Appearance Modifications

The visual modifications…

We all love to personalize our vehicles. Many appearance modifications are secondary effects of functional modifications, and so some of the items here were done for functional reasons, but are mostly noticeable as a visual modification. We’ll start with purely cosmetic items and move on.

I’m not a huge fan of shiny stuff for the purpose of being shiny. Stainless steel for corrosion resistance is fine, but a de-chrome operation commenced fairly quickly on this Grand Cherokee Laredo X. Like most Grands, it had lots of chrome applique. What could be removed was, some was covered, and others were replaced with Altitude or SRT parts. The body side mouldings were completely removed and replaced with black Altitude “Grand Cherokee” emblems, and currently replaced by 2018+ black “Grand Cherokee” emblems. Some fun “ORT8” badges were placed on the front fenders. A blackout “Hemi” badge was added on the rear liftgate with the custom “Trail Wolf” badge. The custom Trail Wolf and ORT8 badges were made by ReBadge Design. The grille was initially painted matte black along with the tailgate trim panel. The newer chrome covered plastics are extremely difficult to paint, and the paint has a tendency to chip off easily regardless of how its applied. An SRT grille was eventually painted matte black with gunmetal accents and swapped in the front. Of note, the SRT8 grille is not a 100% direct replacement with a Laredo bumper fascia. Some trimming and extra fasteners was required. Altitude headlight housings with blacked inside surfaces were changed out as well.

A large matte black hood decal made with vinyl vehicle wrap was added by a local sign shop, mainly to minimize glare from the 40” light bar to be installed. Although the hood slopes properly from the driver’s line of sight, this still has proven to be a good choice to add. A couple more cosmetic, but functional additions were Bushwacker fender flares and some hood louvers. The fender flares add a minimal amount of tire coverage, which ended up being about perfect for the AEV Pintler wheels, and certainly make the Grand appear more backcountry than suburban. A recent addition has been some hood louvers. An SRT8 hood was originally in the build plan, but adding louvers is certainly less expensive, and the Trackspec Motorsports louvers will vent more air than the small SRT8 vents- particularly at low trail speeds in the desert.