Top mistakes since buying your Jeep

[jayteal]

1. Not waiting to order my JLUR in punkin' orange in 2018 and instead settling for a black one on the dealer lot . It's a manual and it sat on the lot for weeks because nobody wanted to buy it but the dealer gave me a reasonable deal however, every time I see an orange Rubi on the road I cry a little on the inside. I love mine but damn, been waiting for a new orangish color so I can have an excuse to order one with 4:88 gearing with the M/T. Lesson is don't settle and get the color you want.
2. Buying additional skid plates to protect the oil pan which made me lose 1" of ground clearance when wheeling instead of just getting 35" tires right away, getting an extra inch of clearance and not having to stare at unused skid plates in the garage.

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[HushJeep]

Only caliper paint I'll use is the G2 brand. It's a two part epoxy paint. Mix the paint with the activator, then put on 3-4 coats. It has a working time of 45 minutes to an hour, so you want everything clean, masked, and ready to paint when you mix. I use one "kit" per axle typically.

For your 4XE, G2 makes a Grabber Blue color for the Mustang (had one) that would just about be a perfect match for the accents. It's a custom order color, just have to ask for it. It looked like new after 3 years of use, and we just traded the car in with it looking fresh still.

I've used G2 on other vehicles, and it has been by far the most durable caliper paint I've used. Word of warning though, once you've made the choice to use it, it doesn't come off easily. It's like putting two part epoxy onto anything. Pretty much have to grind it off if you want it off.

I checked out their website (G2 Brake Caliper Paint Systems (g2usa.com)) and they offer custom colours according to your paint code which is cool. Do you think this stuff would be hold up on a Jeep Wrangler for many years considering larger/heavier wheels and tires, regular rotations, some off road use, etc.?

I'm not opposed to re-doing them if I knew they'd last and look good for 5+ years.

 

[Headbarcode]

Telling my wife how much I’d need to spend on mods when I ordered the Jeep (giant underestimate)

I took a slightly different approach with the Mrs. I simply told her that I'd be making some changes, but my focus is solely on functional things and not wasting on looks. The cherry on top was mentioning how fiscally responsible I was being by always making sure I hit the $70 minimum at Northridge that earns free shipping. I just never got around to telling her that most orders were 10-50 times that minimum.

 

[Traveller128]

I checked out their website (G2 Brake Caliper Paint Systems (g2usa.com)) and they offer custom colours according to your paint code which is cool. Do you think this stuff would be hold up on a Jeep Wrangler for many years considering larger/heavier wheels and tires, regular rotations, some off road use, etc.?

I'm not opposed to re-doing them if I knew they'd last and look good for 5+ years.

I've had it on road cars that saw some dirt road use, but not as much offroad as our Jeep is going to see. I do know that it sticks, never had it flake off. Has nothing to do with wheels/tires, rotations, etc. Not sure how it will hold up to offroad use, but one of the vehicles I had it on saw a lot of gravel/dirt road travel.

Had it on a white Challenger R/T 6 speed with a supercharger, and I painted the rotor hats on that out to the edge of the friction surface. I used pure white that matched the body color on the rotor hats and calipers (I separate the pieces when I paint calipers to get good coverage) and the only thing that discolored at all, was the very edge of the paint at the edge of the rotor friction area. Those brakes were hard used on multiple occasions, and it held up great, and stayed the same color except for that darkening right at that edge.

In retrospect, the next set I do I'll paint the hats, but not go quite that close to the friction surface. You could hardly see it, but I knew it was there, I kept that car in a high state of clean and polish for car shows. That was a fairly customized vehicle, SRT suspension, expensive truly custom wheels, different interior, etc.

 

[word302]

I took a slightly different approach with the Mrs. I simply told her that I'd be making some changes, but my focus is solely on functional things and not wasting on looks. The cherry on top was mentioning how fiscally responsible I was being by always making sure I hit the $70 minimum at Northridge that earns free shipping. I just never got around to telling her that most orders were 10-50 times that minimum.

Or that there would be 107 separate orders

 

[Pinky Tuscadero]

After buying the pink rhd for he wife I failed to buy a stripped Pink 2 door sport for me and now I can't

 

[johndan]

I have the twill soft top and ran it year round without any issues. I like in the northwest Adirondacks, so temps were frequently -10F or lower in the winter and I never had issues with ice buildup or the cabin being cold. Wranglers heat up faster than any vehicle I've ever owned (I'm in my late fifties and in addition to three Wranglers, have owned about ten other vehicles, ranging from a late '80s Chevy Nova to several late 2010s Tacomas).

The only drawback I have, which others have mentioned, is getting items into the back requires undoing the rear window, which is a little awkward in the summer (but better on the JL than earlier models) but something I avoid in the winter because I'm worried about the plastic cracking.

If that was a deal breaker for me, I'd probably be driving a minivan.

I wonder if I should have bought the soft top instead of the hard top... but the only models I could afford were the Sport and the base Willys... and both come with sailcloth tops... and I'd prefer the twill. And I think it's good having the hard top 6 months of the year. I did buy the twill sunrider top... maybe next year I'll buy a soft top...

Also, when I placed the order, I was unsure of where I'd be moving, and if I had room to store the hard top... hence the sunrider & hard top.

Also, I'd probably go back and order the Willys over the Sport, but I didn't want the mud tires and at the time, I was unaware of how cheap it was to buy take offs.

Other than that, no regrets...

 

[Whaler27]

1- Tailgate reinforcement... gimmicky in my opinion.. unless is a version that also replaces the hinges I don't believe it offers enough strength to avoid sagging and damage to the stock hinges... I have a bumper with the swingarm spare tire mount.. .plenty strong to carry my 143 pound spare tire.
2- wheel spacers.. money wasted in case you just wanted your JL to look cooler... if you use it to prevent the tire from rubbing then it is ok.. I still think is better to save that money and get proper wheels

X2 on the Mopar tailgate reinforcement. Expensive and inferior.

Factory steel bumper
Maximus-3 winch tray
Maximus-3 tow loops
I bought my Jeep with the factory steel bumper because I like the look and function in shorty mode, and the Maximus-3 winch mount and tow loops were a clean looking solution to flat-towing the Jeep behind the RV. All was great until about a year later when Maximus-3 discovered they needed to add a tie rod to their tow loops bar because their solution was damaging the Jeep frame — except the tie-bar makes the tow assembly unstowable, so I wish I went with a different bumper solution.

Mopar lift: Im a fan of the Mopar lift. It’s been great, but now the additional weight I have added to the Jeep makes the Fox shocks a little to soft/spongy, so I want to upgrade. If I had know I was going to have to do that I would have probably chosen another kit, like the Teraflex, because the Falcons are adjustable. The Mopar lift isn’t a terrible deal unless you’re going to throw away the Fox shocks and buy new ones.

 

[Bleda2002]

Yeah, I’ve created a monster, here she is showing off…….

As soon as I saw it, i knew where you were haha, trail 11. Go down it, its actually really fun and gets your rear tire way up in the air. Also if you go back, go trail 16 across 15 heading towards the exit, there are stair steps that are easy if dry to I hope you got lockers if they're muddy.

 

[Roky]

As soon as I saw it, i knew where you were haha, trail 11. Go down it, its actually really fun and gets your rear tire way up in the air. Also if you go back, go trail 16 across 15 heading towards the exit, there are stair steps that are easy if dry to I hope you got lockers if they're muddy.

I know where you are, my pic is actually on 14, there used to be a really cool hole there, near impossible if it was muddy. But the forest nannies filled it in…….here’s pic when it was at its best…….

 

[Bleda2002]

I know where you are, my pic is actually on 14, there used to be a really cool hole there, near impossible if it was muddy. But the forest nannies filled it in…….here’s pic when it was at its best…….

honestly wont be long until 14 is back to being deep. In the couple months since they reopened its already gotten pretty rutty just from rain. Probably in another 1-2 years it'll be back to being fun again.

 

[AC77]

Everyone made mistakes after buying a Jeep, I think it would be useful if we share those mistakes so we can avoid or fix them

I’ll start:
1- I’ve installed DSC fox shocks which were really expensive but not useful for me, I should’ve looked into it more before buying.
2- I’ve watched a video of installing Alpine subwoofer and I thought it was plug and play , NOT! I screwed up the ground cable and had to take it to the dealer.
3- upgrade videos sometimes isn’t easy as it looks.

Not getting the high Altitude. Instead I got the altitude. Which is still awesome. With the diesel.

 

[Craigger]

My first mistake, buying a Rubicon. I thought it would keep my mod purchases down. Boy was I wrong.

Second mistake, not doing my own regear. I had to learn how to do it myself after multiple failures.

Now I have a Sport and am building it the way I want it. Myself. A shop will align it, and that’s about all anyone else will touch it.

Are you putting on new control arms (adjustable)? If not, there really isn't much to aligning a Jeep Wrangler. Toe-in and steering wheel alignment - both very simple to do.

 

[r.stevens]

You'll have to let us know how like it takes for your Jeep to ship. I live in the Dayton Ohio area and I got my Sahara 3 days after the Window Sticker populated. But you are almost in Toledo...

I ordered on 12/23/21 and picked her up on 2/10/22.

 

[1quick1]

Front LOD bumper and VR 10S winch. Both are great but...

Hindsight I would have got an aluminum front for the weight savings and likely the Quadratec or Smitty winch and saved a few bucks there. That combo really affected my braking and handling.

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