Hi everyone, I am a 17 year old and I have a 2008 Sahara 4-Door. Just for some background, this car has been in our family for maybe 10 years now and has been driven in the NY winter with lots of salt. Consequently, it has built up some rust on the undercarriage. I have now been driving the car and want to get some wheels and tires that arenīt the stocks I have now. I donīt plan or really want to do crazy rock crawling and things like that. I understand that the car is nearing the end of its life with 165,--- miles on it and I know this would negatively affect it. As well as its age, I do not have the money to invest in lockers or any real performance suspension upgrades. What I really kind of want to do is just get a small lift and a little bigger tires just so I can do some flat dirt, maybe low incline trail driving, just to be able to be capable enough that I and my buddies can do some exploring sometimes or just drive on some back roads and such. I was thinking of getting a 2.5 inch lift and maybe a set of BFG M/T tires that came on a Rubicon or something of the sort. I am just not sure what size I should get or if I would need additional suspension upgrades to deal with the extra weight and such. I have been educating myself for the last year or so and have learned a lot from the great community! But I figured that I would come here as I am sure this is a common question and Iīm sure some of you guys know how to answer it. I understand the nature of the situation with the car being old and I understand if the answer is to just nurse the car until it gives, even though it is going extremely strong. Thanks so much for everyone's help!

 

There are many of those 3.8L JKs still on the road with 200-300k miles on em and still chugging along. If the engine has been cared for I wouldn't necessarily say 165k miles is "old" even though you are 14 years down the line. I'd imagine the bigger issue is the rust and combatting that over time.

I'd stick with 17" wheels. If you plan to ever go to 33" tires get something with 5.5" backspacing, and if ever plan to go to 35s go for 4.5" backspacing. It sounds like you are just wanting to move away from the factory design rather than keep it and use adapters for additional clearance. Adapters are not ideal, but they to typically get the job done in a budget-friendly manner. IDK what NY is like. Around my area there are tons of used wheels for sale at budget-friendly prices too if not looking to blow a load on brand new wheels.

 

Welcome Arete.. "Ditto" on resharp001.. I might add, you should look into spacer lift or Leveling kit.. not as expensive as a 2.5" lift kit. Check your frame for Rust being in NY and all the Salt/Brine in winters .. Correct any before it gets out of control.. U are on the right track asking questions before spending the $$s.

 

You can easily put 285/70/17's on there with a 2" puck style lift. Should be able to get away with no upper or lower control arm readjust due to change in steering caster due to a lift away from stock. The stock control arms are fixed and to adjust the caster requires something like a track bar relocation bracket or adjustable arms. If you lift then you may also need 2" longer shocks such as what Bilstein make. Also with a lift remember your flex brake lines, diff breathers and the park brake cable attachments need to be taken care of and sway bar disconnect kit is a good idea as well. From what you are saying all you probably need is 265 tires and no lift at all. Jeeps are really capable in stock form. Save the money to take care of rustproofing the chassis if it is not too thin now.

 

165K miles is barely broken-in if it's been taken care of. Mines at 175K and it's running like new. 2008 isn't old at all! Hell, both my '86 Toyota and '88 Ford run great too. The 2008 is our new rig, we tow a camp trailer thousands of miles from home and then go off-road with it!

The point I'm trying to make is that our throw-away culture has most people brain-washed. At 17, learning to work on cars is a huge opportunity to save and make a ton of money over your lifetime! The first step is acquiring the shop manual -- An old saying is that the expert is the person with the manual. And whatever is learned can be useful in a multitude of careers besides the automotive ones. Fixing cars is not that different from fixing things in a nuclear power plant. No kidding, I've done both, and it all started with working on cars when I was a kid.

As to the tires and lift, I'd recommend just getting some Rubi take-offs (255/70R-17) and skipping the lift at this point. Those tires are cheap because lots of people dump them right after buying a new Jeep to look good at the mall. Save your money, drive it, fix it, maintain it, and learn from it.