Are Freedom Top Headliners Worth It

[Boatbuilder88]

Does anyone have any thoughts on factory installed hardtop headliners? Do they actually make a difference with temperature insulation and with sound dampening? Are they worth the $550 price?

I know you can buy them aftermarket? How difficult are they to install yourself for someone who extremely un-handy?

Those two questions - worth the price? and how difficult to install? - are very subjective. Won't even get into price since "value" depends on how much $, time and DIY inclination you have.

Online videos (see example below) seem to indicate that installation is pretty straightforward. Just remove the top, prep the surface and use some some double-sided tape. You could probably keep the top on but that would make the installation more difficult.



All that said, I'll be buying aftermarket. (My 24-year old daughter would go factory-installed because she wouldn't want to deal with it.)

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[CantThinkOfAHandle]

Most vehicle noise comes from the road, engine and wind, and a headliner would have no effect on any of those sources. I doubt a hard top acts as a diaphragm, and, even if it did, you'd need to glue the headliner to the top to keep it from resonating.

Is there any evidence to support the theory that a headliner actually reduces noise? Subjective accounts are worthless.

 

[Dynomite1371]

Dynomite1371, I have no past headliner experience, but you may want to drive one with them. I thought the fit was lacking for a $500 or whatever factory option. Also, they seemed to be just panels stuck in. Fine and good, but it is not really a full headliner or anything. A lot of white (odd color???) of the panels shows up. Also the panels are a bit smaller than the cavity they are in, so there's extra white/gap all around...really wish they would have sized them to the exact size and not left so much space...for a factory fit option.

Maybe I'll have to see them again, but that was my first impression.

That too was part of the reason, I didn't get them, aside from the fact that I didnt think they were needed. I will say the grooves are much deeper on the JL, so maybe the new ones will be a bit more functional..... Not sure. But the panels are different now.. Hopefully, I be driving mine this week and will have a full report!

 

[nstone97]

Most vehicle noise comes from the road, engine and wind, and a headliner would have no effect on any of those sources. I doubt a hard top acts as a diaphragm, and, even if it did, you'd need to glue the headliner to the top to keep it from resonating.

Is there any evidence to support the theory that a headliner actually reduces noise? Subjective accounts are worthless.

The headliners do not act as a sound insulator but more as a sound dampener. You are correct in that the majority of the noise does come from the road, engine, and wind but the hard surfaces on a bare hardtop will reflect these sound waves. The waves will continue to bounce around until a soft surface absorbs that energy. The soft headliners will absorb the sound waves rather than reflect them which will reduce the overall noise levels in the cabin.

I don't know of any studies, but the theory is similar to auditorium, theater, home theater setups where engineers place sound dampening panels to improve acoustics and prevent echos.

 

[Matthew/E36]

What nstone97 said. It absorbs the noise within the space.

Subjectively the JL w/ liner I drove did not seem "quiet", nor could I really tell a difference between the 2 JKs I drove a few months back. Pretty sure I was hearing the wind though, and it could easily have been more windy than those drives as it's been blustery here.

Sort of like adding free flow exhaust, or intake mods. In theory it will increase power, but would you notice? Maybe the liner does more though.

Theoretically it HAS to reduce sound because your adding absorption to the room. Now if it is enough to be noticeable (-6dB drop inside) could also be subjective. I'd add it would be super hard to objectively measure the difference unless someone got an SPL or better yet RT spectrum analyzer. They'd need to test at a controlled speed and route, then immediately install and retest. Wind would impact it so testing would need to be almost immediate. Or go test two jeeps back to back, same route, same speeds.

 

[CantThinkOfAHandle]

The headliners do not act as a sound insulator but more as a sound dampener. You are correct in that the majority of the noise does come from the road, engine, and wind but the hard surfaces on a bare hardtop will reflect these sound waves. The waves will continue to bounce around until a soft surface absorbs that energy. The soft headliners will absorb the sound waves rather than reflect them which will reduce the overall noise levels in the cabin.

I don't know of any studies, but the theory is similar to auditorium, theater, home theater setups where engineers place sound dampening panels to improve acoustics and prevent echos.

I have seven dampening panels in my living room. They're in corners and at primary reflection points between my speakers and seating position, to absorb low frequency harmonics. They're quite thick, and covered with a special fabric that ensure the sound waves don't reflect off them. I'm not an acoustical engineer, by any means, but a vehicle has so many soft surfaces, and so many angles that, to be honest, I think it's silly to believe a few cushions taped to the roof will make a difference. This would not be the reason to buy headliners.

 

[Matthew/E36]

TMI!

^The dampening panels in a living room are doing something pretty different in terms of frequency and function. They need to be thicker to absorb base. I'm assuming they are working as friction panels in your case. I'm assuming they are also very tall to be effective as they need to be proportional to the wavelength you want to impact.

In a vehicle are there a lot of soft surfaces to break up the sound? Let's start by analyzing the "sound". Low frequency bass, no not really. But typically what sounds loud is higher frequency stuff, with the 2kHz to 4kHz affecting speech. At that wavelength we are looking for shapes about a foot or less impacting the reflections. There are plenty of those, but redirecting sound is not absorbing it and there's no harmonic problem like subs in a living room. Also lots of hard surface inside a wrangler; I'd venture much more percentage of hard reflective (glass/panels/etc) than absorptive (seats, people). Drywall is considered hard acoustically, but still a bit better than glass/metal. Exterior surfaces which will radiate or transmit sound from outside in. So it is a loud box inside.

In terms of absorption 1" thick panels would impact higher frequency and the speech range, so they just don't need to be near as thick as the panels absorbing low frequency sound.

The panels work theoretically, but the ambient noise in the vehicle could be high enough that the reduction is too hard to notice, or they may be effective at a narrow frequency range that they don't impact the overall notice significantly.

You'd really have to get in 2 identical vehicles on the same route, same wind speed and test.

 

[Kansascoast]

I installed headliners in my JK for the insulation factor. I don’t know that they have made any difference in the noise level but they sure make a lot of difference in the summer heat. Before installing them the heat radiating through the top was significant and it took a long time for the A/C to “catch up”....and some days when you had to run the A/C when it would have been nice to just have the window down. I’ll definitely get them on the JL.

 

[entropy]

Most vehicle noise comes from the road, engine and wind, and a headliner would have no effect on any of those sources. I doubt a hard top acts as a diaphragm, and, even if it did, you'd need to glue the headliner to the top to keep it from resonating.

Is there any evidence to support the theory that a headliner actually reduces noise? Subjective accounts are worthless.

Cardboard doesn't absorb sound. But it reduces the transfer of noise and reduces the echo within an enclosed space. It creates a barrier on a sound wave that disrupts it, thus disturbing its amplitude. At least low frequency sound waves would be reduced in amplitude using cardboard.

I believe the mopar headliners have cardboard or something similar in it. Then I believe they also have some foam, which actually does absorb sound.

Obviously they don't make the jeep soundproof, but the material would tremendously help creating a sound barrier considering the hardtop is a thin composite material where soundwaves just bounce and bounce freely.

You don't need empirical proof to show that the headliners reduce road noise.

 

[vavaroutsos]

Most vehicle noise comes from the road, engine and wind, and a headliner would have no effect on any of those sources. I doubt a hard top acts as a diaphragm, and, even if it did, you'd need to glue the headliner to the top to keep it from resonating.

Is there any evidence to support the theory that a headliner actually reduces noise? Subjective accounts are worthless.

While I generally agree with this, I do have some supporting information from my JL top. I installed some Constraint Layer Damping (CLD) before installing my Hot Heads liners. I have an after market exhaust that gets a bit loud in the 2500 RPM range. I noticed a significant reduction in exhaust noise with the liners installed. Unfortunately I didn't test with just the CLD before installing the liners. I feel the JL top does resonate, and the CLD is helping with this. I'm tempted to install more CLD on the floor pans and see what happens.

 

[Broccoli2]

yes it's worth it, Yes the aftermarket ones are easy to install. I've had both.

 

[El Zilcho]

Just my 2 cents. I have a boom mat headliner with 80 mil sound deadening mat installed under (or in this case above) it. It made a huge difference in wind noise levels at highway speeds. Not Lexus quiet, but I can talk without raising a voice at 80 mph quiet.

 

[benb]

I had the headliner in my 2018 JLU Sport S, but I did not get it in my 2020 JLU Rubicon. It is one thing that I miss. I notice a little more road noise and I can tell it gets cold faster in the cold and hot faster in the hot. My Sport S maintained the cabin temperature without having to blast the climate control.

I imagine the aftermarket options work just as well as the factor headliner.

 

[cbrenthus]

Has anyone tried using something like dynamat?

 

[vavaroutsos]

Has anyone tried using something like dynamat?

I used about 25% coverage of Constraint Layer Dampening (CLD) under my head liners. There was a noticeable difference in noise after installation. However, I didn't test with only the CLD (no head liner), so I don't know how much noise reduction came from each.

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