One of the most popular mods around, a Jeep Wrangler grille is among the quickest and easiest ways to elevate the appearance of your rugged SUV, giving it an aggressive appearance to match its in-your-face off-road performance.
Appearances might be the primary reason for upgrading your Jeep Wrangler grille, but they aren’t the only reason. If you spend a lot of time rock-crawling or driving steep woodland trails, your radiator isn’t getting the same cooling airflow it would be receiving on the highway. It needs all the help it can get, and equipping a more open, higher-flow grille is one way to treat the problem. In addition, some aftermarket Jeep Wrangler grille designs feature integrated auxiliary off-road lights, making those grilles a prudent choice for dedicated off-roaders who spend any amount of time on the trail after dusk.
Whether it’s a distinctive, enhanced look you’re after, or a practical off-road upgrade, we’re here to help you navigate the market. Here, we’ve rounded up the best Jeep Wrangler grille options on the market today, with a focus on the previous JK- and current JL-generation models.
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1. Editor's Choice: Hooke Road Matte Black Shark Grille
With a distinctive “shark tooth” grille pattern and a classic “angry brow,” this Hooke Road Jeep Wrangler grille is tailor-made for the 2007-2018 Wrangler JK, including both two-door and four-door Unlimited models. It’s made from high-quality ABS plastic with a satin black finish, ready to prime and paint, or be left as-is for an aggressively rugged look. The design enshrouds your headlights so that they’re less exposed and vulnerable to damage off-road, but the biggest selling point is the intricate appearance, which is ready to transform your JK Wrangler into a mean, snarling beast, ready to devour every trail.
2. T-Rex Grilles Stealth Torch Series Black Grille
Easily one of the coolest Jeep Wrangler grille options available for the 2007-2018 JK Wrangler is this: the Stealth Torch Series from T-Rex Grilles. Technically a grille insert, this piece installs behind your Jeep’s factory seven-slot grille panel, providing a protective mesh for your radiator as well as a row of seven 2” round CREE LED lights, hidden discretely within the grille slots and supplying up to 6300 total lumens of illumination. It’s a bit pricy as Jeep grilles go, but worth every penny if you’ve been searching for a discrete, no-drilling, easy-to-install auxiliary lighting option.
3. Extreme Off-Road Front Grille
Flaunting a complex, angular appearance with classic “angry eye” headlamp cutouts, this aftermarket Jeep Wrangler grille from Extreme Off-Road is one of the best-designed and best-built grilles available for the current Wrangler JL and JL Unlimited, which also fits the Gladiator JT. Molded from high-quality ABS plastic with a satin black finish, ready for primer and paint or to be worn as-is, this aftermarket grille provides some extra protection for your Wrangler’s factory headlamps, and it looks mean as all get-out. It installs easily in just minutes, with no drilling required, and the price is just right.
4. Overtread Mohave Grille with LED Lights
Here at Off-Road, we love unique-looking style upgrades, almost as much as we love practical, dual-purpose vehicle products, which is why we’re big fans of this Mohave Jeep Wrangler grille from Overtread. The grille’s biggest selling point is a row of five amber-tinted LED marker lights spanning between headlamps, which are as useful as they are stylish, but it has plenty to offer besides, from its rugged satin black finish to its distinctive styling, which diverges from the usual chiseled, angry look and embraces a bit more of a subdued, understated aesthetic. It’s the perfect answer if you’re the sort of Wrangler owner who likes rolling in style, but prefers to roll a bit more under-the-radar.
5. Westin HDX LED Grille
This Westin HDX LED grille isn’t just the most wide-open, high-flowing Jeep Wrangler grille we’ve seen for the current-generation JL Wrangler; it’s also the strongest. Unlike most aftermarket grilles out there, this one is made from durable 11-gauge steel, with a protective satin black finish to ward off corrosion. That means your headlamps and radiator have an extra line of defense out on the trail. On top of that, the Westin HDX LED grille features integrated LED lighting perfect for illuminating the trail after dusk, with a full wiring harness to help you get wired up in no time. Yet apart from the light wiring, this Westin HDX LED grille installs just like all the myriad other options on the market, making it a simple and straightforward upgrade to apply.
6. Rugged Ridge Nighthawk Light Brow
If you’re a fan of the factory seven-slot Jeep grille, you can still unleash a bold new look and enhanced off-road headlamp protection with the Rugged Ridge Nighthawk light brow. Not technically a Jeep Wrangler grille, this ABS piece installs easily onto the stock Wrangler JK grille panel with no drilling required, instantly transforming its appearance with a distinctive “angry brow.” Better yet, with a range of factory paint colors available, you don’t have to settle for a satin black bare-plastic appearance or waste time painting prior to install.
Can I install a Jeep Wrangler grille on my own?
People often ask if they can install their new Jeep Wrangler grille by themselves. The short answer: yes! Most aftermarket Jeep Wrangler grille designs follow a very simple, straightforward installation procedure that the average DIYer can bang out in no time flat.
Newer Jeep Wranglers use grilles that fasten to the top beam of the radiator core support with a handful of pop-in plastic rivets along the top edge. The old grille is typically removed by simply using a flathead screwdriver or similar flat tool edge to pop the rivets out, twisting and pulling the turn signal bulbs out of their sockets, and pivoting the grille panel forward to provide clearance. The new grille installs with the reverse procedure, although care must be taken to ensure that you’ve transplanted the turn signal lenses from the old grille to the new one. In many cases, the new grille also ships with a weather sealing strip with an adhesive backing. This must be carefully aligned and placed along the top edge of the grille panel so that it is sealed against the hood of your Wrangler.
Installing a new Jeep Wrangler grille insert is even easier. To do this, the DIYer should pop out all the plastic rivets as described above, and then pivot the grille panel forward to gain access to the back side. Once they have access, the factory grille insert is restrained only by a couple of straps that must be loosened, allowing the old insert to slide out so that the new one can be slipped into its place. Reassembly follows the reverse procedure.
Just like that, you’re ready to roll, with your brand new Jeep Wrangler grille secured safely in place. And if you ever get stuck or encounter any difficulty, the internet is ripe with resources to help walk you through the procedure in greater detail.
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