I‘ve had this TJ for 3 years now and have done a few mechanical things but other than cleaning, really nothing purely cosmetic. In part, this is because I don’t think much looks nicer than a stock-ish TJ. So anything I add for looks would probably just screw it up. One little thing has been bugging me though. A previous owner sprayed bed liner on what I assume were stock sport flares. This was hard to clean and the flares were small with 12.5” tires and 3.75” backspace wheels. That led to mud not only on the body but also coming in through open windows. I looked for Sahara or Rubicon flares a little, but they are generally priced too high and still don’t give much more coverage. There are a few 6 and 7” options out there but they don’t look right to me. Then @TheBoogieman put Rough Country 5.5” flares on his Rubi and I thought those flares hit the perfect compromise between stock looks and better coverage (thanks for sharing, dude). I bought a set and put them on. Simple right? Pretty much, but it still took me a week plus . The Rough Country flares don’t come with hardware. That’s fine. I ordered Crown’s hardware kit and some new side marker lenses as mine were cracked and dirty.
I saw a guy on you tube cut the old flares and pull the wheels. I can tell you both made removal easier:
A few issues:
1) The Crown kit (4918K) isn’t complete. It came with 6 nutserts and there are 16 in total for a set of TJ flares. Fortunately, exactly 6 of my 16 spun and had to be pulled and replaced (how did they know?!). It did have enough of the wood screw type bolts and plastic nuts. Finally, the rear wheel well liners are held in with 14 plastic push pins. The kit had only 6 new ones. I bought another 8 from a local auto parts store (Dorman 963-018D).
2) The paint on my TJ is sub-optimal but I have always kind of liked the patina and haven’t waxed it since I’ve owned it. But, with the flares off, it seemed like a good opportunity. So I pulled the rear lights, plate, spare and snubbers and got ‘er done:
3) ’97 TJs have all kinds of idiosyncrasies, and here’s another: The aftermarket front/side marker lenses are all 97-06. But my early ‘97 (mfg May 96) has different sockets. So I had to buy and splice in new sockets for the later model lenses. In the pic, you can see the old and new lenses and sockets (new=Standard S789). Bulbs are the same (Sylvania 194).
So, after more effort than I planned, here is the finished product:
I like the stock looks with increased coverage (still a little tire sticking out, which looks good, I think). My only complaint is the “RC” logo on the front but, whatever.
I saw a guy on you tube cut the old flares and pull the wheels. I can tell you both made removal easier:
A few issues:
1) The Crown kit (4918K) isn’t complete. It came with 6 nutserts and there are 16 in total for a set of TJ flares. Fortunately, exactly 6 of my 16 spun and had to be pulled and replaced (how did they know?!). It did have enough of the wood screw type bolts and plastic nuts. Finally, the rear wheel well liners are held in with 14 plastic push pins. The kit had only 6 new ones. I bought another 8 from a local auto parts store (Dorman 963-018D).
2) The paint on my TJ is sub-optimal but I have always kind of liked the patina and haven’t waxed it since I’ve owned it. But, with the flares off, it seemed like a good opportunity. So I pulled the rear lights, plate, spare and snubbers and got ‘er done:
3) ’97 TJs have all kinds of idiosyncrasies, and here’s another: The aftermarket front/side marker lenses are all 97-06. But my early ‘97 (mfg May 96) has different sockets. So I had to buy and splice in new sockets for the later model lenses. In the pic, you can see the old and new lenses and sockets (new=Standard S789). Bulbs are the same (Sylvania 194).
So, after more effort than I planned, here is the finished product:
I like the stock looks with increased coverage (still a little tire sticking out, which looks good, I think). My only complaint is the “RC” logo on the front but, whatever.