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Shelby73

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Yes, someone bought a new JLU off dealerships lot that had the dual door option group with premium uppers and they didn’t want them so they sold them to me for less than the option price.

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rallydefault

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@avnmech
I've seen your videos before and they are excellent, thank you! So would you say the soft doors are a fairly solid buy if they were to ever go on sale? I'd probably only use them during the warm months, and I don't do too much highway driving. I would think they'd be pretty annoying on long road trips, though.
 

avnmech

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@avnmech
I've seen your videos before and they are excellent, thank you! So would you say the soft doors are a fairly solid buy if they were to ever go on sale? I'd probably only use them during the warm months, and I don't do too much highway driving. I would think they'd be pretty annoying on long road trips, though.
Just drove from southern Indiana to Northern Indiana, spent about two weeks at the Dunes National and State Parks, then drove back south again. I have the twill premium top, and doors, I also have my muffler removed, at highway speeds it can get a little loud, but it’s a Jeep, and it’s loads quieter than my soft top JKU ever was, and it had a MBRP cat back exhaust. I also opted for the “Alpine” up grade with the 5” screen, stupid idea, did this thinking that it would be louder, well is hard to get loud when you’re running four 3” speakers, and a 8” sub. I installed a Stinger Heigh10 about 6 months ago, best purchase ever, except not I need to upgrade my speakers, and put in and amp to replace the “Alpine” junk. Again driving in the rain is rediculous if you don’t have bungee cords holding the top of the doors in, and, but the doors are easy to stow away in the back of the Jeep, or in a hotel room. I had to do it all over again, yes I’d purchase them, but only because they are the only full, and complete, as well as storeable door option on the market.
 

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daveprice7

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...
Again driving in the rain is rediculous if you don’t have bungee cords holding the top of the doors in,
....
Even the OEM half door uppers pull away at the top and parachute in and out at freeway speeds. I guess a sturdy removable fabric upper frame is beyond the reach of modern engineering.
 

avnmech

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Even the OEM half door uppers pull away at the top and parachute in and out at freeway speeds. I guess a sturdy removable fabric upper frame is beyond the reach of modern engineering.
I owned a 1997 Wrangler the had factory half doors and at 70 the uppers didn’t pull way from the door frame, and it stayed water tight. Maybe after a huge down poor I’d have a little bit of water in the Jeep, but never so much that I needed to pull the drain plugs, however with the Bestop Fabric doors on my 2018 JLU I just leave my drain plugs out because if it rains I know there’s gonna be water on the floor.
 

daveprice7

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I owned a 1997 Wrangler the had factory half doors and at 70 the uppers didn’t pull way from the door frame, and it stayed water tight. Maybe after a huge down poor I’d have a little bit of water in the Jeep, but never so much that I needed to pull the drain plugs, however with the Bestop Fabric doors on my 2018 JLU I just leave my drain plugs out because if it rains I know there’s gonna be water on the floor.
I haven't been in the rain with the JL factory half doors yet, but at freeway speeds the uppers pulled away to reveal at least 1/8" of open space... I can't say how much rain would get in, but it sure didn't feel well designed.
 

rallydefault

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I haven't been in the rain with the JL factory half doors yet, but at freeway speeds the uppers pulled away to reveal at least 1/8" of open space... I can't say how much rain would get in, but it sure didn't feel well designed.
Someone should compare the builds of the uppers on the older wranglers with these newer ones. Are they just cheaping out on the materials? Have the door frames changed to where it's difficult in terms of fitting dimensions? Was there some kind of small lip on the top of the door frames in the older wranglers that would maybe keep the fabric uppers from pulling away?

For what they're charging for these half doors, this is pretty weird.
 

daveprice7

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For what they're charging for these half doors, this is pretty weird.
Yeah, as great as the JL factory uppers look (inside and out), they just don't hold up to freeway speeds. Under 50 or so, no complaints besides the window unzipping down instead of rolling up, leaving it in the way when it's open.

It seems like it needs steel reinforcement at the front edge down to the door connection, and maybe even a set screw/bolt to eliminate play. The frame is all plastic, so, it just has too much flex in it.

I'll bet an autoventshade type thing could be made to go along the a-pillar with a small air dam that would fix the problem for Bestop and factory fabric uppers, similar to one of those windshield light bar arms that bolt to the cowl. I'm guessing Bestop makes the factory half door uppers too, maybe they should design something like that... Hell, if it contoured into the hardtop rain gutters, it might solve the issue of rain dumping in your lap when you open the door too!
 

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ZeroTrev

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My jk half doors didn't leak at all. Never pulled away either.
 

Heimkehr

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I didn't really drive my soft top YJ at 70 mph for sustained periods. Where I lived, and where I needed to drive to on a recurring basis, made 55 mph my average "highway" speed, and the soft uppers always stayed in place.

The only place where I observed any leaks in that vehicle, and only during heavy rains, was the lower corner junction where the side window panels attached to the rear window (I suspect the use of zippers in that particular soft top design was the culprit). Apart from that periodic bit of moisture, though, the interior was always dry.
 

Mikeb16

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Ordered the enclosure directly from Bestop on Friday - hasn't shipped yet (didn't see it on retailers' sites). Ordered the top panels elsewhere. This will be my trail riding setup, since the core doors never happened :mad:; I sure hope they hold back a little bit of water when fording or in mud, although I wouldn't be shocked if they don't.
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Did you ever receive your enclosures? I ordered mine and got them but I am waiting on the Element doors to be shipped and there is no ETA on the rear doors. The fronts were in stock but haven't shipped yet.
 

MNWrangx2

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Ordered the enclosure directly from Bestop on Friday - hasn't shipped yet (didn't see it on retailers' sites). Ordered the top panels elsewhere. This will be my trail riding setup, since the core doors never happened :mad:; I sure hope they hold back a little bit of water when fording or in mud, although I wouldn't be shocked if they don't.
Did you ever receive your enclosures? I ordered mine and got them but I am waiting on the Element doors to be shipped and there is no ETA on the rear doors. The fronts were in stock but haven't shipped yet.
[/QUOTE]

Yes, I received them. I have not installed them yet.
 

Mikeb16

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Did you ever receive your enclosures? I ordered mine and got them but I am waiting on the Element doors to be shipped and there is no ETA on the rear doors. The fronts were in stock but haven't shipped yet.
Yes, I received them. I have not installed them yet.
[/QUOTE]

I found a set of front and rear element doors which should be here Tuesday or Wednesday. I wish there were more pictures of the element doors with the enclosures but the only ones I've seen are the ones on the instructions. I found a bunch of pictures for the Jk and Tj.
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