I just picked my 05 WK up from the shop last night. As promised here are the pictures of before and after, and some info for you.
Jeep: 05 WK 4.7L Laredo
Lift: 4″ Superlift w/ SSR Shocks
Install Difficulty & Time: Professional Installation at 4WheelParts, 3 Days. Requires welding and cutting.
Tires: 285/70-17 BFG A/T KOs
Spacers or New Wheels: ProComp Extreme – 17″ by 8″ with 4.5″ of Backspacing
Rubbing: Front Driver and Front Passenger fender at full lock. Driver side at full left lock. Passenger side at full right lock. Pics to follow.
Problems:
1. Shop forgot to hook the E brake back up. Whoops. No big deal there.
2. Very light rubbing on front fenders at the pinch weld area.
3. Drive shaft contacts exhaust pipe during some driving situations. Reproducible by driving up onto a curb with both front tires and letting the Jeep roll back a bit in Park.
Handling: Tires are a bit louder and you can feel the extra tread. I like this.
Takes a bit longer to slow down those 33″ tires.
Takes a bit longer to get those 33″ tires up to highway speed.
Must downshift to accelerate on some hills where I remember just powering through with torque before. Not a huge problem though as you can still get where you’re going quickly.
Before Pic:
After Pics:
Here is the Front Driver side Fender rubbing at the rear of the wheel well. You can see where it touches slightly at full lock to the left.
Here is the passenger side rubbing at full lock to the right:
Here’s the drive shaft hitting the bend in the exhaust pipe:
Full pictures available here.
The tires stick out a bit with the 4.5″ backspacing, but I think it’s a pretty good look.
I like the Matte Black rims with the white Jeep. Way better than chrome to me.
I picked it up at the shop last night. We knew about most of the issues when they handed me the keys and we’ve got some time setup for them to get it taken care of.
It’s muddy already because my coworkers wanted to see if it would climb some of the trails behind the office. It has been raining for the past few days here in Raleigh. The answer to their question was… yes it can.
One minor drawback, or a point of entertainment… depending on how you look at it. My short friends have a hell of a time getting in. Very funny to watch.