Had to do an overnight work trip from LA to Phoenix. I decided to drive instead of fly because I'm kind of over commercial air travel during the Covids and I was kind of curious how feasible it is to drive to Phoenix instead of flying there. And of course, I also jumped at the chance to road trip in my shiny new Jeep.

On I-10 between Palm Springs, CA and Phoenix, you could drive as fast as you like which is about 80 mph in my Jeep. I did notice once where I accidentally crept up to 90 mph but really, that Jeep isn't much good over about 83 mph. After all, it has the aerodynamics of a rectangle. The weather conditions were hot and windy. Up to 113F during the day and it was still 105F after dark.

After driving through the desert for a while, I pulled off to a rest stop and I heard a bunch of grinding coming from the driver's side front wheel well.

To me it sounded like brakes grinding, or warped rotors or something like that. As I drove away from the rest stop, I couldn't hear anything strange but, when I arrived in Phoenix, I pulled off the highway and I could hear this grinding noise again.

Driving around Phoenix at slow speeds, I didn't really hear anything strange. Driving back to LA, I did hear the grinding noise again when I got off the freeway and stopped. But, as I started driving again, I couldn't hear the noise anymore so I wasn't sure what was going on.

When I arrived home, I noticed that the inside of the driver's side front tire has a bunch of white marks on it like it's been rubbing against something.

Jumping on the interwebs turned up a Jeep Gladiator Forum where people discussed something similar happening to the wheel well inner liners. Some of those guys reported having problems with the rear wheel wells too.

So, have any of y'all run into something similar? If so, what's the fix?
I see guys recommending to buy aluminium wheel well liners which look like they cost about $350 or so.

Thanks in advance. Here are some pix.

Passenger's Side Wheel well (for reference)


Driver's Side Wheel well showing damage and missing parts


No so great picture showing the tire wear.


At a rest stop in Arizona, you can see some white marks on the inside of the driver's side front tire.


Yeah, it was hot


And for a bonus, on the way to Phoenix, my Jeep decided to run a software update which made the radio unusable for about 30 minutes.

It looks like the problem fixed itself. My suggestion would have been to remove or bend whatever it was rubbing on out of the way. Turns out driving for 10 hrs at 80 mph accomplished the same thing. There are after market inner wheel liners/ fenders if you are concerned about it for as cheap as $40.

Quick search says this is fairly common which is ridiculous. But I'm not surprised by anything FCA screws up.

I'd get some aftermarket inner fenders. Not have to worry about it again.

It's a Jeep thing?

Blonde woman buys new car, runs to auto board for attn.

Prune Tracy said:

---

Now it makes sense why the Sport models have that goofy plastic piece that connects the bumper to the fender.

---

Interesting. I hadn't thought about those subtle model differences but after looking more closely at the Wrangler Sport, I see three major aerodynamic differences right off the bat. So that would help explain why it appears that only the Rubicon model is seeing this problem.

• The plastic piece that connects the bumper to the fender
• The hole in the steel bumper where a winch is supposed to go
• The Sport model has an air dam underneath the plastic bumper (kind of hard to see in this picture)

expresswrittenconsent said:

---

Blonde woman buys new car, runs to auto board for attn.

---

Sorry your life sucks with no Jeep. It was very thoughtful of you to remember my hair colour though.

Now that I've been growing out my Rona beard for 4 months and with there being no end in sight to the virus insanity, I estimate that after another 12 months of this, my moustache hair will be long enough to complete the Minnesota Vikings look.

Furlock Bones said:

---

Quick search says this is fairly common which is ridiculous. But I'm not surprised by anything FCA screws up.

I'd get some aftermarket inner fenders. Not have to worry about it again.

---

Yeah, I've never seen a $60,000 car cannibalise itself with only 6,000 miles on the odometer.

I was looking to keep my Jeep reasonably stock (which is why I bought the Rubicon) but, it looks like I've got my first mod identified.

Also looks like I might have to get a winch to plug the hole in the steel bumper. I was already thinking about doing that anyway for trips to my mountain property in Nevada. It would be useful to move some downed trees. I also need to get some pioneer tools.

DeWrecking Crew said:

---

It looks like the problem fixed itself. My suggestion would have been to remove or bend whatever it was rubbing on out of the way. Turns out driving for 10 hrs at 80 mph accomplished the same thing. There are after market inner wheel liners/ fenders if you are concerned about it for as cheap as $40.

---

Yeah, the symptom has already been taken care of.

Guys on the Jeep boards say that you need the inner fender liners to protect the electronics from water damage so, it is a problem that I'll need a good fix for.

I didn't see any fender liners for $40 during my quick internet search but I'll look again. I also saw something about this being fixed as part of a recall but it looks like my build date was after the recall date so it might not apply to my Jeep.

Definitely warrants more research. Thanks for the suggestion.

Not sure why you were experiencing it only at low speeds. Looks like high speed wind maybe pulled a plastic fastener loose that allowed the fender liner to move around enough to contact the tire?

I'd visit with your dealer and see if it's something you can get them to replace and then see if you can secure it further so that it doesn't happen again.

Admittedly I haven't had a Jeep for near 10 years, but I used to spray the engine bay down with a pressure washer on low setting all the time with no issues. Covered the intake with a trash bag and sprayed with simple green, never had an issue, I would be surprised to find that the newest generations can't handle water from the road. I'm not saying you shouldn't get it fixed, I'm just saying I would be very surprised that not fixing it would do any harm whatsoever. But if it were my brand new Rubicon I would want it looking good and correct for as long as possible as well (BTW, I love that color).

https://www.extremeterrain.com/jeep-wrangler-fender-liner-front-passenger-side-68299170ab.html

Best fix available

Apparently Jeep actually responded to these guys - https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/inner-fender-liner-rub-defect.34201/. Might be worth talking to Jeep or the dealer.

JeepCares is a joke.

they are just a group dedicated to forums to make people think they are going to help out.

Jeep Cares

Narrator: They don't.

Good to know. Luckily, I drive a Ford and have a buddy at the dealership.

reproag said:

---

Best fix available

---

So my brother has already put money down to order a new Bronco.
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with their engine selection.
Price wise, they exactly match the Jeep Wrangler across the entire range from entry level to top of the line.

DeWrecking Crew said:

---

Admittedly I haven't had a Jeep for near 10 years, but I used to spray the engine bay down with a pressure washer on low setting all the time with no issues. Covered the intake with a trash bag and sprayed with simple green, never had an issue, I would be surprised to find that the newest generations can't handle water from the road. I'm not saying you shouldn't get it fixed, I'm just saying I would be very surprised that not fixing it would do any harm whatsoever. But if it were my brand new Rubicon I would want it looking good and correct for as long as possible as well (BTW, I love that color).

https://www.extremeterrain.com/jeep-wrangler-fender-liner-front-passenger-side-68299170ab.html

---

Thanks man.
The colour is called "Bikini Pearl" and it looks like they've stopped making it and replaced it with an OD Green colour called "Sarge Green".
https://www.jeep.com/wrangler.html

HollywoodBQ said:

---

So my brother has already put money down to order a new Bronco.
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with their engine selection.
Price wise, they exactly match the Jeep Wrangler across the entire range from entry level to top of the line.

---

I've seen this response quite a bit about the Bronco, and I'm genuinely curious - are you disappointed that the 5.0 wasn't an offering, or were you looking for a new engine all-together?

It surprises me how often I've seen the complaint about the lack of a V8 given that this isn't a full size vehicle, competes in a category where no V8s are offered from the factory, and comes from a manufacturer that puts a twin-turbo V6 in their highlighted SVT Off-Road Raptor.

Yeah, I'd love to squeeze a V8 in everything, but this seems like a weird vehicle to have expected it to happen.

Now... when the big boy Bronco gets released... that might be a different story.

Why would you want a big heavy V8 in a lighter vehicle when a turbo v6 has better specs in just about every way.

Trim it?

hurricanejake02 said:

---

HollywoodBQ said:

---

So my brother has already put money down to order a new Bronco.
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with their engine selection.
Price wise, they exactly match the Jeep Wrangler across the entire range from entry level to top of the line.

---

I've seen this response quite a bit about the Bronco, and I'm genuinely curious - are you disappointed that the 5.0 wasn't an offering, or were you looking for a new engine all-together?

It surprises me how often I've seen the complaint about the lack of a V8 given that this isn't a full size vehicle, competes in a category where no V8s are offered from the factory, and comes from a manufacturer that puts a twin-turbo V6 in their highlighted SVT Off-Road Raptor.

Yeah, I'd love to squeeze a V8 in everything, but this seems like a weird vehicle to have expected it to happen.

Now... when the big boy Bronco gets released... that might be a different story.

---

Well, I must say that my neighbour when I was in HS in Waco had an old 1967 or so Bronco with a 289 V8. I sort of always wanted one of those.

My brother has the order sheet from Ford for the new Bronco and they're only showing two engine options. 1.5L EcoBoost and 2.0L EcoBoost.

There's only one transmission 8-spd Auto. My Jeep Wrangler has an 8-spd Automatic also so no difference there.

When I test drove my first 2020 Wrangler, that dealer was pushing the 2.0L Turbo pretty hard. In fact, they didn't even have a V6 on the lot and the Diesel wasn't out yet.

I wound up getting the 3.6L V6 and combined with the 8-spd Auto, I'm pretty happy with that.

As far as what I'd like to see in a new Bronco, sure a V8 would be nice but, I'd take a Turbo 6, or even a regular V6.

The TurboBoost engines I've used in Mustangs I've rented and Expeditions I've rented have been pretty good. I just think that for something carrying the Bronco name, bigger would be better.

And don't even get me started on Chevrolet trashing the Blazer legacy. At least they didn't call the new Blazer a K5.

HollywoodBQ said:

---

hurricanejake02 said:

---

HollywoodBQ said:

---

So my brother has already put money down to order a new Bronco.
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with their engine selection.
Price wise, they exactly match the Jeep Wrangler across the entire range from entry level to top of the line.

---

I've seen this response quite a bit about the Bronco, and I'm genuinely curious - are you disappointed that the 5.0 wasn't an offering, or were you looking for a new engine all-together?

It surprises me how often I've seen the complaint about the lack of a V8 given that this isn't a full size vehicle, competes in a category where no V8s are offered from the factory, and comes from a manufacturer that puts a twin-turbo V6 in their highlighted SVT Off-Road Raptor.

Yeah, I'd love to squeeze a V8 in everything, but this seems like a weird vehicle to have expected it to happen.

Now... when the big boy Bronco gets released... that might be a different story.

---

Well, I must say that my neighbour when I was in HS in Waco had an old 1967 or so Bronco with a 289 V8. I sort of always wanted one of those.

My brother has the order sheet from Ford for the new Bronco and they're only showing two engine options. 1.5L EcoBoost and 2.0L EcoBoost.

There's only one transmission 8-spd Auto. My Jeep Wrangler has an 8-spd Automatic also so no difference there.

When I test drove my first 2020 Wrangler, that dealer was pushing the 2.0L Turbo pretty hard. In fact, they didn't even have a V6 on the lot and the Diesel wasn't out yet.

I wound up getting the 3.6L V6 and combined with the 8-spd Auto, I'm pretty happy with that.

As far as what I'd like to see in a new Bronco, sure a V8 would be nice but, I'd take a Turbo 6, or even a regular V6.

The TurboBoost engines I've used in Mustangs I've rented and Expeditions I've rented have been pretty good. I just think that for something carrying the Bronco name, bigger would be better.

And don't even get me started on Chevrolet trashing the Blazer legacy. At least they didn't call the new Blazer a K5.

---

They're looking at the Escape based Bronco Sport.

The regular bronco is 2.3L and 2.7L powered.

HollywoodBQ said:

---

hurricanejake02 said:

---

HollywoodBQ said:

---

So my brother has already put money down to order a new Bronco.
Frankly, I'm a little disappointed with their engine selection.
Price wise, they exactly match the Jeep Wrangler across the entire range from entry level to top of the line.

---

I've seen this response quite a bit about the Bronco, and I'm genuinely curious - are you disappointed that the 5.0 wasn't an offering, or were you looking for a new engine all-together?

It surprises me how often I've seen the complaint about the lack of a V8 given that this isn't a full size vehicle, competes in a category where no V8s are offered from the factory, and comes from a manufacturer that puts a twin-turbo V6 in their highlighted SVT Off-Road Raptor.

Yeah, I'd love to squeeze a V8 in everything, but this seems like a weird vehicle to have expected it to happen.

Now... when the big boy Bronco gets released... that might be a different story.

---

Well, I must say that my neighbour when I was in HS in Waco had an old 1967 or so Bronco with a 289 V8. I sort of always wanted one of those.

My brother has the order sheet from Ford for the new Bronco and they're only showing two engine options. 1.5L EcoBoost and 2.0L EcoBoost.

There's only one transmission 8-spd Auto. My Jeep Wrangler has an 8-spd Automatic also so no difference there.

When I test drove my first 2020 Wrangler, that dealer was pushing the 2.0L Turbo pretty hard. In fact, they didn't even have a V6 on the lot and the Diesel wasn't out yet.

I wound up getting the 3.6L V6 and combined with the 8-spd Auto, I'm pretty happy with that.

As far as what I'd like to see in a new Bronco, sure a V8 would be nice but, I'd take a Turbo 6, or even a regular V6.

The TurboBoost engines I've used in Mustangs I've rented and Expeditions I've rented have been pretty good. I just think that for something carrying the Bronco name, bigger would be better.

And don't even get me started on Chevrolet trashing the Blazer legacy. At least they didn't call the new Blazer a K5.

---

Pretty sure that is just for the teeny bopper Baby Bronco. The bigger one gets the 2.3 Liter 4 Cylinder Ecoboost or the 2.7 L 6 Cylinder Ecoboost. 10 speed auto on both or the 7 speed manual on the 2.3L

Went back and reviewed my brother's build sheet. You're correct, the 1.5 and 2.0 are for the "Sport" model Bronco.

Even then, you can still option up the Sport to an MSRP of almost $60K.

No V8 option