🚙 Rugged Ridge 11210.17 Jeep Wrangler JK Hood Catch Kit - Textured Black (07-18) Review

Installed on JKU Sahara 2012 What is the difference. I live in the Los Angeles County High Desert and we get pretty strong winds here. With the stock hood latches, I've noticed that my hood flaps when driving into a headwind or even when driving at 50+ mph on the freeway. Yes I know, a jeep over 50? Is it even possible? Is that so! This has happened several times! Anyway, the installation was relatively easy. There are tons of videos on YouTube showing how to install them, so grab your trusty…

THIS IS COOL! I absolutely hated driving on the road, especially freeways when the speed increases, and watching my hood shake up and down, God forbid, EVERY TIME A BIG LOAD is going the other way at high speed. I always prayed my hood wouldn't come off! Since I put them on a few months ago, NO MORE PROBLEMS. Regardless of the speed, the hood remains tightly closed and does not move at all. I had one of the factory installed rubber hood covers (bought a new Jeep) that snaps when lifted…

'09 Wrangler. These are top notch locks. I highly recommend them. A knock: It's really inevitable, but the bottom half of the latch required some tricky work loosening the old one and installing the new one. This is exactly how Jeep designed the mount. You either need 7" long pencil-sized fingers with 6 knuckles, or you need to build a minijack with a short 2" extension that can be turned with a small wrench. to put the pieces of this socket assembly together, but it took a lot of…

Installed according to instructions, no problem. Drove 125 miles the next morning, and on a dual carriageway, a gust from an oncoming semi-trailer blew the driver's side to pieces. Pretty amazing! The center latch held the hood in place, so I stopped and turned to pick up the debris from the freeway. When I got out, I saw that the passenger side was also broken. WTF. Luckily I had stainless steel wire and wire cutters. I was able to secure my hood until my new DRAKE (DV8) hood latches arrived…

First of all I have to say about Rugged Ridge's quality control that it's not very good. The first set of bars I received was removed. They came from the factory with a cross thread, and the aluminum holes were completely ground out on one tab and slightly torn off on the other. I was a little suspicious of their exchange as I figured I could just get another set that was slimmed down. I took a chance and the replacement kit was fully functional. I'm rating it under a 4 because of this issue…

After a pretty bad bonnet flapping experience on the Autobahn over the weekend, I decided I'd had enough and bought them. Installation took about 45 minutes, but that's only due to how difficult it is to get to the side panel mounting screws. I ended up removing the grille to make this area easier to access, but it was still a difficult experience. If you have a curved ring spanner, you'll likely find it MUCH easier to get hold of. The reverse setting is correct, but the advice I've read before

Pros: They really look great. They also keep the hood secure, which is important for safety. They're really strong and won't rot when dry like factory hood latches. Disadvantages: the first and most unpleasant. The top rear corner of the cam arm (the part that hooks into the hood mounted bracket) is *VERY* close to the hood when the latch is closed. You can't squeeze a credit card in between. I don't know yet if this will be an issue or not - hopefully engine and road vibrations aren't causing…

These are really excellent bonnet latches, far superior to standard Jeep latches. Hood rattle was noticeably reduced and the appearance became rougher. I wear them on my two Rubicons and love them. Jeep's standard plastic latches also turn gray over time, so the aluminum latches solve that problem as well. Installation is not difficult but can be tedious, taking around 30-45 minutes for the average handyman. I wasn't able to install the lower latch without removing the Wrangler front grille…

I've seen some other reviews about how difficult they are to install. Hope I can make it a little easier. It took me a while to install this. From opening the box, reading the crappy instructions, getting the tools, installing (with a few hiccups) and checking everything and packing (including the photo below). 45 minutes. Jeep Wrangler 2010. Tools: 5mm hex (2) 4mm hex (2) 1/4" socket wrench 1/4" extension 1/4" universal joint 1/4" to 3 /8" adapter (for me since I didn't have a 13mm socket…