The 2009 SEMA Show

We’re still as excited as a fat Elvis at an all-you-can eat Vegas buffet when we step off of the plane each year for the SEMA show. As most of you know, SEMA is the big boys toys show for everything in the automotive aftermarket – hot trucks, hot cars, hot chicks and the hottest products in the world of 4 wheel drive. This year the 4x4Review.com staff worked our tails off to bring you the entire behind the scenes action that SEMA 2009 had to offer.

Innovations abound at this year’s show. While attendance was down from years past, the quality and engineering of the new products was awe-inspiring. With everything from axles and wheels to lighting and winches, this year’s show has something for everyone. High flying off road trucks, crazy high clearance axles, remote control lighting and bitchin’ new wheel designs had our staff spinning in circles like drunks on a tilt-a-whirl. Here’s a few of the day one highlights.

 See our coverage of Day 2 and Day 3 too.

American Expedition Vehicles – www.aev-conversions.com
American Expedition Vehicles was on hand at the SEMA expo showing off one of their newly crafted rear bumpers for the Jeep JK. This rear unit features a water storage tank and is plumbed for air.

ARB – www.arb-usa.com
The ARB team is a perennial star of the SEMA show and this year was no different with many new products including an expanded range of Air Lockers (Rear AAM and Rockwell lockers were highlights) and an impressive new ARB Fridge Freezer. This trail-ready freezer will keep 72 cans of your favorite off-road beverage frosty, draws just 0.9 amp of power and has a low-battery cut-off function (cuts the fridge off before a full battery drain). Also on hand was their new Jerry can roof rack mounts, a newly designed aluminum-alloy roofrack that is some 30% lighter, and a newly crafted shock absorber that shares the benefits of both a monotube and a twintube bump stick.

Atomic Axles – www.atomicaxle.com
The team from Atomic Axles grabbed center stage with their amazing new arched axle design. This breakthrough design offers seven (7) inches greater ground clearance than a high pinion Dana 60 and is available for builders and bolt-in buyers alike. This fascinating axle design uses a nodular Ford 9” center section, fully enclosed hardened intermediate shafts and king pin Dana 60 outer assemblies for strength and ease of service.

G2 Axles – www.g2axle.com
G2 was on-hand with an all new selection of bolt-on axle upgrades using the heavy-duty Currie center sections. These axles offer increased strength and performance over stock along with economical entry level prices.

ProComp – www.explorerprocomp.com / ProComp Tires – www.procomptires.com
ProComp Suspension really surprised us with a well engineered and super strong JK kit featuring heavy duty rod ends, .250 wall link arms and high clearance brackets. If you are in the market for a super well built lift kit for your JK, check out the latest offerings from ProComp. ProComp Tires was on hand with an impressive display of wheels and tires. New this year was a Cast Black (matte) finish available on all most all of their popular designs/sizes. ProComp brought out a wide selection of their high performance off-road ready tires.

Real Wheels Accessories – www.realwheels.com
Real Wheel Accessories was showing off their newly designed brush guard which sports an over-the-hood design. Two quick twists of a knob and the top section comes off for easy access to the mill. Yeah, yeah. We know the Camaro is not a 4×4, but ya gotta admit this is one bitchin’ Camaro dude. Damn!

Skyjacker Suspension – www.skyjacker.com
Once again Skyjacker built an incredible display with two rigs, (a 2009 Wrangler Unlimited and a 2009 Ford F150) and multiple LCD TV’s highlighting their latest products. For the JK crowd, Skyjacker now offers a dual steering stabilizer as well as front and rear adjustable track bars with new heavy duty brackets. For fans of the latest F150, Skyjacker stepped up with both a 4” and 6” 4WD suspension kits as well as Hydro or Nitro shock and their soft ride rear leaf spring packages. The F150 on display was equipped with a 4” lift that made the truck look more like a Super Duty.

Smittybilt – www.smittybilt.com
Smittybilt was one of the eye-openers of the show. This brand, known widely for products with show but not much go is making sweeping changes in product quality. Gone were the thin-walled tubing, chrome plated brush-guards and side-steps. In their place we discovered well-engineered and rugged XRC products designed to deliver off-road durability. Smittybilt is worth a look.

Teraflex – www.teraflex.biz
Teraflex will offer a new big brake kit for JKs (available Feb, 2010) providing a 10% improvement in stopping force and a huge reduction in heat / fade. This kit is ideal for larger wheel and tire combos. Teraflex is also offering a specifically calibrated Elka JK-specific performance shocks. Maybe the coolest product in the 2009 Teraflex line up is a line of progressive rate, foam filled bump stops know as Teraflex Speedbumps, with no oil or nitrogen to adjust, these are just the ticket for bolt on and forget it performance.

Valley Industries – www.valleyindustries.com
Valley Industries produces some of the industries best hitches (heavy duty & light duty), wiring, brake / trailer control and towing accessories. Valley really stepped up this year with a new compact trailer brake controller offering accelerometer controlled braking, sensing the rate of deceleration and delivering like trailer braking. Rumor has it; a new plug-n-play controller with dash-mounted docking station will be available in 2010. And, check out the new chrome-dome hitch ball covers…

Warn – www.warn.com
Warn was well represented at the 2009 show with full product presentations. Their newest products included a range of wirelessly controlled, internal ballast HID and non-HID lighting. These lighting kits reduce installation time through underhood-only wiring and greater ease of use due to the key-fob sized remote control.