Rugged Ridge Max Terrain Flares for Gladiator JT install/review.

[Zero_Accel]

It is hard to tell on the pictures, but are the front flares flat on top? I had the bushwackers on my last gladiator, and I like having a flat surface to leave tools and screws so I forget about them and they fall off in my driveway. Seriously though, a flat top flare is super convenient for the front. I would buy the bushwacker flares again, but can't get past the 4.99 ebay LED turn signal light they provide, and I don't want to lose the DRL either.

So this is the situation with these flares, they are not flat relative to the body, the have a downwards slope to them, a bit more than the factory flares, however the ARE flat when viewed from the sides. I have set tools down on them before, but if it's anything round like a screwdriver, it can roll away if you're not careful how you set it. Things like pliers and hammers are fine.

One big difference between these flares and the factory ones, is the lack of structure on the inside. This is very similar to the result you get when you gut the factory flares, they WILL BEND if you lean on them. I'm considering making support stakes in a 3D printer, as well as a solution to the flare not sitting flush to the body where RR removed the supporting clips.

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[Zero_Accel]

For anyone checking out this thread I ordered through @RealTruck , made it simple and best price.

Nice, hope you enjoy them, just one more piece of advice, I saw that you're running the JCR steps with your bumper, here's something you'll need to do. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but these flares actually hang back a good 2 inches further than the stock ones, so you'll need to trim the rears if you want them to work with your bed steps/protection.

You can see the original body trim piece here for reference

These flares are thin enough that a fresh box cutter was able to cut mine, there's a contour from the original molding that I followed, as well as a seam that I ran straight down. I waited until I was satisfied with the cuts before I pulled the double sided tape for the support bracket that glues to the flares. Mine's not perfect, the box cutter slightly scored the top where it's case rubbed as I was cutting, and I cut more than I needed to, but I can live with it.

 

[Marlinvx]

So this is the situation with these flares, they are not flat relative to the body, the have a downwards slope to them, a bit more than the factory flares, however the ARE flat when viewed from the sides. I have set tools down on them before, but if it's anything round like a screwdriver, it can roll away if you're not careful how you set it. Things like pliers and hammers are fine.

One big difference between these flares and the factory ones, is the lack of structure on the inside. This is very similar to the result you get when you gut the factory flares, they WILL BEND if you lean on them. I'm considering making support stakes in a 3D printer, as well as a solution to the flare not sitting flush to the body where RR removed the supporting clips.

Thanks for the quick reply, I may have to get the bushwackers again and see about a different LED light on the front. They were completely flat, and even had a tube style lip on them to keep screws and whatnot from rolling off.

 

[Rusty PW]

How wide are these flairs?

 

[Zero_Accel]

How wide are these flairs?

Measuring from the middle of both flares, the front flare is 10 inches across, and the rear is 5 inches.

These are 1 inch wider than stock in the front, and 1/2 an inch wider in the rear. Perfect for most aftermarket rims, these brought my wheels in a bit more, from an aggressive stance past the flare, to the top of the tread inline with the fender, which is just the way I like it. My backspacing is 5.04 inches, +1 offset on the regular sport axles.

 

[gecko_rubi]

Do the rears offer more clearance than the stock rubicon’s? Trying to figure if it’s worth getting these or just chopping my stock rubicons. Surprisingly, I don’t mind the black fenders

 

[Zero_Accel]

Do the rears offer more clearance than the stock rubicon’s? Trying to figure if it’s worth getting these or just chopping my stock rubicons. Surprisingly, I don’t mind the black fenders

I know that the front fenders are about 1.5 inches taller than the Rubi fenders. I'd want to say that the rears are about 1 inch taller as well, but honestly it's hard to tell at a glance.

I'll need to measure them tomorrow.

 

[Tommyd]

TLDR: Would recommend, rated 8.5/10. Some minor gripes about missing/non-preferred hardware, minor fit/ finish/assembly issues.

Doing a write up on the Max Terrain flares for the Gladiator as it looks like they've become available since I last checked in March. Just a general walk through/log and some of my thoughts. For the folks out there who just want an idea of what they look like, here's a shot with everything done, there will be more pic's in the write-up. Spec's: 2.5 inch Ready lift, 37x12.5x17 Yokohama Geolander M/T, Fuel Ammo wheels (+1 offset, 5.04 inch backspacing, 9 inch wheel), 2020 Gladiator Sport:

Back to the write up. So with my new set of 37' Geolanders, I quickly realized that no amount of cutting and bending with a heat gun was going to make my Sport flares work. Tires are too big, and my wheels have too much backspacing/offset, sitting way past the edge of the factory flares:

So I pulled the trigger, 600 bucks after the rebate and slight discount. Comes with a set of front and rear flares, rear fender liners, a set of LED switchback marker lights, and all the brackets and hardware to make it work. My set was missing the 12 M6 U-Nuts needed for the rear liners, however I was able to steal the ones on the factory fender flares with a flat head screwdriver. Not a fan of the provided button head Allen bolts, too easy to strip, would have preferred hex bolts.

This install was surprisingly labor intensive, took me Friday afternoon after work, some prep work that night to get ready to finish the next day, and about 5 more hours Saturday morning. Also, they don't include a set of front inner liners, instead wanting you to trim the factory front liners, but in my opinion, this looks cheap and unfinished, so I kept the set of Paramount front liners I already had installed. Minus half a point for those two things. A photo of the flares in a slightly messy workspace:

Next was prepping the fenders for install, these new finders sit higher on the body, in order to provide more clearance. In order to protect the paint, RR provides "Trim Foam". What I got was 3M rubber weather stripping (same thing right?). This needs to be hand applied to the contacting edge of each fender, with some provided adhesion promoter (be careful with this stuff, its pretty runny). This stuff is also used to hold the double sided tape used for some of the supporting brackets. This all took about an hour. Here's a photo of some of the left overs.

Now back to the truck, first things first, pulling the factory flares off, which I had cut to fit the RR chop light kit. There's a ton of reviews/videos on how to do this without hurting your paint, so I won't go into the details:

Next was attaching the front flare with the provided clips in the kit, although I would consider picking up spare clips, or upgrading to a set of retention hardware from American Adventure Lab. I have seen some people paint these flares, they require some prep work as they are textured, which can show through the paint. I personally prefer unpainted flares, although if these fade in a few years like most plastics do in the sun out here, I may either paint them body color, or most likely I'll bedliner them.

Here's my only major complaint about this product. For some strange reason, they omitted two clips on the front flare. This leaves this section unsupported even after all other supports have been added, and results in the flare not sitting flush to the body in this section. An additional support brace would fix this issue, I will have to make something in the 3D printer. For now some adjustments on both the front and rear bracing gets them close enough, although they're still wobbly if you press onto them on that side.

Now some details on the LED marker lights, it comes with a set of instructions on how to wire it based on your setup, I chose to wire it in the factory LED configuration as I have a Tazer and was able to reprogram my truck. The light bracket also provides support to the front of the flare, and required lots of adjustment, even then, it is still doesn't have as nice fitment as I would like. Note the bracket which uses some of the double sided tape to hold to the flare, which you then use the hardware to press against it to apply pressure so the tape sets. If this tape fails and my flare starts flapping in the wind, I'll probably attach it using some plastic bond. One more thing that I wanted to note, the metal tab of the bracket that reached out to the grill stuck out too far and was actually sitting on the paint. In addition, the notch to accommodate the plastic reinforcement from the grill was slightly off. A quick correction in a vice for the bracket, and a small notch on the back plastic for the grill fixed these issues.

*When tightening up the lights to the provided light support brackets, be VERY CAREFUL with how tight you put the mounting screws. The silver ones in the above photo.

Rugged Ridge, in their infinite wisdom, opted to have you use self tapping screws instead of having the light housing already tapped for a standard bolt/screw. Since these housings are plastic, and the self tapping screws are larger, they split as I ran them through. I repaired mine with some JB Plastic weld, but this is a lazy design decision that damages the product during normal installation. If you can find different hardware that will work, I HIGHLY suggest that route, or you can try to reinforce the plastic housing with something like hose clamps.

The rear support brace was then added, which uses more double sided tape to hold the flare in place (it was here I managed to strip one of the hex bolts, had to use the factory hardware I had taken off as a replacement). The front liners were reinstalled:

A side by side shot of the new flare and the old one, I gained about 4 inches of clearance!

The flare conforms against the vent well, and looks like it would work with some of the aftermarket lights that some folk put there.

Front hood latches open no problem. No deep valley for rocks to catch in like the Rubi flares.

These flares are about 1 inch wider than stock, so now my tires fit much better than before, the tread lines up perfectly with the edge of the flare.

Next was staring the install on the rear liners. These liners required the use of the "provided" U-nuts, and some tree clips. I opted to just reuse the factory 8mm bolts. I also attached the rear support for the flare in advance.

Next was the rear flare, double check the placement of the clips on this flare as some of the clip cutouts are actually used by the bolts for the inner liner. Snap rear flare into place and bolt up the hardware to the liner. Pull the tape for the rear support after that. Done.

Here's the only modification I had to do, these flares are meant to sit flush with the plastic panel on the bedside. Since I have DV8 bed protectors, I had to trim it with a box cutter. Trimmed a little more than I needed, but the cut is clean at least.

And that's it, all the flares are installed, feel free to ask any questions and I will try my best to answer them! I would definitely say these are a nice product despite some of the quirks, and I would recommend them!

Would you have any shots from the back? Or back side? Id like to see the tires in relation with the fender edges. Looks sweet man!! Clean

 

[Zero_Accel]

Would you have any shots from the back? Or back side? Id like to see the tires in relation with the fender edges. Looks sweet man!! Clean

Sure, here's some, didn't realize I was missing some of those for reference.

Along the body line, you can see the better tire coverage.

Plus lights

 

[Zero_Accel]

Parked next to my dad's Rubicon, you can get an idea of the difference between the Max Terrains and the Rubicon flares here, two different executions of the same idea.

These trucks are both on 2.5 inch lifts, 37 inch mud terrains (BFG vs Yokohama), and a +25mm offset (17x8.5) on the Rubicon vs the +1 offset (17x9) on my Sport, the tires are nearly the same distance from the frame of the truck.

Biggest difference is the tire clearance to the liner, a closer comparison would be these vs a set of chopped flares with the AAL lights.

Much more open here (I need to mount some rock-lights to those tabs, or cut them off at some point):

Here's that valley on the Rubicon that likes to trap rocks and other things:

That's gone on these:

I say the both look good

 

[Tommyd]

Sure, here's some, didn't realize I was missing some of those for reference.

Along the body line, you can see the better tire coverage.

Plus lights

Please you already have done enough! I appreciate the pictures majorly. This is like my exact setup km doing. Down to the same tires.

 

[Tommyd]

Parked next to my dad's Rubicon, you can get an idea of the difference between the Max Terrains and the Rubicon flares here, two different executions of the same idea.

These trucks are both on 2.5 inch lifts, 37 inch mud terrains (BFG vs Yokohama), and a +25mm offset (17x8.5) on the Rubicon vs the +1 offset (17x9) on my Sport, the tires are nearly the same distance from the frame of the truck.

Biggest difference is the tire clearance to the liner, a closer comparison would be these vs a set of chopped flares with the AAL lights.

Much more open here (I need to mount some rock-lights to those tabs, or cut them off at some point):

Here's that valley on the Rubicon that likes to trap rocks and other things:

That's gone on these:

I say the both look good

your awesome! Excellent pictures showing every fine detail. Thank you! Looks Saweet!

 

[Jefe1018]

These look pretty good. I am happy with my Rubicon flares but am considering the epic adventure outfitter fender extensions, thought these might be the solution if they were a little wider.

 

[drewcnit]

Parked next to my dad's Rubicon, you can get an idea of the difference between the Max Terrains and the Rubicon flares here, two different executions of the same idea.

These trucks are both on 2.5 inch lifts, 37 inch mud terrains (BFG vs Yokohama), and a +25mm offset (17x8.5) on the Rubicon vs the +1 offset (17x9) on my Sport, the tires are nearly the same distance from the frame of the truck.

Biggest difference is the tire clearance to the liner, a closer comparison would be these vs a set of chopped flares with the AAL lights.

Much more open here (I need to mount some rock-lights to those tabs, or cut them off at some point):

Here's that valley on the Rubicon that likes to trap rocks and other things:

That's gone on these:

I say the both look good

Thanks for all the great pictures and feedback. I was on the fence about doing fenders, but these are now definitely on my list for my sport as well.

 

[drewcnit]

TLDR: Would recommend, rated 8.5/10. Some minor gripes about missing/non-preferred hardware, minor fit/ finish/assembly issues.

Doing a write up on the Max Terrain flares for the Gladiator as it looks like they've become available since I last checked in March. Just a general walk through/log and some of my thoughts. For the folks out there who just want an idea of what they look like, here's a shot with everything done, there will be more pic's in the write-up. Spec's: 2.5 inch Ready lift, 37x12.5x17 Yokohama Geolander M/T, Fuel Ammo wheels (+1 offset, 5.04 inch backspacing, 9 inch wheel), 2020 Gladiator Sport:

Back to the write up. So with my new set of 37' Geolanders, I quickly realized that no amount of cutting and bending with a heat gun was going to make my Sport flares work. Tires are too big, and my wheels have too much backspacing/offset, sitting way past the edge of the factory flares:

So I pulled the trigger, 600 bucks after the rebate and slight discount. Comes with a set of front and rear flares, rear fender liners, a set of LED switchback marker lights, and all the brackets and hardware to make it work. My set was missing the 12 M6 U-Nuts needed for the rear liners, however I was able to steal the ones on the factory fender flares with a flat head screwdriver. Not a fan of the provided button head Allen bolts, too easy to strip, would have preferred hex bolts.

This install was surprisingly labor intensive, took me Friday afternoon after work, some prep work that night to get ready to finish the next day, and about 5 more hours Saturday morning. Also, they don't include a set of front inner liners, instead wanting you to trim the factory front liners, but in my opinion, this looks cheap and unfinished, so I kept the set of Paramount front liners I already had installed. Minus half a point for those two things. A photo of the flares in a slightly messy workspace:

Next was prepping the fenders for install, these new finders sit higher on the body, in order to provide more clearance. In order to protect the paint, RR provides "Trim Foam". What I got was 3M rubber weather stripping (same thing right?). This needs to be hand applied to the contacting edge of each fender, with some provided adhesion promoter (be careful with this stuff, its pretty runny). This stuff is also used to hold the double sided tape used for some of the supporting brackets. This all took about an hour. Here's a photo of some of the left overs.

Now back to the truck, first things first, pulling the factory flares off, which I had cut to fit the RR chop light kit. There's a ton of reviews/videos on how to do this without hurting your paint, so I won't go into the details:

Next was attaching the front flare with the provided clips in the kit, although I would consider picking up spare clips, or upgrading to a set of retention hardware from American Adventure Lab. I have seen some people paint these flares, they require some prep work as they are textured, which can show through the paint. I personally prefer unpainted flares, although if these fade in a few years like most plastics do in the sun out here, I may either paint them body color, or most likely I'll bedliner them.

Here's my only major complaint about this product. For some strange reason, they omitted two clips on the front flare. This leaves this section unsupported even after all other supports have been added, and results in the flare not sitting flush to the body in this section. An additional support brace would fix this issue, I will have to make something in the 3D printer. For now some adjustments on both the front and rear bracing gets them close enough, although they're still wobbly if you press onto them on that side.

Now some details on the LED marker lights, it comes with a set of instructions on how to wire it based on your setup, I chose to wire it in the factory LED configuration as I have a Tazer and was able to reprogram my truck. The light bracket also provides support to the front of the flare, and required lots of adjustment, even then, it is still doesn't have as nice fitment as I would like. Note the bracket which uses some of the double sided tape to hold to the flare, which you then use the hardware to press against it to apply pressure so the tape sets. If this tape fails and my flare starts flapping in the wind, I'll probably attach it using some plastic bond. One more thing that I wanted to note, the metal tab of the bracket that reached out to the grill stuck out too far and was actually sitting on the paint. In addition, the notch to accommodate the plastic reinforcement from the grill was slightly off. A quick correction in a vice for the bracket, and a small notch on the back plastic for the grill fixed these issues.

*When tightening up the lights to the provided light support brackets, be VERY CAREFUL with how tight you put the mounting screws. The silver ones in the above photo.

Rugged Ridge, in their infinite wisdom, opted to have you use self tapping screws instead of having the light housing already tapped for a standard bolt/screw. Since these housings are plastic, and the self tapping screws are larger, they split as I ran them through. I repaired mine with some JB Plastic weld, but this is a lazy design decision that damages the product during normal installation. If you can find different hardware that will work, I HIGHLY suggest that route, or you can try to reinforce the plastic housing with something like hose clamps.

The rear support brace was then added, which uses more double sided tape to hold the flare in place (it was here I managed to strip one of the hex bolts, had to use the factory hardware I had taken off as a replacement). The front liners were reinstalled:

A side by side shot of the new flare and the old one, I gained about 4 inches of clearance!

The flare conforms against the vent well, and looks like it would work with some of the aftermarket lights that some folk put there.

Front hood latches open no problem. No deep valley for rocks to catch in like the Rubi flares.

These flares are about 1 inch wider than stock, so now my tires fit much better than before, the tread lines up perfectly with the edge of the flare.

Next was staring the install on the rear liners. These liners required the use of the "provided" U-nuts, and some tree clips. I opted to just reuse the factory 8mm bolts. I also attached the rear support for the flare in advance.

Next was the rear flare, double check the placement of the clips on this flare as some of the clip cutouts are actually used by the bolts for the inner liner. Snap rear flare into place and bolt up the hardware to the liner. Pull the tape for the rear support after that. Done.

Here's the only modification I had to do, these flares are meant to sit flush with the plastic panel on the bedside. Since I have DV8 bed protectors, I had to trim it with a box cutter. Trimmed a little more than I needed, but the cut is clean at least.

And that's it, all the flares are installed, feel free to ask any questions and I will try my best to answer them! I would definitely say these are a nice product despite some of the quirks, and I would recommend them!

Now that you've had these for a little while, what are you thoughts? Would you do it again?

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