Folks,

I searched quite a bit before purchasing and have found that a lot of info was not quite right, hence why I’m sharing this here.

First of all, the installation is extremely easy, thank God cause they came off immediately after I came back from my test drive.

Reviews on the net and youtube mention that the highest one should go is 1.5 inch cause any higher creates a stiff bouncy ride.

Well I got news for you my friends. My one inch lift rods created a very noticeably stiffer ride. The road around my house has quite a bit of damage and the test drive caused my to feel all the cracks in the road, which I had forgotten about ever since trading my Jeep wrangler for the new Defender back in January.

I got back home, dove under the Defender, reinstalled the stock rods and went back… relief, all was smooth again. I will not stand a stiffer ride, just for looks. But speaking of looks, suddenly, my 275/55r20 were looking a bit small in the higher wheel opening.

One last thing I found weird, the rear Proud Rhino rods were a bit longer than the stock ones, while the fronts were actually shorter than the stock ones.

So unless you’re the type of person that prefers looks over function or comfort, think again. But then again, as said the 32 inch tires looked small in the wheelwells.

 

Does Proud Rhino claim the ride is unaffected? No offense but it's pretty common sense that if you fill the bag with more air to raise the vehicle that it will be stiffer riding.

 

Actually I bought it through Atlantic British. But yes, even at 1.5 inch the claim is that it basically maintains stock ride which it obviously doesn’t, very far from that actually.

But you’re right that I should have logically figured out that the more air in the bags means stiffer ride, but I didn’t. I chose to believe the claims cause I was getting 1 inch rather than the 1.5 that is supposed to ride like stock.

 

I took a quick glance and didn't see any claims that it will ride like stock. Good news is at under $100.00 it's by far the least amount of money you will throw away on a land rover product haha. You could probably sell them pretty quick for 50-75% of what you paid.

 

Hmm. This is quite different from my experience.

I have 1.5” rods on a 2020 Defender 110 X & swap them on and off (with 33” tires 275/60/20). The ride is for all purposes the same -- just as compliant -- in normal height -- with and without the rods. I’m pretty tuned in too. I’d be super bummed and I would not run the rods if it affected the ride greatly and caused a bone-jarring abysmal ride.

In extended height I will concede -- yes -- it’s total garbage with the rods on. Very stiff and I rarely go there even offroad as a result. But in normal height - iperfectly fine with my 1.5” rods. In fact, I can tell absolutely no difference in suspension ride quality -- ie stiffness/plushness/compliance -- with the rods on or off. I’ve tested it.

One note: I don’t run the high pressure tire pressures (Heavy Load ie 47/50). I found that makes the ride too hard with or without lift rods -- I figured this out within a few weeks of buying the Defender 4 years ago. So I stick to the Light Load lower pressures (34/37). My tire wear is fine too. The lower tire pressures make a big difference in ride quality. But this had nothing to do with lift rods.

 

That’s what I told myself too regarding the expense. The goal of this thread is to let others that might consider it, know that they do not ride anywhere close to stock. So unless they don’t mind the trade-in….

 

Do you have a 90 or a 110?

 

I run an e-lift when I'm on some trails.

When I forget to remove the lift on the hard top I'll notice the tires making more noise and feeling weird. Probably related to the alignment. So I revert back to stock height right away.

I like a lift I can turn on/off/adjust as needed using my phone.

Aftermarket rods are an obsolete product.

One manufacturer of them are a site sponsor though so I mean......

........Rods are great.

 

110

 

Oh but I mean no negative to the sponsor, my goal is to let other owners considering this, know that even 1inch of rod lift rides noticeably stiffer than stock. I mean some definitely don’t mind that as most reviews from owners I’ve read claim the ride is acceptable and like stock. It does depend where you live. As said, here the roads are like a Colorado trail road (no kidding) thus why I could immediately feel the obvious change in suspension geometry. Everything was done within the same hour, same weather and same test road.

I fell for the air ride comfort and will not trade that comfort for anything, let alone a mere inch of lift. I’ve owned Jeeps all my life and did trade a lot of comfort and power for lift and bigger tires and am now about to retire and know better.

cheers.