FIRST Bit of Body DAMAGE

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I have to say that I'm a bit bummed that we've officially sustained our first bit of body damage on our JL Wrangler. I didn't even realize it until our JL thawed out enough to be washed but as soon as I saw it, I knew exactly when it happened. What really sucks is I wasn't even taking on a tough obstacle or doing anything really hard - I was simply climbing an off camber hill and slid into the snow bank a bit. Anyway, most of the damage was really contained to the driver side fender but the base of the B-Pillar picked up an indented scratch as well. Here are a few pics to show you what they look like.

Here you can see where the fender hit the snow bank. The hit was hard enough to pull the black trim far enough way that a fender tab had pulled out from it. Fortunately, that was easy enough to get back in but in doing so, I noticed that some of the sub-structure underneath the fender had broken as well.
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The real bummer is that I would soon come to realize that the fender itself had broken. As you can see in this shot, there's a good 5" crack running up from the base of the fender about a half inch from the body.
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Here's another shot of the crack and a bit closer up. As much as Cindy and I love the new JL Rubicon fenders, I have to say that we are disappointed to see them be so brittle and break so easily in this way. This never would have happened to our old JK fenders as they would have dented, flexed, folded and or torn off well before they would ever crack or break. It is a big reason why even after 11 years, Moby is still running trimmed version of his ORIGINAL fenders.
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Okay, so here's where I know I'm being a bit of a baby. It's kind of hard to see but if you look closely at the base of our B-Pillar, there's maybe a 4" scratch going across it and toward the end, the metal is dented in a bit. Not really a big deal but lame that I would have gotten this snow wheeling instead of out on the rocks.
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Anyway, just thought I would share our first bit of body damage with all of you. :grayno:
 

JTCO

Meme King
Wow. That sucks. Sorry to hear. I, too, am surprised that the fender would crack that easily. Was it pretty cold out when it happened, like teens or lower?
 

JLU_RUBI

New member
Sucks man. After having a 2012 JKU Sahara and converting it to a Saharacon, I went with the black fenders on my new JLUR. Even if the fenders flex, wide tires and painted flares just won’t hold up. Mine didn’t.

A little concerning to see the crack in the structure itself. Seems they made improvement to the rigidity of the fender but maybe that’s not a good thing?


Sent from my iPhone using JL Wrangler Jeep Forum mobile app
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Wow. That sucks. Sorry to hear. I, too, am surprised that the fender would crack that easily. Was it pretty cold out when it happened, like teens or lower?

Yeah, it was in the teens so that might have been a contributing factor. Still, I've literally smashed Moby's full JK factory fender into a rock before and to the point where it crushed in. I later reached up into the fender and pushed it back out. Of course, I've also crashed a trimmed version of it into a tree causing it to tear off and then ran over it with the tire. I later picked it up and popped it back into place. Both of those fenders are still on Moby today.
 

NFRs2000NYC

Member
Seems like you can cover the body damage with an EVO rocker guard as soon as they release them, and the fenders, I heard the painted fenders on both the JK and the JL are made of a different material than the unpainted ones, and dealing with paint damage is exactly why I never wanted painted fenders, as it is such a vulnerable piece on the wrangler, be it rocks or shopping carts. Im sure (if you wanted to) you'll be able to pick up a set of OE rubicon fender takeoffs shortly, as the steels are released....unless you want to deal with painting fenders, but something tells me this isn't going to be the last painted fender you are going to damage. Definitely sucks that the damage came from just a little easy fun rather than some serious wheelin.
 

JeepFan

Member
I seem to recall you have two other JKs that love to play in the snow. How about you give them some love and let Jet-Li take a break, uh I mean rest! :cheesy:
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Seems like you can cover the body damage with an EVO rocker guard as soon as they release them, and the fenders, I heard the painted fenders on both the JK and the JL are made of a different material than the unpainted ones, and dealing with paint damage is exactly why I never wanted painted fenders, as it is such a vulnerable piece on the wrangler, be it rocks or shopping carts. Im sure (if you wanted to) you'll be able to pick up a set of OE rubicon fender takeoffs shortly, as the steels are released....unless you want to deal with painting fenders, but something tells me this isn't going to be the last painted fender you are going to damage. Definitely sucks that the damage came from just a little easy fun rather than some serious wheelin.

Yeah, this was a first for us and more because we liked the way the painted fenders "looked" than anything. Regarding JK fenders, I'm pretty sure the painted and non-painted ones are the exact same thing. I've seen plenty of painted fenders take big hits and hold up just fine. Granted, they didn't look too good after the fact but, they didn't break. Either way, our JL fenders breaking really isn't that big of a deal, just a little disappointing to see.
 

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
I seem to recall you have two other JKs that love to play in the snow. How about you give them some love and let Jet-Li take a break, uh I mean rest! :cheesy:

LOL!! This is true, it's just hard for us to not play with the new toy. :crazyeyes:
 

RMC2

Member
Very disappointed to see the fenders not hold up.

The JK fenders take quite a beating, I know. It is tough at the mall. Actually, my worst damage was a sneaky yellow pole in a hospital parking garage. Still popped right out. I never hit any rocks and trees didn't do much.
 

frenchjk

Member
Its always the first rash that hurts...bummer its not on a big ol' rock or in some notch....soon to come!!:yup:
 

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