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To modify or not modify your JL or any generation, for that matter,

Bearman95

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I’m going to pick up my first wrangler tomorrow. I’m coming from a 535xi which is super quiet. Holy smokes is the wind noise crazy on the wrangler. I’m worried It’s going to drive me crazy. I only drive 7500 miles / yr mostly city, so I’m rolling the dice.
I can compare my 2018 Rubicon with my 2017 grand Cherokee Overland. As far quietness of ride there is not that much difference. The Rubicon is a hardtop with the Mopar hardtop liners which does make a difference. I put the hardtop liners on my 2015 JK willies and I could notice a big difference Afterwards in the noise factor.
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BWWJL

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I can compare my 2018 Rubicon with my 2017 grand Cherokee Overland. As far quietness of ride there is not that much difference. The Rubicon is a hardtop with the Mopar hardtop liners which does make a difference. I put the hardtop liners on my 2015 JK willies and I could notice a big difference Afterwards in the noise factor.
@Bearman95, thanks for the suggestion. I’ll take a look.
 

FracDawg

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I'm on my third Jeep with the 2018 JLUR. My first was when I was a kid. 79 CJ7 with a 304 ci 3 speed manual. Looved the beast. You sure had to work hard to get it stuck. Mostly unmodified, bigger tires and wheels. Drove it from Clovis NM to San Diego Ca in August. Headers and a steel pan body nearly gave us heat stroke. Second was a 2008 JKU Sahara. Put 160,000 miles on it. 2" lift and 35's Ranch Hand front and rear. All I ever needed was oil, gas, shocks and batteries. Hunter and commuter with that one. This one already has DV8 bumpers, Saving for a winch and I'll put 35's on it when the KO2's are worn out. I like the JL better than both the previous models, due to me being a bit older and mellower. I tow a small trailer, commute and hunt with it. But I know what I like and what I want. I ordered this one with a tow package, LED lights and a 6 speed Manual. it has surprised me with the gas mileage, handling and quietness. (maybe I've just gone deaf).

That being said, IT'S A JEEP. It is just what I wanted.
 

OnlyOne

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I was reading a recent posting by a member on how he was dissatisfied with his JL and sold it after having it for barely 6 months. Now, if you are like me and just a little bit frugal with your money, that seems a little ridiculous. Sorry but common sense does not seem to be going into his choice of vehicles and what exactly what he intends to do with them. Either that or he has more money than sense, which is usually the case.
Firstly, before you even think of modifying your Jeep with suspension and tire upgrades, you must realize or visualize, what you really will be doing with the Jeep. Are you going to be tackling some serious off road trails with it or will the Jeep spend most of it's time on pavement with an occasional foray off road?
What I am driving at, is that when you modify your Jeep, you are actually hindering the on-road behavior with non-aerodynamic accessories like suspension lifts, flat fenders, wide knobby tires, bumpers, etc. The Jeep may be a beast off-road but it will also become a beast on-road, too and not in a good way. Oddly enough, those lame, stock, plastic fender flares and bumper bits do serve a purpose and that's mostly to cut down on wind noise and improve gas mileage. We are talking aerodynamics here. Lifting a Jeep only makes things worse for aerodynamics, too. Sorry.
It turns out the gentlemen stated above, traded his Jeep Rubicon for a Ford Raptor because the highway manners of the Jeep suffered, wind/road noise picked up after lifting it a couple more inches, putting 37 inch off-road tires on and he even went as far as to wondering why the transmission wouldn't shift right, anymore. Duh!! Well of course all this was going to happen after all those modifications! Yes, the Jeep looks bad ass but what was he thinking expecting a factory riding/driving Jeep after all that?? Probably not.
Folks, FCA already builds a fine and quite capable Rubicon but, believe it or not, it already pushes the limits of being a well mannered vehicle on-road as well as both off-road. If FCA took the mods any further, it would not be a highway riding vehicle, at all. We all know that you need the highway to get to those trails so you have to decide what is more important to you. You could always do like this gentleman who apparently has no issue with money, anyway, and trailer the beast in so it could be used what it is ultimately outfitted for.
Yes, I get it! We all modify our Jeeps. It's an addiction and money pit of sorts. But at some point you got to decide what's important and, ultimately, how you are going to use it. I don't know about you but with a JL pushing 40-50 grand, now, I have to trust the FCA engineers a little more and my pocketbook a little less. I just can no longer afford what I used to put on my old TJ. Quite frankly, I don't have to because the JL is one of the best generation of Wranglers, yet.
Who cares.
 

butcho

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I’m going to pick up my first wrangler tomorrow. I’m coming from a 535xi which is super quiet. Holy smokes is the wind noise crazy on the wrangler. I’m worried It’s going to drive me crazy. I only drive 7500 miles / yr mostly city, so I’m rolling the dice.
I lifted my Jeep with the Mopar lift and 35” Nitto R/Gs and I swear those tires are dead silent even more so than stock.
 

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DravenGSX

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Sheesh OP. Nothing but judgement on your 2nd post here. Not a good start.

What others do with their money is up to them, not you. You don't know their circumstances, how they earned that money, or how much of it they have (or don't have), and frankly it's irrelevant. Why the need to piss on somebody else's choice in vehicles?

To mod or not to mod? Do whatever suits you best.

To Raptor or not to Raptor? Get the damn Raptor.. you can't take it with you.
 

Outlaw

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@kahrensjr thank you for taking the time to post about me. As I mentioned in my post I was not happy with the wind noise long before I lifted it or put 37s on it. My posts are documented in the very long Hard Top Wind Noise thread. I had my JLUR in the shop 6 times in 5 months. Yes, 3 times were from the god-awful wind noise with the hard top, once for my Uconnect failing, once for the cruise control recall, and once for the steering TSB. Seems a bit of jealousy is in play here? I also mentioned I understood why the transmission was hunting gears. This was not my first Jeep and probably will not be my last. I'll be back to the brand when the diesel comes out and they do something about the wind noise and horrible frame welds. My past 2015 JKUR was also highly modified.

You also mention you being frugal, that's great for you. I don't live in debt, I pay cash for almost everything I own unless I get a stupid good interest rate. I make good money and choose to spend it how I'd like. I didn't by my Raptor for you, I bought it for me! I didn't lose a dime on my Jeep, as a matter of fact, I made close to $3,000 trading it in after driving it for 6 months. In no way did I bash your precious Jeep, I simply stated my reasons for my decision to get rid of my Jeep. Maybe for you, people have to choose what they want to drive for the next 10 years, but variety is the spice of life! I've been driving a Jeep for 4 years almost and I can tell you my new Raptor is a very welcome change!
You should probably go find a raptor forum. You are clearly out of your element here!
 

sfadchi

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You should probably go find a raptor forum. You are clearly out of your element here!
You clearly didn't read either thread. With 4 posts I'm not sure you should be the one telling me to leave. As a long time Jeep guy, I think I'll stay a while. I'm already planning my next Jeep build. Thanks for your highly thought out comment.
 

Todkavonic

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How about we take away all of the judgey stuff and just focus on the following:

Do you agree or disagree?
1) people who modify their wranglers shouldn’t be surprised, and certainly shouldn’t complain, when those modifications lead to additional issues.
2) Jeeps are engineered exceptionally well, so modifications may be detrimental.

And of course I’m not talking about grab handles and molle bags.
 

TimmH

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Someone said earlier in the thread, that many over-modify for their needs, that I can agree with, but then modifying for the sake of modifying is half the fun.

This is my first Jeep. Wanted one for a long time, but heard many stories of them not being all that comfortable, noisy, and handled poorly. Ultimately, I had a chance to rent a JK not long ago, and absolutely loved it for the week. I had already been thinking about trading in the Ford Edge because, for as much as I liked the Ford, it just didn't allow me to personalize it, and I like to do that. I have a 2006 Mustang in my garage that I was always tinkering with, even if it was adding something that most people would never notice, I noticed.

So now I have my first Jeep, a 2018 Sahara. I have no intentions of doing any off-roading, but I still intend to personalize it, which will start with new rims and tires. Just gotta find that right balance of style and performance for my needs. Eventually I will put lights under the step that light when the doors are unlocked, LED headlights with Halos (Wife has a Challenger and I love her amber halos as DRLs), and maybe replace the front bumper one day.
 

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Lizzy

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Disagree with 2. FCA quality isn't all that great (I can say that as an owner of 3 of them) first of all. And second....depends on your end use and what you want out of the vehicle.
I understand about the guy who bought the Raptor.I once had a new truck that had a rattle in the dash somewhere that the dealership never did find.It was brand new and when you've had enough,you've had enough.It was gone immediately for another purchase,problem solved.
,
 

Lizzy

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Disagree with 2. FCA quality isn't all that great (I can say that as an owner of 3 of them) first of all. And second....depends on your end use and what you want out of the vehicle.
I understand about the guy who bought the Raptor.I once had a new truck that had a rattle in the dash somewhere that the dealership never did find.It was brand new and when you've had enough,you've had enough.It was gone immediately for another purchase,problem solved.
,
 

Redleg22

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I have always gone overboard with my jeeps and made them miserable to drive. I loved it in my 20's and would road trip with no top or doors several states from home. Now in my mid 30's I am getting soft so my JLUR will remain almost bone stock except for maybe some lighting and a bumper/winch.
 

sardog12

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OKAY, HERE GOES MY FIRST POST.

I HAVE A JLU SPORT ON ORDER. TWO WEEKS AND COUNTING. CAN'T WAIT! IT DOES SEEM THERE IS A TENDENCY TO OVER MODIFY A JEEP, THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT THE SUBSEQUENT PROBLEMS. THE REALITY IS THAT I WILL ON-ROAD FAR MORE THAN OFF ROAD. I AM COLLECTING A WISH LIST THAT WILL SERVE ME OFF ROAD WITHOUT COMPROMISING ON ROAD PERFORMANCE. THIS MEANS THAT TAKING ON THE RUBICON TRAIL IS NOT IN MY NEAR FUTURE WITH MY FIRST WRANGLER. SO, AS AN EXAMPLE OF MY APPROACH, I CAN SEE OPTING FOR A HIGH LIFT BEFORE A WINCH. SINCE A HIGH LIFT DOUBLES AS A WINCH. NO DOUBT AFTER USING THE HIGH LIFT, I'LL WONDER WHY I DIDN'T GET A WINCH THE FIRST TIME. HOPEFULLY, IT'LL NEVER COME TO THAT.
I have a TJ which has had numerous mods over its 14 year period and am looking at moving to a JLR. Based on my experience, I would disagree somewhat on your "over modifying" comment, as I believe that it is more about quality/research of mods as opposed to "over modifying". In other words, quality parts are the key. I don't understand why people put crap on a Jeep and then complain that it rides like crap without understanding that it is their own fault that it rides like crap. Over modifying isn't necessarily bad if it you have a desired goal and don't want to keep replacing parts but understanding what those changes can cause when you are in the middle of a process is critical to being satisfied with them.

And as for the winch vs jack, I would never say that a jack would double as a winch. It could work "in a pinch" but to rely on it as a one to justify not buying a real winch is silly to me since there are numerous times that a jack will be extremely hard pressed to perform the same task that a winch would be asked to and could in fact be more dangerous. But your mileage may differ from mine.
 

RERAIL

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I have a TJ which has had numerous mods over its 14 year period and am looking at moving to a JLR. Based on my experience, I would disagree somewhat on your "over modifying" comment, as I believe that it is more about quality/research of mods as opposed to "over modifying". In other words, quality parts are the key. I don't understand why people put crap on a Jeep and then complain that it rides like crap without understanding that it is their own fault that it rides like crap. Over modifying isn't necessarily bad if it you have a desired goal and don't want to keep replacing parts but understanding what those changes can cause when you are in the middle of a process is critical to being satisfied with them.

And as for the winch vs jack, I would never say that a jack would double as a winch. It could work "in a pinch" but to rely on it as a one to justify not buying a real winch is silly to me since there are numerous times that a jack will be extremely hard pressed to perform the same task that a winch would be asked to and could in fact be more dangerous. But your mileage may differ from mine.

Your right about not relying on a hi jack doubling as a winch. I'm assuming that I have enough common sense to stay out of serious trouble.
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