What mods do you regret and would NOT do again?

[aldo98229]

Us Jeepers are notorious for going into denial whenever mods don’t work as we expected. We have a tendency to justify our mods to everyone for no other reason than we came up with it and we did it ourselves.

Let’s be open and share those mods that we wouldn’t do again if we had the chance, and what we would do differently.

I’ll start with some of my own:

1. Rugged Ridge aluminum tail light guards. I put them on my Sahara two years ago. The aluminum must have reacted with the steel hex bolts provided with the kit. The end result is that the guards are now soldered forever. I’ve tried everything; the damn guards will not come off any more.
   • If I were to do it all over again, I’d just skip them and save the money...and aggravation
2. Mopar door sill guards. Simply put, they are too small; they don’t guard very much. Not sure what Mopar was thinking.
   • If I were to do it all over again, I’d just get the Quadratec sill guards, or some clear film
3. 35x12.5 tires. I go back-and-forth on this one. I do enjoy the awesone capability on the trails and the higher vehicle stance; don’t enjoy the lumbering handling, the stiffer ride, the poor MPG, and the extreme difficulty older members in my family have getting in and out of the Jeep.
   • If I were to do it all over again, I’d get lighter, narrower 35x11 tires, or stop at 34s

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[blnewt]

Hood locks that aren't the type that go through the grill, they are worthless!

Cheap chinese LED headlights that require 7" adapters, junk!!!

Rough Country side steps, ok construction but you lose too much ground clearance.

Stubby antenna, looks cool but way too much signal loss.

 

[rickinAZ]

CAI (twice, but not on Jeeps).

 

[RubiSc0tt]

This is a tough one. I've done hundreds of hours on painstaking research for this build, reviewing options, prices, and purpose. So that said: This is just me being SUPER nit picky.

1). Front Bumper: I do love my Motobilt, but it's tough to fit fogs on that bumper. Probably would have went Next Venture Aluminum Bumpers: Weight reduction, but also like that the front accepts OEM fogs. Rear Bumper has good tub coverage and clearances.
2). 37" tires: Love them, but sometimes i wish I waited longer to go to them. I probably could have used that money more effectively elsewhere. Also would have let me keep the OEM wheels a little longer. I liked those. Ultimately, given current prices and inventory issues, I'm glad I did it when I did.
3). DIY CB bar: Nobody uses CB's in my club anymore and I think mine might finally be toast, so I might as well not even have it in the Jeep since we are all using GMRS.
4). BodyArmor 4x4 Tire Carrier: Good for the price, the bumper is a nice bumper, and it is a good kit; but the tailgate still flexes (which is why I got it in the first place) and the turnbuckle on the tire carrier needs adjustment and larger stoppers on the tailgate to stop it from moving. IF you tighten it down too hard, the turnbuckle pulls the carrier and the carrier sags. Plus, the powder coating is already rusting off. If I had to do it again I would probably go Next Venture Motorsports rear aluminum or Motobilt for the bumper, and do a Teraflex HD Alpha or Motobilt carrier for the carrier because it replaces the hinges. We did the HD Alpha on my buddy's 4xe Rubi and I was real impressed with it.

That's all i can think of off the top of my head.

 

[kah.mun.rah]

- 35s on a lifted JLUR
- investing any $$ into a stock front axle

 

[aldo98229]

Hood locks that aren't the type that go through the grill, they are worthless!

Cheap chinese LED headlights that require 7" adapters, junk!!!

Rough Country side steps, ok construction but you lose too much ground clearance.

Stubby antenna, looks cool but way too much signal loss.

Yah! Stubby antenna is another waste of money...

 

[aldo98229]

CAI (twice, but not on Jeeps).

Yup. Did it to two of my JKs. I did enjoy the growl under full throttle, but that’s about it.

Mopar has made JL’s CAI so much more complicated that it is truly not worth the hassle any more.

 

[unsavory]

Never understood what people have against the stock antenna. I love the way it looks on a Jeep. Jeeps should have long antennae.

 

[Sazabi19]

Lol, I'm the opposite of you guys, I like the stubby. Just put on another on my JLR, JT kept the orig. I don't notice much signal loss but I'm not in BFE, nor do I really listen to the radio. The whip 1 is just annoying.

 

[aldo98229]

If you are not going to listen to the radio, just remove the OE mast. That’s what I did.

 

[Traveller128]

Rugged Ridge Venator front bumper combined with Badland winch on a 2 door. Nothing wrong with the winch, it was just the weight of the bumper and winch combined, and I think the Venator front bumper has some weird aero going on. The handling and fuel mileage really took a hit.

Now with an MP Concepts aluminum front bumper, and a Barricade 9500, the Willys drives just fine. Totally different reaction, and the weight difference is about 43-45 lbs less up front than the last try. Either we went past the tipping point (about 125ish net gain up front with the first setup, 80ish with the current one) or the aero of the Venator was that screwy.

The current setup actually plants the front end a bit, which helps in side winds. Very pleasant to drive, one handed.

These results were obtained using a spring setup that balanced the level with both setups.

 

[Jtclayton612]

35x12.5” I would’ve gone straight to 37s if I had realized quite how much lift 2.5” was going to give me.

dv8 products in general it seems, I still have the rear bumper and it doesn’t fit quite right but it’s good enough that until other things get worked on i can stay. The bumper mounted tire carrier got tossed like 3 weeks into ownership and I got the teraflex spare tire carrier.

hindsight is 20/20 but I wish I had gone rubicon to begin with if we count that as a mod of the trim level haha.

 

[Billkowski]

1. Bikini tops, they flap a lot, you constantly have to adjust them.
2. Shade tops, they don't do a great job with the sun and you really can't see though them very well either.
3. Cheap diver down seatcovers. Fade quickly, very sweaty.

 

[RocknJL]

RockHard Patriot rear bumper and tire carrier. It made it a pita to open the tailgate every time I got in the back. It also never fit right and rattled from day one in terms of getting the tire carrier adjusted which was only worse with the added rotopax mounts.

 

[Swissswiss]

- 35s on a lifted JLUR
- investing any $$ into a stock front axle

Why do you regret 35s on a JLUR? Shouldn’t that handle just fine?

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