iRonin

The TL;DR version of my question is:

Would there be an issue mounting the Evo tire carrier if I decide to go with the Metal Cloak ExoSkins? The basic premise is that I'm sold on the EVO carrier, but want MC side armor b/c I'm interested in the quick removability of the flares MC has..

What led to this question:

As a typical excited new Jeep Owner, I've spent the last couple weeks contemplating the grand plan for my rig's armor- I originally wanted to just find one manufacturer worth investing in and wrapping my rig in everything they have to offer, but I guess I'm picky because I found myself only liking almost everything any one vendor, but preferring 1-2 pieces from other brands. So fear #1 was having a hodge-podge of stuff that doesn't end up looking uniform, or worse, end up being incompatable.

Fear #2 is ending with something that fails me, or something that's way overpriced just because I don't know any better. An example here is ACE - why are they practically giving away their stuff? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to speculate that they might be "cheap" - I scour the web and I see a LOT of people who constantly mention that they love their rock sliders, even a couple of nice videos showing them in action, taking damage, but I see little about the rest of their armor. So I look at their price point, and jesus christ, I mean they powder-coat everything for you and throw in recovery points like they're free while everyone else wants to nickle-dime an extra $100 per bumper to have em. Their bumpers come with light provisions, recessed winch mounting, lifetime guarantees, already powder coated, etc....

Add up ACE and I have everything but corner and rocker guards (because they don't make em) for $2409.00 with all pieces being ready to mount! Everyone else I priced, by the time you figure in coating/painting costs, sit in the $4500 - $6000+ range including tire carriers. When I see something that's nearly half the cost, I have to ask myself: What's the catch? Is it just a young company hungry for marketshare? Or is it just a different quality tier of product that shouldn't be compared to the PSCs and the MCs and the GenRights of the industry?

So while I really like their front bumper and rock slider designs, going back to fear #1 and fear #2 I shelved them from my list and took a closer look at Evo, mostly because I fell in love with their tire carrier. Their website is a bit wonky to navigate but as I understand it, they don't make flares? So they instead just have links to PSC or GenRight for them? The second issue I had was their 1/4 pounder bumper - love the aesthetics of the EVO end caps but no bull-bar option and no light provisions was undesirable. So, I came to terms with the fact that I may have to just do the EVO corner guards and carrier, and wrap the rest of the rig in a second brand.

Started the hunt for Brand B: GenRight was way too pricy - I dig their tire carrier as it was similar to the EVO, but by the time I got the rest of their stuff to compliment it, and got it all coated, I'd be out $6200 - by far the most expensive of all the brands I priced. No thanks!

So of the rest of the brands I looked at (including LOD, OR-Fab, etc) I zeroed in on Poison Spyder and Metal Cloak. Love PSC's bumper and sliders, but I was hoping for a recessed-winch bumper, and don't want to have to go get it all powder coated.

MC offered the stlye of bumper I'm looking for - nice mid-width, recessed winch mount location, fog light provisions, bull bar, and powder coating. Their flares look great, with great durability (saw the vids of the dude jumping up and down on em), and they offer good looking, durable rock slider/guards. And finally, I was impressed with the fact that the flares were removable for the trail via 2 allen bolts

Sooo long way around, I decided to with 3/4 Metal Cloak, 1/4 EVO combo (I would love to go EVO front/rear, MC sides if EVO ever expands their 1/4 pounder options). But I ran into a minor snag - if I go MC front flares, rock sliders/guard, rear flares.... I might have to go MC rear ExoSkins to have it look/work right...but their ExoSkins appear to stop at the corner and not wrap around, like the EVO corner guards do... but the EVO tire carrier requires a reinforced back corner area to mount to... but if I go with the EVO corner guards, how will that work with the MC rear flares, will they still fit? Will it be a PITA to still have the MC flares be removable? Would it even be compatible given EVO only recommends PSC or GenRight flares?

Does anyone else way over-think their mod options like I am?

HornetJK

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but the mounting point for the EVO tire carrier is on the EVO skins. You have to get the EVO skins.

bob-o

Your right, once the EVO corners are installed, the brackets for their carrier just bolt to the skins.....done!
Holds a up to a 42" tire and zero rattles. Plus the carrier will also take a beating from the rocks too

iRonin

Thanks for the replies - I kinda figured but I was more curious if anyone had tried to cross pollinate the EVO carrier with other corners successfully.

I guess another way I could look at it is doing the EVO skins and then just adding in 18-8 SS bolt nutserts for the MC flares...

Invest2m4

I just installed the MC exoskins and flares. I can confirm the EVO carrier won't work as is, but with a lot of fabrication might. You could cut the EVO skins to get the corner where it would fit up to the exoskins. You'd have to weld the corners to the exoskin, etc. Again, not worth it.

The design of the MC rear flare is not that simple and would be equally hard to make work with the EVO skins. Knowing the details of the MC systems, it would be a large undertaking.

You'd be better to have EVO custom fab removable fenders.

Alternatively, get a steel Genright carrier and all is solved.

By the way, the MC fenders are awesome.

iRonin

Thanks for the heads up, appreciate it. Def not looking to have to do a bunch of fab splice work so I may just go GenRight and be done with it.

RckyMntJp

What did you end up going with iRonin? I'm facing a similar problem. I want to do MC fenders / exoskin all around but am stuck on the tire carrier. Did you end up doing GenRight tire carrier with MC? I contacted GenRight and they said they hadn't heard of anyone doing this. One concern they had was the MC ExoCorner on the passenger side could interfere with the GenRight hinges.

Invest2m4

Don't do the corners or cut the corners. Pretty much your options. Or, you could try longer bolts and drill through the corners.

cboggs

Don't do the MC corners and the Genright carrier should mount just fine.

RckyMntJp

Thanks for the responses. Not planning on doing doing anything till winter so I still have some time to think about this. I posted this question in another forum and and MC responded that while they don't have a GenRight tire carrier to test, it is estimated they would work together.

On another note, I see that cboggs has the JCR Dagger and Engo winch. My Dagger is arriving tomorrow and my winch is sitting in the closet right now. Hoping to get them on next Tuesday!