So I am getting ready to start over and am picking up a 2013 Rubicon Unlimited. I am mainly interested in on road ride and handling at this point and dont know if I'll ever need 12" of travel. For about $6500 I can go ORE Bolt on Coil Overs (Non adjustable shocks), Drag Flip, front LCA's and front JE Reel.

OR

For $5700 I can go a Teraflex long arm with everything (Drag Flip Etc) JE reel and King Shocks with 20 way adjustment for Compression and really dial in the ride. The shop that quoted me actually got one of the main guys from King on the phone named Mike (I was listening to the conversation) who said the shocks would be valved for the Tera 6" Long Arm so I know its going to be done right.

I was leaning towards the Coil Overs but i keep hearing about the noise they make. Plus the fact if I wanted them to be 20 way adjustable like the shop thats doing the Tera set, that would push the price up to $7100.

My questions is this- Am I leaving anything on the table as far as ride comfort and handling by not going the coil overs? The fact that the coli over set up doesnt have long arms, I assume the Kings with the 20 way adjustment and the long arms would give better ride than the Coil Overs with short arms. I will be running 38's and this will be more of a Mall Crawler than a hard core off road rig (Although I would like to do some of that as well). I have narrowed it down to one of these two kits so nothing else is on the table for me.

Thoughts and opinions please?

 

You should really stop in our shop and talk with us. Coilovers are adjustable as far as coil rates, ride heights, not to mention dual rate coils. This will give you a very smooth ride on the highway. You will get more out of the coilovers and short arms than you will running just long arms and adjustable shocks.

I'm running the coilovers on short arms on my personal rig, Its a great base to start out with. You can always add long arms down the road if and when you feel the need.

 

Or he can get the long ARM with adj shocks now and get bolt on coilover later

 

Yep!

If it were my jeep, I would go coilovers first. It will out flex and out ride the long arm kit...

 

Yup!! What he said

 

My only problem is my wheels are 4.56" backspacing so I would have to run big spacers, That would push my 38x15.5 tires WAY outside the Fenders and maybe look stupid? The cost is not the factor since the coil overs arent that much more, I just am worried about the spacers (And really wanted to know the difference in ride).

 

I also heard the Coil Overs make a ton of noise in daily driving?

 

looks will be personal preference really. If you like it, then cool.

 

Its on my DD, They make a little noise but IMO the performance is worth the trade off

 

Id suggest if you're going to step up w/the mods you posted w/the coilovers to go with a complete set of c/a's. I previously had my system really dialed in with coils and fox adj 2.0. I can tell you its a huge difference with the coilovers and your money would be better spent on that setup. If handling is a large concern, id definately suggest looking into a thicker rear swaybar (made a nice difference on mine & didn't limit flex any). If noise is an issue, seriously look into AGM sliders. Mine make no noise dd, a slight bit cycling, and are much easier on the bodies. As far as spacers, I believe a backspace of 3.75 is reqd. So a 1" would put you at 3.5 and isn't really a big deal or huge spacer. It's the wife's dd and she doesn't complain about noisy c/o's and loves the handling now on her twisty commute to work everyday. Does outstanding, whether bombing the desert or crawling when I'm playing on the weekends. Just my 2 cents, good luck.