[DaisyMae]

I am hoping all you HONEST pro Jeep drivers/owners will give me some advice on my situation. My awesome hubby bought me a 2012 Wrangler Altitude Edition. I know purest aren't impressed with the Altitude, but I have wanted a Jeep my whole life and I'm empty nesting so I wanted a really plush car, the Altitude package gave me both. To send me right into Jeep heaven he gave me the green light on purchasing Bushwacker Pocket Flares, the cool kind with riveted look, with a custom paint job to match my Bright White Jeep.

Now the story gets infuriating. The offroad shop, not naming names, ordered my flares without looking at my wheels or tires or even mentioning them to me. Two weeks later after being put off over and over and assured the flares were gonna be ready anyday, I stopped by and had the shop call about my flares with me there. They had failed to get the paint code to match the paint. My flares had been sitting in a corner, forgotten. I decided the offroad shop was too stupid to install my flares and just picked them up a week later.

I was referred to another aftermarket body shop by a jeep employee. Upon seeing my Altitude wheels and new flares, his original quote of 100-200 dollars installation went up to 300. And then further adviced me that unless I upgraded my wheels and tires to accomodate the wider Bushwacker flares, my awesome jeep would look stupid. In fact, he really said he wouldn't even do the job. Has anyone ever installed these Bushwacker tires without putting huge aftermarket rims and tires on....The Altitude does come with a larger tire. 18x 7.5

I know...newbie. GIRL newbie.

[JLC08JK]

First of all Welcome to the Club
There are very few people on this forum that choose the Pocket Flares. In fact I can only name two and they both use wheels with less backspace and/or wheel spacers to bring the tires out to the edge of the flares.
Here is an old picture that shows just how wide they really are with stock tires. These tires are the same size that come on your Altitude edition!

This is the thread I got the pic from > http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f96/b...-rc-bb-904871/
What you like is really up to you and I don't think anyone will bash you for it but if you want your Jeep to look well balanced and proportionate I can guarantee that you will want big tires and wider wheels if you use the Bushwacker Pocket Flares.

[PhatBasturd]

Welcome and great first post.

I am somewhat in the the same boat with my 07 Avalanche. I bought a set of Bushwacker pocket flares to hide a nasty door ding on one of my wheel wells I was able to catch them on sale with free shipping and no sales tax.

I set them aside and then shopped for and purchased some Bilstein adjustable shocks to lift (1.75") and take the rake out of my truck and allow for a little bit taller tire than stock. The OEM shocks had 122k miles on them so it was time.

Next I shopped for tires and rims. I poured over the Chevy truck and Avalanche forums for weeks trying to decide on what was the best combo to push the tires out enough to fill the pocket flares properly.

I finally settled on a set with the wheel offset and tire size I thought would work and made the purchase.

No joy! Even with the larger tires and an offset that pushed the wheels out further it looked (as Jim would say) out of balance and out of proportion. In my words, it looked stupid.

The Avalanche looks and rides 100% better with the new shocks, tires and rims, but I still have the nasty door ding and almost $400 worth of flares sitting in the garage...

Sent from my over priced iPhone.

[michiganmaveric]

From the above post, I would really think about getting new tires and rims.

[skip11and1]

Welcome! The shop is sort of right but they are d***s! I hate when shops take advantage of ppl. Neway unless you are going to run a lot bigger tires like 35's or 37's the flares are just going to stick out way too much. My recommendation would be to get your money back if you haven't already and just enjoy your new jeep, unless you want to start building to fit those flares

[WXman]

Yeah, they are right. The pocket style flares look ridiculous. If you have stock wheels and tires they look even worse than ridiculous. And, it's true that when you paint them they won't match perfectly because your Jeep is metal and the flares are ABS plastic....two different materials. And, installing them is a pain in the a**. Those plastic rivets can be annoying.

Having said that, they are wrong in treating you the way they did. They should have tried to be more respectful about it.

[Spike6901]

I say if you like the pocket flairs, then put 'em on. It is your ride and your choice.

Being a newb, you may want to try and hook up with a local Jeep club and get to know a few folks. Being a woman, you have all the tools you need to get help from some honest guys who know the local shops and can keep you from situations like this. Dudes just love women in Jeeps, expecially if they need help.

[BLK2000TJ]

Bushwacker Pocket Flares are a fashion No-No.

[Alaska-HWY JK]

Originally Posted by BLK2000TJ

Bushwacker Pocket Flares are a fashion No-No.

I agree, nasty looking things just waiting to get ripped off by a tree. Congrats on the new Jeep though.

[jwmbishop]

I will not make excuses for how you were treated - however I will say even I would be hesitant to just paint em and stick em on - you would see the problem immediately and probably NOT be happy. As a customizer it is not just the money - that "WOW I love it" ego stoker from the client is almost as valuable as the paycheck, and with your selection there is a HUGE chance that would not be forthcoming!!! An unhappy customer (even when it IS their choices that created the ire) are extremely damaging to any business as they always scream louder and longer than any happy client! They could have taken the time to explain and show you the problem they visualized easily though....

The extra two inches that Bushwhacker even advertises can overwhelm the stock wheels/tires (thanks for the pic Jim). Consider spacers - even a 1.5 will fill that up some and the wider stance will give an aggressive look to the Jeep. I am using spacers on my street tires/wheels - only until I wear out the stock tires (getting my money's worth). My off road set already has the lower backspace, and when the stock tires are worn out I will get new street wheels. But I am still running the stock fenders - at least until I damage them. Personally I think the rivet look of the BW fender will go nicely with the two tone and rivet look of the wheel - even unpainted! If your hood decal is the same flat black as the Alt I saw at our local dealer that will "tie" unpainted fenders into the scheme.

Paint matching ABS is VERY difficult - but CAN be done. However - it WILL scratch and blemish very easily, so unless you are a constant tinkerer like some of us I advise against it.

Welcome to the forum, congrats on the Jeep and reaching empty nest stage - keep in mind that (at least from MY experience) the toy WILL bring the kids back at least to play for a while!

[DaisyMae]

In one evening and in one pic, I received more information about those flares/wheels/tires than I have in over a month talking with multiple "pros" about them. Thank you all, very much. Somewhere along the line, someone could have mentioned the need for bigger everything with those flares. I have to say I agree, those do look ridiculous with the stock wheels and tires.

In my attempt to be brief, I gave you guys the impression that the second shop I dealt with was rude to me...they were not. They were in a hard situation, being the bearers of bad news, to an incredibly pissed off woman. Not a place they wanted to be. At least they didn't do what the first shop was going to do and just put the flares on and then wonder why I was screaming.

I cannot return the flares, as I have already had them painted and they do (miracles happen) match my jeep. So, they will sit on my guest room bed until I decide what to do with them. Call me a fashion "no no", but I love those darn flares. Then again I'm pretty sure in most circles I'm a fashion "no no". Over forty and still wearing pig tails. The horrors. So, I'm guessing the Car-lashes DaisyMae is going to be rocking for Halloween are a Jeep "no no" too. Bummer.

Anyone have the inside scoop on where I can buy cheaper wheels and tires? Oh, and Mr. Bishop thank you so much for the tip on the spacers, clever! The kids come back? You just had to go and ruin my WHOLE weekend!

[paul84043]

Hey, welcome to the RIGHT place to come for info!!!!
No worries, breathe, relax, everthing will work out...
Put the flares on Craigslist, you'll most likely be able to sell them. So, you've lost a little time, and a small amount of money is hanging in the balance, but in the big picture, no harm done...
Who knows, you might want to throw on some monster tires and wheels, do a small lift and use the flares...they look good in the right application.
I don't think there are any real special edition "haters" here, they ARE still Jeeps after all... I'm not a fan of all of them because it seems like the new "thing" to do...slap on some stickers and call it a new special edition..
It's all good, you've still got yourself a very nice setup...
We LOVE pictures here...so when your post count gets up enough...post some pics.
We also like to have the names of SH$tty dealers and shops....so feel free to flame away and let someone else avoid the same place.

[awinski]

if you want new tires and rims, they can be bought almost anywhere, just look at the list of vendors. but if you really want the rims you have already just add a set of 1.5" wheel spacers, rough country and spider trax sell them. a shop should be able to put them on in about 20 minutes, if even that. this way you could just buy different tires or keep your stock ones. or you could go with new rims with less back spacing and new tires. its up to you. you can't really tell but heres what spacers did with my stock flares left is with, right is with out.

[Spike6901]

Originally Posted by DaisyMae

In one evening and in one pic, I received more information about those flares/wheels/tires than I have in over a month talking with multiple "pros" about them. Thank you all, very much. Somewhere along the line, someone could have mentioned the need for bigger everything with those flares. I have to say I agree, those do look ridiculous with the stock wheels and tires.

In my attempt to be brief, I gave you guys the impression that the second shop I dealt with was rude to me...they were not. They were in a hard situation, being the bearers of bad news, to an incredibly pissed off woman. Not a place they wanted to be. At least they didn't do what the first shop was going to do and just put the flares on and then wonder why I was screaming.

I cannot return the flares, as I have already had them painted and they do (miracles happen) match my jeep. So, they will sit on my guest room bed until I decide what to do with them. Call me a fashion "no no", but I love those darn flares. Then again I'm pretty sure in most circles I'm a fashion "no no". Over forty and still wearing pig tails. The horrors. So, I'm guessing the Car-lashes DaisyMae is going to be rocking for Halloween are a Jeep "no no" too. Bummer.

Anyone have the inside scoop on where I can buy cheaper wheels and tires? Oh, and Mr. Bishop thank you so much for the tip on the spacers, clever! The kids come back? You just had to go and ruin my WHOLE weekend!

I don't know if this will help you feel better about using your flares, but you can see that in the pic, my tires stick out past the stock flairs. When it rains, water slings up around the flares and mud goes flying. With wider flares, they would cover the tires again and offer more protection. My wheels are offset (set to the outside) about an inch more than the stock wheels and they are an inch wider. With the fat tires, they stick out about 3" farther than the stock ones did.

So, flares are a good idea for fat tires as they help to protect from slinging water, mud and rocks but could look funny with the stock rubber.

[DaisyMae]

As you all have guessed, DaisyMae is a city jeep. The times she will go off roading will be numbered and seriously controlled. I have waited a LONG time to finally have a gorgeous Jeep. And, till now the most info I knew about flares and tires fit in a mason jar. Might I ask why so many Jeepers have such a dislike for the Bushwacker Pocket Flares? Is it that they are unsightly? Not well suited for off roading? Damaging to the vehicle and image? I am asking, because there seems to be such a strong reaction to them.