Chitownpete

If you don't go offroad at all do not lift it and get huge tires, the drawbacks to heavier tires, taller gearing, and handling on the street are huge. Sounds like 33s will give you the look you want without all the on road drawbacks of lifts and bigger tires. I'm only saying this because my friend bought a new Rubicon, ripped out all the stock goodies for a crazy lift/tire kit and the most extreme thing he does is drive on snow piles at the mall and drive on a dirt road twice a year, his street performance suffered greatly. Much Slower, worse braking, worse handling, worse gas mileage, much worse ride, more maintenance (lots of brake wear slowing those heavy tires). It does make him happy and he would have it no other way so what do I know?

DunnyBunny

What lift height and brand did he go with?

Chitownpete

Not sure as I'm new to this but I believe it was 3 inches and the tires were 35s x 12. It was an awesome street car before the Mods and inspired me to buy a Jeep as I never liked the older ones but was shocked at how nice the JK was. I always hated everything about Jeeps until the day he took me for a ride in his 2014 Rubi Unlimited and another friend took me for a ride in his 2014 Sahara 2 door. I never thought I'd own one of these things.

DunnyBunny

Do you know what components he had with his lift. I mean you say everything about it rode like crap and so don't lift and don't do big wheels and that he put a crazy lift on etc etc. If he did it right then it should actually ride good and jeeps don't have good mileage anyways so that's not that big of a deal.

Chitownpete

My comments are only for Jeeps that are street driven and never taken on anything other than a dirt road which is what the OP mentioned. You can get soft spring and shocks but that only amplifies the negative effects of raising a street vehicle. Having done many suspension mods on cars, quads, snowmobiles, and motorcycles over the years I learned not to ever change ride heights unless you really need to, even an inch difference in ride height can help (raised for off road and lowered for on road) or hurt (reduced cornering and stability on road or not clearing obstacles and bottoming out off road). If this street driven Jeep can get 33s then the OP can get the look he wants, not reduce his on road performance/stabilty much , and not reduce his acceleration or braking numbers too much. Keep in mind I'm a City boy and almost none of the Jeep owners I meet ever go off road. If I lived in the Country and had lots of trails I'd be all jacked up and big wheeled in a heartbeat, (I learned the benefits of this in my Muddin Quad days) but I also wouldn't have bought a Brand new Jeep, I would've bought a used JK and built it up. I realize some people want the look, but some don't realize the huge drawbacks on the street. Physics never disappears. Either way, I recommend doing what you think you like regardless of what you read on the Internet. I'll admit, I learned the hard way and made a few mistakes over the years. I remember when I got big wheels for my quad and while it helped big time in the mud pits I could no longer keep up with the group on the trails the other 98% of the time. My friends tried to warn me but a guy on a Forum told me it didn't matter so I wasted $800 in the end.

DunnyBunny

I understand the drawbacks. I'm just saying that if you want to lift for looks then there are ways to do it right that negate almost all the drawbacks you listed. Choosing the right tires will give a nice look and will drive very well and have great road manners. Choosing the right coil and shock combination will also give you a really smooth ride and actually improve cornering and stability over stock and if you have castor correction (control arms or drop brackets) then you can get castor back to stocklike and and it handles as is did stock. I had a lifted jeep with 35s and it road and handled better then stock because I set it up properly. Most people don't offroad their Jeeps but they love the look of a lifted jeep with larger tires (and that's perfectly fine in my book) so there are proper ways to do it.

The reason I asked you about his lift is because most people don't do it right and will just buy a cheap huge 4, 5, or 6 inch lift from a not so good company that doesn't have a complete kit and will just throw it on and then pick some great looking aggressive offroad tires that are horrible for street use and then WaLa you have a shitty driving jeep with many drawbacks that could have been negated if just doing it right. The ONLY drawbacks I had from my lift and tires were lowered gas mileage (maybe 2 or 3 mpg less) and some lost power (3.8l, wouldn't have been so bad with the 3.6l). And truly with programmer and/or regearing then those drawbacks can be negated also. Really just depends on how much money someone wants to spend.

But I'll agree he can go 33's on stock and still look good and drive decent. Hell I had 35s on stock with flat fenders and it looked badass I thought.

Chitownpete

Excellent point DunnyBunny. If youre going to do it , do it right or save until you can. I understand most want to lift and I support that. I made the mistake of lowering a car on the cheap only to have to drive it slower than stock on the roads I have because it would bottom out and wouldn't clear speedbumps. Minivans were smoking me I had to drive so slow. Fast forward 17 years and I now have a Jeep. Bumpy roads don't bother me anymore.

DunnyBunny

Right I came from the world of imports and tuner cars and your right you can definitely screw up lowering a vehicle just as easy as lifting one lol.

jeepmojo

i believe he posted he had 3.21 gearing and thats not a great gearing for 35s and lifted to start with
He dosent off road and just wanted looks overall, so i doubt but i could be wrong that he will want to drop tons of cash into a jeep just to ride to work and to stores . Not that there arnt plenty who do this but i wouldnt.

most jeeps that off road with 33s and no lift do as good as a lifted one with 35s and small lift

id rather not loose the stock ride , warranty , steer issues , and other things .
im not saying a quality lift isnt good , id toss one on too if i thought id use it enough to warrant the cost and gremlins that can go with them including driveshafts , gearing , large sized tire cost , drag links , tie rod, etc ...

A lifted jeep isnt all that anyway in my opinion . I think some look stupid in fact and looked better stock but not with the 225 tires of course . You can add things that will make a stock jeep very nice with out having to lift and go 35 or bigger for sure and not suffer the never ending empty every pocket syndrome that bites most jeep owners who are trying to out do their friend or something. It also allows you to take time to decide what items youl need . Youl find you need less than you thought most likely. Youl spend more than you have even going easy , no sense going deep into debt if you dont really need some things. not everyone needs winches or body armor rock rails, led lights, onboard air,
37s king shocks, hemi, or grab handles

THE cost of the jeep itself is hard enough to come up with

bombout800

If it were me, and I didn't plan on wheeling a ton... I'd do 2.5" springs. Ome shocks for the amount of travel you'll need. And leave everything stock. And build or add from there. Shouldn't be too high, and should be stable and comfortable.