Gear up for winter with these Jeep accessories and upgrades.
We’ll concede that Jeeps are certainly a bit more fun in the summertime. There’s nothing like dropping the top, kicking the doors off, and getting ‘er stuck a few times before heading back to the house or campsite. In popular culture, Jeeps have been the subject of many popular songs – from LL Cool J to Crystal Fighters – but none come to mind where the performer is singing about shovels and snow chains. It’s all open roads and sunshine.
But if you’re like many Jeep owners who daily-drive their Wrangler and may like a bit of cold-weather wheeling from time-to-time, we got you. Jeeps aren’t fair-weather vehicles; they’re true four-season automobiles. So, whether you use yours to get to work, get to the backcountry, or a little of both, let’s take a look at a few winter Jeep accessories you may want to consider.
Hard Top Insulation
Having interchangeable roofs undoubtedly has its benefits, but a drawback comes in the lack of robustness of a Jeep hardtop. Jeep needs to make them somewhat light and manageable for ease of removal. And while hard tops are much better than they once were, the noise they allow in the cabin and the temperature control they provide still doesn’t compare to a permanent roof.
That’s why you should consider hard-top roof insulation.
Hard-top insulation comes in the form of headliner panels that are affixed to the interior of your vehicle. Not only do they make your cabin look and feel a bit cozier come winter, but they also provide a few tangible benefits. First and foremost, they help keep the warm/cool air inside your Jeep much better – saving your HVAC system from working overtime. Plus, if you’ve ever been in a Wrangler, you’ll notice that road noise, wind, and rain are much more pronounced. An insulation kit will help alleviate some of the extra noise pollution that a hard-top causes.
We recommend liners from brands like Rugged Ridge and BedRug – stalwarts in the automotive and Jeep industry.
Floor Mats/Liners
Most new Jeeps these days come with pretty sturdy floor mats or liners. Are they the best in the market? Eh, that’s debatable, but they do a decent job protecting your investment – especially in the winter.
For those of you who still tool around in an older TJ or YJ Wrangler, we salute you. But most of them are pretty heavy on the carpet. Sure, carpet floors and mats look and feel nice under bare feet during the summer beach trip, but for winter they’re less than ideal accessories. It’s like going out to shovel your driveway, then coming in your carpeted living room without removing your boots. It just feels wrong.
Worse, as these carpets age they do a subpar job absorbing liquid, allowing spots to develop from years of grease, oil, and mildew. So, if you’re one of the Jeepers who still runs a carpet floor, or are displeased with the current mats/liners you have, it’s time to make a change.
Here are just a few reasons that you need heavy duty, well-fitting mats or liners in your Wrangler:
They protect the floor below – whether it be carpet, plastic, or any other material.
They’re easy to remove. So, cleaning or dumping any debris/liquid that have accumulated is a breeze.
They’ll most likely last longer than whatever you’re currently using.
They look good, can be had to match common color themes, and overall increase your interior’s aesthetic.
Most importantly, they assist in preventing moisture from penetrating your floor and causing rust or holes in your floor pans. And we’re betting you don’t want to be able to see the road or trail below while driving, right?
WeatherTech and Husky Liners are two names in interior protection that won’t let you down. If you’re looking for something even more customized to Wranglers, check out Bestop.
Remote Starter
Aftermarket remote starters aren’t just for automotive casuals, nor are they antiquated. They’ve come a long way since those local auto shop radio ads told you about them way back in 1995. And while we still do recommend getting these winter accessories installed by professionals, unlike what you’ve heard from decades past, they will not void your Jeep warranty and many will work on manual transmissions.
Not unlike our previous entry, many new cars (including Wrangler JLs with the cold weather package) will come with remote start from the factory. But if you have a new or old Wrangler that doesn’t have this freezing morning godsend, fear not. You have options.
We think it’s pretty obvious why someone in a cold climate should covet a remote starter but let’s run down a few reasons:
Most obviously, a warm car to crawl into
Eliminates having to scrape ice off your windows, letting the defroster do the work
More time to let engine oil heat up, extending the performance of your engine
Not having to go outside and warm up the vehicle
Many aftermarket remote starters aren’t just remote starters anymore, either. They have many niceties that can be tracked and activated by using a smartphone, such as:
- Location tracking to easily find where your car is
- Real time alerts to monitor new or younger drivers
- On board turn-by-turn directions
- Trip history trackers
- Impact detection
- Driver behavior monitoring
- Roadside Assistance
- Vehicle Alarm
- Diagnostic readouts
Of course, many of us don’t need the bells and whistles and just want a warm car. Barebones models are still plentiful on the market and don’t cost an arm and leg like they once did.
Wheel Well Liners/Inner Fenders
As an online retailer with home base operations in the northeast, we beg you: please protect the frame of your car. The salt and chemicals used in the wintertime in many northern USA locations are nothing to joke about. We recommend getting frequent undercarriage washes during the winter and using something like FluidFilm or WoolWax to protect your frame from rust and corrosion. But another thing to consider is a good set of wheel well liners.
We’ve all seen the beautiful lifted show trucks with their exposed suspension systems and fancy reservoir shocks in plain sight. To an auto geek, seeing everything under a vehicle all candy-painted with degree-perfect geometry is like seeing a Rembrandt or Cezanne for a fine art lover. And if you live on the west coast or in the south, you can get away with having something similar. But for the rest of us, protecting all that metal – and the nooks and crannies between it – is priority number one.
Wheel well liners are pretty self-explanatory; they go in your wheel wells to shield what’s behind them from dirt, debris, and moisture. Many vehicles do come with stock liners, but aftermarket kits can offer better protection, better material, and better aesthetics. Plus, after several years, stock liners tend to crack, puncture, and eventually snap off altogether.
If your Jeep is lifted, wheel/inner fender liners are even more important as a lifted vehicle will have more of your components exposed. A quality set of these aftermarket accessories, combined with frequent cleaning of the frame and undercarriage (especially during winter), will keep your Jeep rust-protected and running longer.
Snow plow
We’re responsible bloggers here at Parts Via, so we do have to mention a few potential risks. Scour the Wrangler forums and you’ll find plenty of folks who will tell you to steer clear of adding a plow to your Jeep. They will state that Wranglers are not built for plow duty and frame damage is a very real possibility. But others will scoff at that statement saying they’ve used Wranglers as their primary source of snow removal and they’re more than capable of the job.
We see the point made by the first position but, based on our own collective experiences, lean toward the latter sentiment. We certainly wouldn’t tell you to go out and use a Jeep to plow interstates, but if you’re looking to clear your driveway and perhaps that of the tiny old lady across the street, there’s little chance of things going awry. You probably put your frame in more danger by off-roading than you would from a half-dozen plow sessions each year.
Commercial use? No. But for personal use, it’s a viable option. Just make sure you get one suitable for your Jeep—meaning a plow that’s wider than your track width. And if you do have suspension modifications, take this into consideration as well, as many Jeep plows are built with a stock ride height in mind.
Sure, it’s an expensive initial investment and one that’s not for everyone, but for some Jeep owners it may make sense. Think of what you would ordinally spend on snow removal fees—whether it be an outside service or tools to perform it yourself. In a few years’ time, it could be a cost saver. And you can always sell your Jeep plow service to neighbors to get you in the black even sooner.