2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited
V8 4.7HO

I removed the stock Goodyear Eagle LS 235/65R17 tires after 100 miles. Upgraded tires: Toyo Proxes S/T 255/60R17 (I got a great deal!)

The GC looks great with the 255's and they fit without any problems. There is just enough space between the tires and the shocks and fenders so that without changes nothing rubs! The new tires are about the same diameter as the stock so the speedo and ABS are not affected.

Larger tires can be made to fit (check out the 285's on JU's site) but mine are a good fit between stock and insane, but they are a rare size...

In 2005 I "finished" the Toyo tires at about 45K miles, there was no usable tred left for the winter. I installed a nice set of Dunlop SP Winter Sport M2 tires in the same 255 size. The winter tires are a lot softer and the Jeep now feels a little bouncy, but still drives well. The Toyos were a bit hard so it seems like a larger change than it would be from the stock Goodyears. I had planned on switching to a summer set of tires but I never got around to it. The dry and wet traction (non-winter) seems very good so I may not go back to a "summer" tire. So far the Dunlops do not show much ware for the miles. I even had some one ask me if this was the "new" Jeep, I guess because it did not look like a standard WJ with the larger tries.

I changed the shocks to Edelbrock Performer IAS on front and rear. You have to use replace all 4 shocks because they are not just replacements, they are very different than the stock units. The ride is better. Bumps and pot holes are less jarring or non-existent now. Side to side rocking is a bit reduced. With all the pot holes, curbs, and unpaved dirt roads the ride and control is better. The suspension now soaks up the bumps.

I'll be installing larger Addco sway bars on front and rear.

The new Stillen brake rotors will be here soon! The are new front (JEE2100) and rear (JEE2101) drilled rotors with new high performance Stillen pads.

There are a few PCM upgrades that add some HP and remove the top speed limit. The factory speed limiter is 115mph....it's 130mph in Europe.

It's amazing and soooo much fun...except a few cheap ass DC money saving things

The 2002 has a fine factory radio head unit, nothing special. 6 disc CD changer in the rear and a cassette in the front. BUT in 2003 (January or so) DC introduced the RB1 navigation head unit (WJjeeps has a nice page). List price was about $1500 for the kit. It was a very simple install, there are only four screws holding in the radio and another four for the guage unit. This is a great unit and much better then the standard radio. It sounds better, has a CD player and full DVD navigation. Software updates even include a large clock display when the radio is off.

DC has released a Sirius satellite (WJjeeps has a good page) upgrade kit that includes a mux box so you don't lose the CD changer. BUT even better, they have released a great iPod adapter that's better than anyone else's. It offers full control and display on the LCD of the RB1.
Here is more info on the kit I got.

I was not too happy with the Stillen brakes on the WJ (with the 2002 stock Teves front calipers). I have almost the same setup on the the ZJ and they worked much better. On the WJ I found they were soft and required a lot of pedal pressure to be effective. They were smooth and worked, but they were never great. When they warmed up they worked much better, but that took a while. The dust was very low and so that was the best feature.... I changed over to the newer front calipers on the WJ (the 2003+ Akebono version) and it was no better. They never warped, had vibration, or pulsation until the end of their short life (about 30K miles). I used them until it was metal on metal.

The new brakes are EBC and so far (only 100 miles) they are amazing. They should only get better over their break in period. So far the Jeep stops better than new. I got Yellowstuff for the front because I wanted the best stopping power when cold. From what I could find, Yellowstuff is better than Greenstuff for my uses. It says it will have more dust than the low dust Greenstuff, but I would rather stop with dirty wheels then have clean wheels that don't stop well. There is no Yellowstuff for the rear on the WJ (there is a rear part for the newer WK). The Jeep does nose dive a little more than before because the fronts are providing a lot of stopping power now.

I ordered the set from from Summit Racing
EBC-DP41664REBC YELLOWSTUFF PAD SET (front Akebono Caliper)
EBC-DP61606EBC 6000 SERIES SUV PAD SET (rear)
EBC-USR7055EBC DISC BRAKE ROTOR (front)
EBC-USR7224EBC DISC BRAKE ROTOR (rear)

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