I see lots of build projects of some sweet Rubis, but my wife and I felt that the Sahara was a great starting point for our needs. We found one from a dealer that had the "bare essential" options that we wanted, specifically: 8.4 infotainment system, towing group, LED lighting, automatic transmission, and Anti-Spin differential (Dana 44 for $595? I'll take that ). It's amazing how quickly a $37K base price JL jumps to $50K, but it was still love at first drive. If the Sahara is the "lady" of the JL line, Wicked Obsession is the equivalent of Lara Croft We wasted no time yanking off the wheels and the exhaust. Got her a 2.5" Rough Country lift, Fuel Cleaver wheels (my wife liked the aggressive look, go figure), 35" Falken Wildpeak ATs, the JKS sway bar quick disconnects, and the aFe Mach Force cat back exhaust (we originally had their Rock Basher, but it was just too loud). We also dropped in a Tazer JL reprogrammer as soon as they were available, and just slapped on the GoRhino RB20 running boards, which we felt were more sturdy than the Sahara running boards (which actually aren't too shabby). We also dressed up her front with a DV8 FS-15 bumper and a Smittybilt winch. Lastly, we have the amazing MOJO Jeep shade, which shows off our Texas pride when she's topless. Some of you will also recognize the red plastidip job I did on the grille, which definitely makes her stand out! She's been on extremely difficult trails already, and we consistently get comments of surprise about how well "Wicked" keeps up with the modded Rubis. I repeatedly remind people to not dismiss the amazing power of the Brake Lock Differentials in the new JLs. The new computer control system can handle probably 98% of what we previously needed lockers for! I think the Rubicon is a great value for the price, but we're very happy with our first JL (we are saving to buy a diesel Rubi next year!) As for the decals, some of them are supplied by designers that have expensive dye-printing setups, but I am a pretty competent graphics designer myself (although I'm a computer scientist by profession), so I design some of my own decals and run them through a vinyl cutter I have at home (a US Cutter Laserpoint 3, in case anybody cares ). My latest work, which has been featured on this website earlier this week, was the "Jurassic Jeep" design, which was inspired by Jeep's Super Bowl commercial for the JL. We originally had it in red, but we felt it needed more contrast with the granite crystal color, so I switched to light gray. The "God Bless Texas" outline flag is also my own design. If you see Wicked out on the roads in the Austin area, be sure to wave! Also check out Wicked Obsessions's JLWF Garage Page.
It’s my own design! (Adobe Illustrator, then run into VinylMaster and onward to my Laserpoint 3 vinyl cutter).
The Sahara is technically my wife’s. We are saving to get a diesel Rubicon for myself next year. By my calculations, I need to sell 125,000 vinyl decals to afford it
Hmmm...you're just a hop, skip and a jump down the road from me...I may have to hit you up for one of those sometime soon...and pay for it, of course.
PM me about what color and size you want. I'm a short drive down the 130 tollway! Also, I'm guessing your username is your ham callsign. So is mine
I want to do the red grill on My Sting Gray when It comes in a few weeks.. Looks awesome. Did you plasti-dip it or paint it? EDIT: oops sorry just read the answer in your original post
Glad I came across this post... haven't seen any Sahara's with lifts and tires and it's all I can think about doing to mine! Will deffs have to look into pricing now!! You've inspired me!!!
Thanks. Don't let anybody tell you that a Rubicon is the way to go. They both have their purposes. We're rather fond of the "creature comforts" of Wicked, but underneath all her pretty makeup is the toughness of Lara Croft or Sarah Connor