point. None of this is going to be be easy, cheap or painless.

We have to be very careful with FCA, with its dealers, and with JLs coming out of the factories, before we go spending too much money.

Best of luck.

This summary is spot on. With regard to point 3, which I agree with; In my case, I was able to correct a serious deficiency in my JL with one part that cost $400.00 installed. FCA did not have a fix specifically for that problem at the time and the FCA/Dealer double talk was unbearable. I could have stopped at that point and lived with the rest until such time as a trade was a viable option. I didn’t because I knew that by clearly identifying my goal, it could be attained and there were no other vehicles on the market that I could achieve my goal with.

I’m not an avid wheeler and I’m no longer a sport/muscle car type. I’m somewhere in between; an enthusiast/weekend warrior type and the stock JL did not fit the bill. My JK was very close as it came out of the show room but not my JL. Fixing a specific issue did reveal that if I worked toward a specific goal I could achieve it but that I had to go all the way with professional assistance, not dealer/FCA involvement. The cost is going too be upwards of $8,000.00. I’m at about the $3,000.00 point and could stop as the overall performance is very good but doesn’t achieve my goal. So I’m going the distance and now I too love my Wrangler and I don’t let the character of FCA and the initial Dealer affect me as that is one aspect of owning a Wrangler that I can do nothing about so why waste my time and energy. But I will never repeat the initial experience again - WONT BUY AGAIN - your point 1.

 

[JDM]

This summary is spot on. With regard to point 3, which I agree with; In my case, I was able to correct a serious deficiency in my JL with one part that cost $400.00 installed. FCA did not have a fix specifically for that problem at the time and the FCA/Dealer double talk was unbearable. I could have stopped at that point and lived with the rest until such time as a trade was a viable option. I didn’t because I knew that by clearly identifying my goal, it could be attained and there were no other vehicles on the market that I could achieve my goal with.

I’m not an avid wheeler and I’m no longer a sport/muscle car type. I’m somewhere in between; an enthusiast/weekend warrior type and the stock JL did not fit the bill. My JK was very close as it came out of the show room but not my JL. Fixing a specific issue did reveal that if I worked toward a specific goal I could achieve it but that I had to go all the way with professional assistance, not dealer/FCA involvement. The cost is going too be upwards of $8,000.00. I’m at about the $3,000.00 point and could stop as the overall performance is very good but doesn’t achieve my goal. So I’m going the distance and now I too love my Wrangler and I don’t let the character of FCA and the initial Dealer affect me as that is one aspect of owning a Wrangler that I can do nothing about so why waste my time and energy. But I will never repeat the initial experience again - WONT BUY AGAIN - your point 1.

Follow up to my previous post...

I rent various vehicles when I travel. Recently I was able to determine the vehicles that had electric power steering by certain common characteristics. The recent rentals were a 2019 JLU, Nissan Crossover and a Hyundai Santa Fe. The Nissan and the Santa Fe did not have a dead spot only the Wrangler did. Two had a very light steering feel and all had tendency to over steer once the steering wheel was turned for minor adjustments. Some may mistake this as a finely tuned sensitive steering system. It’s not.

I started to look into this and come across the following electric vs hydraulic article, it’s interesting reading:

https://www.cjponyparts.com/resources/electric-vs-hydraulic-steering

Last summer I rented a Mustang GT Convertible and the steering had no resemblance to my JLU or any other electric steering equipped vehicle that I rented. Until reading this article I thought it was a hydraulic system. The throttle was a different matter. Admittedly that was my foot malfunctioning, my bad. The choice of settings also affected the throttle response and handling.

Evidently a manufacturer can engineer an electric steering system to be indistinguishable from a hydraulic system IF THEY CHOOSE TO. In the case of the Wrangler more may be involved as it is a live solid steering axle but IMO it’s doable. So why not do it? It seems to be a matter of cost/profit and banking on the fact that the “majority won’t care” so screw the minority and fall back on it’s a Jeep thing. Now I don’t expect that all vehicles should steer and handle like that Mustang that I rented but I also expect that an electric system should “have a more natural feel” as is claimed.

IMO there’s nothing natural about the JL electric steering system as it is and for that matter the cars that I rented with the half baked electric steering systems (Mustang the exception). It’s not a Jeep thing after all.

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