A lot of people are wondering if you can fit 35″ tires on a stock 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL Rubicon. The answer is please don’t. Maybe if you are a 100% mall-crawler and you live in Kansas or another state where the biggest bump in the road is an old soda can, but if you intend to ever wheel your 2018 Jeep Wrangler or even hop a curb or even drive over some bumpy snow, you need clearance, and putting 35″ tires with no lift on a 2018 Jeep Wrangler will take every last centimeter of clearance that you have. It will also put unnecessary torque on suspension components and possibly create some unsafe situations for you and your passengers. The video below was shot by John Capa and he put the new 2018 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon (which comes stock with 33″ tires) into flex mode and as you will see, when the suspension is compressed there’s barely enough room for his hand to glide above the tires.

Something that took me a while to learn was cool looking Jeeps aren’t always capable Jeeps and a capable Jeep is the coolest looking Jeep there is. Once you’ve driven a capable Jeep, you start to spot the “cool looking/no performance” Jeeps from a mile away and you feel bad for that person because you know that’s where you used to be. When building your 2018 Jeep Wrangler try and think ahead to the future – where you want to go – and what you need to get there. Talk to some experts and choose your parts wisely. You will be so glad that you did.

The 2018 Jeep Wrangler has a cool badge on the inner tailgate that tells you some of the more important specifications you want to know including length, width, wheelbase, track, and water fording depth. (Let’s all take a moment and agree how cool it is that our vehicle is actually designed to cross streams, rivers and deep ponds in mall parking lots.)

We thought it would be helpful to put together a table and compare the 2018 Wrangler JL to the outgoing 2007-2017 Jeep Wrangler JK.

2018 Jeep Wrangler JL 2-door compared to 2007-2017 Jeep Wrangler JK 2-door

2018 Jeep Wrangler JL 4-door compared to 2007-2017 Jeep Wrangler JK 4-door

As you can see the new 2018 Jeep Wrangler JL is a few inches longer than the JK Wrangler which will give you better on-road driving capabilities without compromising offroad angles. The wheelbase is stretched as well, which will slightly minimize and absorb bumps on and off-road. The track is a few inches wider as well, which should give all of us an even more stable platform in cornering and covering obstacles. And finally, the water fording depth. It will remain the same at 30 inches at 5mph. Nothing to shake a finger at.

Thanks to Road and Track for this close-up photo of the tailgate!