JeepAustinWeird
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Steve
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2020
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 192
- Reaction score
- 318
- Location
- Austin, Texas
- Vehicle(s)
- 2018 JLU Rubicon
Thanks for the write up and description of your experience.Just to follow up... This is my first Jeep, so obviously my first experience with half doors, but I absolutely love them... with some asterisks... Here's my really wordy review.. (tldr; I love the half doors, they fix the ergonomics of the full doors for me, but the uppers do kind of suck on the freeway.)
I drove 600 miles on I5 to get them - 300 there with no doors, 300 back with the half doors, normal freeway speeds 55-75mph. Yesterday was cold for August, it was 47 at home in the morning and only just creeped up to 62 hours into my trip to pick them up. I froze my ass off because I was foolishly dressed for summer. But, this gave me a great direct comparison of no doors vs half doors freeway driving.
For folks who drive doorless, you know.. with no doors - it's really loud (wind noise), and really strong wind/gusts, etc. The amazing heater cannot cope with no doors when it's cold out. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of freeway driving with no doors. It's great at slower speeds, but if you can't even hear your tunes, it's less fun.
The half doors (without uppers) are mostly the same as rolling down the windows with full doors as far as wind strength and noise, which (to me) is just enough of both. Where the half doors shine though..is fixing the claustrophobic feeling from the full doors. It's not a huge change, but, it's significant. For me, using the full door armrest feels like I'm having to squish in, but using the window opening is not a comfortable/resting position for my arm either - too high and too far forward. The top of the half door is "just right", it's nice and wide, the perfect height, and my arm can rest beside me, not in front of me. It's like sitting in a la-z-boy now, which is pretty sweet. The extra large "window opening" is a bonus, and mostly feels the same as doorless in that regard (I don't miss seeing/hearing the road).
Now, I drove half of my journey home with the ("premium") uppers on because I was still cold from the trip up and it had barely crested 70 midday.. and I wasn't terribly impressed. They fit great, no adjustments needed, good seal, no light. The fit and finish is really great... but they can't cope with freeway speeds very well. Constantly pulling away from the front upper corner, occasionally the entire top edge pulling away.. leaving a gap about 1/8" .. if it were raining, you might not get soaked, but it'll undoubtedly get drippy in there. There was also a whole lot of "parachute" action of the soft windows - blowing in or out, which was really unnerving, and it felt like something was going to fail. I also really kind of hate the fact that the windows unzip down.. you lose any ability to rest your arm on anything with the window "open", so, if it's for more than getting a bag of food from a drive through, you're gonna want to stop and pull the uppers out.. I'd rather they unzipped up or sideways so you could roll it up and out of the way. The controversial window divider does get in the way of the side mirror a bit, but isn't a huge deal for me. They do cut down on the noise and wind, and obviously will help in the cold or rain, and they store easily enough in the Jeep, so... Great for unexpected weather, or a trip driving through mixed conditions, but, not a great year-round option.... probably why Jeeps aren't available with only half doors; folks like me who haven't had Jeeps for years just aren't used to that level of compromise.
The last thing is... The doors are incredibly light, they feel like they are filled with helium. They have a fairly decent "thunk" when you close them, but very, very, very light doors. There is no door check like the full doors, unfortunately.. just the limit strap.. So if you're used to opening the door with a certain amount of force, you will surely bang the doors into stuff if you don't give yourself room or stay extremely mindful of that. I'm sure the same applies to tube doors, etc. I'm just a little sad that it doesn't have that door check, it would have compensated for the lightness and given just a little bit of extra door theft protection - probably something that is a concern now, since these doors are difficult to get and expensive - especially if combined with a keyed door check bolt like they have for wheels. Quick edit: Be prepared to constantly remind passengers to open the door slowly.
Good luck y'all on your half door quests!
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