I like the look of wheel spacers on the factory rubi wheels and tires. It's one of the first things I did to mine. Then a 1.25" body lift, now I have the 3.5" RK Mid-arm lift as well. I'm still running the stock wheels and tires. I've already ordered my new ones but they haven't arrived yet. Once they do I still need to prep and paint them. The wheel spacers makes the stock wheels and tires "fit" the jeep better, you'll be surprised at the visual improvement even after a lift. Toss the lift on, then add the wheel spacers and let us know what you think.
I bought my spacers from a guy off craigslist, they are not spidertrax or any other brand name I don't believe. They are hub and wheel centric however, which is what I'd recommend. Think I paid $65 for the set of 4, pretty cheap for used spacers. I've got over 7k miles on them and just had to remove them for the first time last night. Everthing looked good when I put them back on after wrenching. Be sure to use blue loctite and a torque wrench to put them on evenly and in a star pattern. I'd buy off brand spacers again in a heart beat, and I saved a bunch of money. Something you might want to consider. There's a vendor on here that would probably give you a great price too, here's their vendors thread..
http://www.jkowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=66579
As far as shocks, IMO the Rubicon shocks are very nice. The ride is what I'd consider soft, I have a 4 door, not sure if there's a difference with the 2 door. Currently I have the bilsteins, I can tell they are a little bit stiffer, but they recover very nice and settle great after taking bumps. I'm happy with the way they ride and I would absolutely purchase them again.
