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

[kahrensjr]

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.

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[Jeeper18426572]

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.

Well said

 

[RERAIL]

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.

 

[Movingday]

Not sure if you noticed but your caps lock was on

 

[Shooting or Jeeping]

I’ll say this, as I’m on my 3rd Wrangler: the first time around I way over modified for what I needed. I bought all the parts I could find and I thought it made it look cool. It drove like ass and it was too loud. Lesson learned.

So the second was overly conservative. I didn’t do much at all, as I felt like I made too many mistakes. I liked it, but I felt a longing to do more.

The third time around (JL) I’ve learned to pace and plan. Frankly, what has helped is it being a new model. The JK had 10 years of parts and write ups and everyone had an opinion. It was information overload and I couldn’t shut my brain off. Now I can pace it and go part by part- because that’s how they are being released.

Either way, you’ll never keep a Jeep stock. What you do with that information is completely up to you...

 

[Wrangles]

My JLUR is staying OEM, Factory, Stock. To me it looks best that way and is is more than enough from a capability standpoint for what I’d ever do with it.

 

[Bearman95]

I put a winch on my Rubicon along with a few of the mopar accessarys, winch gaurd, tailgate table, mopar lights on the winch guard. The Jeep came with the steel bumper group. Been there and done that with the lift and big tires and didn’t like it but to each his own. I like my ride just like it is.

 

[Luvmejeeps]

Gotta pay to play if your gonna lift n put bigger shoes on...the stock components will wear out faster and need replaced sooner.

Im staying stock this go around,as itll take me 99.9% of the places i go. And i like my mpgs where there at right now too

 

[Biscuit]

I've owned five Wranglers over the years. Each one remained stock, and performance was more than adequate for my needs, both on-road and off-road; as a daily driver, a hunting/camping vehicle, and a road trip vehicle.

 

[RussJeep1]

I was reading a recent posting..

@kahrensjr Kent[on]: know I agree with what you say. Still further, know that I appreciate that you didn't expressly conflate @sfadchi Chris' trading in of his JL with his dissatisfaction post mods, which would be proper, as he did voice concerns with the rig pre mod.

You, me, nearly everyone here, we love our JLs--modded or not--still further would hate to have financial loss turning one around in a matter of months if we didn't. But they're (JLs that is) not for everyone.

Peace brother.

P.S. I'm not sure what consensus would agree is modding a Wrangler. I glean that adding grab handles probably isn't, and a professionally celebrity $10K customization is, but where between the two a Wrangler has been modded or not....?

 

[sfadchi]

@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!

 

[Wrangles]

I put a winch on my Rubicon along with a few of the mopar accessarys, winch gaurd, tailgate table, mopar lights on the winch guard. The Jeep came with the steel bumper group. Been there and done that with the lift and big tires and didn’t like it but to each his own. I like my ride just like it is.

Ya, I’ve added Mopar accessories as well but I consider them stock and OEM. Mopar Winch Bar, Sill Plates, Screen Protector, All Weather Matts. I won’t do a Mopar lift though.

THE only non-stock/OEM item I’m using are Gorilla locking lug nuts, one on each tire and the spare. My JLUR didn’t come with any locking lug nuts not even one on the spare. The Gorilla ones look better I think. Oh ya, slapped a Skeletized T-Rex vinyl sticker on the windshield behind the Willy’s Jeep in the corner because I thought it was hilarious and who doesn’t like Jurassic Park?

I’m debating whether or not to paint the brake calipers dark red, think that would look cool, maybe have the coil springs powder coated dark red as well but I dunno, can’t make up my mind on those.

 

[BeerGuyNS]

Yeah... no major mods for me. It's my daily driver. I've been wheeling with Jeep pals and local clubs and its been more than capable doing runs that im comfortable taking my NEW Jeep on. I like getting it dirty... not rock climbing. However... I'm gonna hack off those european bumper covers. I've added MOLLE storage to the tailgate, grip handles, and decals. I will add steps, or rock rails as steps and a CB radio. I love my Jeep.

 

[Jeepmarkjl]

Whether to mod your Jeep or not?

That like saying:
Is it Ok to NOT to mix BBQ sauce in with your Bloody Mary?
Or when your skinning a squirrel for dinner, never start from the ears.
Or who wouldn't put crushed walnuts in their mayo sandwich.
Left sock, left shoe, then right sock, right shoe...come on, right?

I'm modding mine with stuff but not too crazy and no angry birds.

 

[BWWJL]

@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!

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.

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