Jeep Cherokee "Dakar"

[limeylight]

I know, I'm sorry this is not a sport compact car but we've decided to remodel our Jeep Cherokee to represent our brands a little better. As BRAID make a Rally-Raid wheel suitable for such things as Dakar, desert racing and Baja we are throwing on some BRAID rally wheels so thought we'd go with the Dakar look, something like this:



Seems as if most of these trucks have all the rear windows blanked out. Perhaps thay replace the glass with something lighter but we just used perforated white vinyl which has the same look but you can still see out of the windows, a surprising amount actually.








It's not going to be an actual Dakar race vehicle of even a replica. Think of it as a Dakar "tribute" vehicle rather. Other mods we plan are some more decals (obviously), Rally wheels and all terrain tires, a 2" lift, some better (read "bigger") lights, mud flaps, an expedition rack with lights (not really Dakar but very useful and purposful looking) a cat-back exhaust and perhaps a snorkel for the intake. Should look pretty cool.


All this off-road stuff we will probably start offering for sale once we secure dealer status with the various manufacturers.


Subscribe and folllow the madness.

[limeylight]

Added some decals:











Eventually we'll get rid of the small blue BRAID decals on the door and hood and replace the hood one with a big diagonal BRAID like on the rear. Then a few more decals on the rear doors and perhaps a number panel on the front doors with the DAKAR man inside instead of a race number which, of course, would just be pretentious. And we wouldn't want to be pretentious would we?




Need to do something about that windshield banner too and those lights.

[4eyestang]

intresting

[McFlurrey06]

off road ricer.

[FKNSL0]

^^^ lol thats a good one.

[FKNSL0]

btw if it had a lift and some meaty tires it would be sick. i still like it tho good job.

[limeylight]

btw if it had a lift and some meaty tires it would be sick. i still like it tho good job.

Thanks,

We are planning to lift it 2".

Wheels and tires are in the works. I need to get the BRAIDS back from Travis Hanson, the ones he rolled at X-games. Car's bent but wheels are straight:



or I may pull some gold ones from stock:



Current tire choice is Goodyear Wrangler Duratecs in 235/75-15:




How do you think the gold wheels would look on a Jeep? I'm kind of intrigued.

[Comfort>Function]

Wheels would look fine, but bigger tires please!

[limeylight]

Wheels would look fine, but bigger tires please!

Taller or wider?

[Klasse Act]

Hey Paul, good to see your on xceedspeed! How are things at Auto Europe? Would like to bring the Scooby to the Dragon? Forget that Lotus event, you need a vacation if you're still at AE anyways, come on down with that WRC-lookin' Scooby wagon, we'd love to have you out with us, not to mention your accent would be cool as hell to listen to out there on the radio

[limeylight]

Hey Paul, good to see your on xceedspeed! How are things at Auto Europe? Would like to bring the Scooby to the Dragon? Forget that Lotus event, you need a vacation if you're still at AE anyways, come on down with that WRC-lookin' Scooby wagon, we'd love to have you out with us, not to mention your accent would be cool as hell to listen to out there on the radio

Not at AE any more. Give me a call and I'll get you up to speed.

[FKNSL0]

the golds would look cool on a white jeep.

[Comfort>Function]

Taller or wider?

Yes Both, please. More like a 255/70R15 or something like that. 31x10.5x15?

[limeylight]

Yes Both, please. More like a 255/70R15 or something like that. 31x10.5x15?

Won's the gearing with 31s will be so high it will hardly move out of its own way and 255s on snow will suck like a Hoover, no? The only 255/70-15s I can find are "highway all season" too. Yuk!

The thing only weighs 3000lb after all. Why does it need so much tire? And I'm also trying not to make it look like a mud bogger.

Won't she be happier on 235/75s?

[17PSIMiniVan]

hmmmm i very much like where this could go.......

[Comfort>Function]

Won's the gearing with 31s will be so high it will hardly move out of its own way and 255s on snow will suck like a Hoover, no? The only 255/70-15s I can find are "highway all season" too. Yuk!

The thing only weighs 3000lb after all. Why does it need so much tire? And I'm also trying not to make it look like a mud bogger.

Won't she be happier on 235/75s?

With the lift, you'll want something to fill the wheel wells out. And no, you won't need to worry about the gearing. I went from a stock 235/70R15 on my Blazer to a 30.5x10.5R15 and the only difference was the speedo really. If you said you were going with.. say.. 35x15R15 or 37x15R15, then yes. You're only adding 2.1" to the diameter of the tire, not 5+ or anything like that.

[Comfort>Function]

Here's some Jeeps with 31" tires and a mild lift like you're doing

That's a 31" tire with 3" lift

2" lift 31" tire

3" with 31"

Parts bin 4" lift with 31" tire

Obviously the 2nd one is what you'd be doing, and IMO that looks damn good. Can't find any 2" lifted on stock size tires, but imagine more wheel gap, less tire.

[joslovandikai]

Definitely go up to at least the 31in tire. You will have no trouble gearing wise, and i promise it will still be able to get out of its own way. you can even run a 32 and still be fine around town and on the highway. 32's can be hard to find, but its a nice size.

[Joezilla]

oh come on man.

[limeylight]

I here you guys and on some level I agree, those Jeeps look great but that's not really the look I'm going for. DAKAR trucks and Euro trucks in general seem to run narrower tires than we do here and that's kind of what I'm aiming for. Here are some Euro off road tires I found from Insa in Spain, same place our wheels come from:





The first 2 are strictly competition tires for 95% off road, 5% on. The first is available in 31 X 10,50 R 15 and the second 237/75-15 max. Remember, I am using 15" rims. The second pair are 80/20 split the first again being avaialble in 31 X 10,50 R 15 and the second, their DAKAR tire being 235/75-15 max. The last one is 50/50 split and is available in 31 X 10,50 R 15.

As I drive 99% on road anyway I'm still thinking 235/75 is the way to go. My current setup conisists of 255/55-18 and I can feel the lack of accelleration and braking with those. I did a RallyCross a few weeks ago with the stockish size tires on (235/70-15) and that was much more alive but then I did a second RallyCross a week later with 205/65-15 rally tires on and the truck just came alive. Perhaps I'm just used to lower geared vehicles but I preferred my Jeep with the 205s to be honest. Looked kind of goofy though.

Maybe I just go with 235/70 and don't lift it. It would be a lot safer on the street.