Hard top wind noise

[jmcdtucson]

Thanks for this! Couldn't figure out what noise it was that you were fixing. Mine has a wind leak between the freedom panels (toward the front of the jeep). Just curious where your noise was.

Mine is toward the front around the freedom panels as well.

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[Jackal]

Thanks for this! Couldn't figure out what noise it was that you were fixing. Mine has a wind leak between the freedom panels (toward the front of the jeep). Just curious where your noise was.

Mine was the upper windshield seal against the frame, not the panels causing noise in the windshield drain tube.

I did add brass 1/2” shim washer .010” (amazon) between the panel lever and the bolt.The required size is 13mm, so I sand the holes to reach 13mm
On my passager panel levers was all loose with the bolt tightened at the maximum.

What you can do to narrow your research is closing the tailgate on a garbage bag to block the tailgate vent. Turn the blower at max level to generate pressure inside the cab. Spray a solution made of half water half dish soap, you will see bubbles on the weak spot.
Verifying the windshield frame upper 4 bolts would be a good idea also.

 

[rayzjeep]

Hate to take this all the way back, but I can't access the specified Torx screws. I don't see how it's possible to pop down the trim panel. Maybe I'm not trying hard enough but don't want to break it. Has anyone done this?
Torx screws are just to the left of my finger in this picture.

Yeah...you just have to pull down harder to sneak in the torx wrench. Do worry it wont break I just adjusted both my panels down to the lowest setting as the holes are slotted...didn't seem to help any with the wind noise though.

 

[rayzjeep]

Mine was the upper windshield seal against the frame, not the panels causing noise in the windshield drain tube.

I did add brass 1/2” shim washer .010” (amazon) between the panel lever and the bolt.The required size is 13mm, so I sand the holes to reach 13mm
On my passager panel levers was all loose with the bolt tightened at the maximum.

What you can do to narrow your research is closing the tailgate on a garbage bag to block the tailgate vent. Turn the blower at max level to generate pressure inside the cab. Spray a solution made of half water half dish soap, you will see bubbles on the weak spot.
Verifying the windshield frame upper 4 bolts would be a good idea also.

I'm gonna try this one next with the soapy water as I can't seem to find where it's coming from.

I've adjusted the freedom panels forward and back, up and down, put painters tape across the seal and down the middle with no significant difference. Oh and added tension to the freedom panel clamp downs with a cut rubber hose spacer.

 

[Jackal]

I'm gonna try this one next with the soapy water as I can't seem to find where it's coming from.

I've adjusted the freedom panels forward and back, up and down, put painters tape across the seal and down the middle with no significant difference. Oh and added tension to the freedom panel clamp downs with a cut rubber hose spacer.

One advice, spray the soapy water all across the windshield seal door to door, the channel between seal can redirect the air flow. The leak could be from windshield itself also. Once your start the blower and your are outside allow up to 2 min to build enough pressure.
And you might need to block the windshield drain tubes to build the pressure in the windshield seal channel.
Good luck!

 

[Jtals]

There are many different hardtop sounds people are talking about in this thread. What is this post about?

• Buffeting sound while driving slow or fast <- This!

Within driving a 100 feet in my new 2018 JL Rubicon I noticed a buffeting sound. The sound is similar to what you hear when you open one rear window driving down the highway, some have described it as a helicopter sound, low frequency and more of a feeling vs a loud sound, hurts in the ears and head. The sound is rather invasive for me and is most noticeable driving at slow speeds. Bumpier the road, the more buffeting that seems to occur.

Trying to diagnose the problem I tried many things:

• Reseated the freedom panels
• Reseated the windshield
• Reseated the hard top and verified bolts were tight
• Inspected all the door seals
• Verified the windows rolled up all the way
• Sound intensity didn’t change with AC on fresh vs recirc
• Opening windows a little bit didn’t change the intensity
• Even with all the windows open I thought I could still hear it although much harder to notice with the additional noise from outside

I had a feeling it was from the hard top flexing as the Jeep went over bumps in the road. I test drove a different JLU Rubicon from the dealer and heard the same sound, this provided a little data that this wasn’t isolated to just my vehicle. A couple people from the sales team said they could hear the buffeting but apparently was difficult for them, perhaps hard to describe the sound or it impacts everyone differently.

To test my theory of the flexing hardtop I took some hard foam and pillows to wedge above the roll cage and support the hardtop. Adding support over the sound bar didn’t make a difference, adding support over the rear seats made a huge difference! The section over the rear seats is the largest unsupported section of the hardtop, the pillows would push up on the hard top as well as limit it’s movement driving down the road. First time in a week of owning my JLU Rubicon is silent!! Normal road noise, etc is audible abut the buffeting sound is gone or severely limited. Driving to work the next day was glorious!! The JL really is a solid and silent vehicle, I’m impressed.

Although pillows shoved over the roll bar isn’t a long term solution it does focus efforts for the dealer to find a solution. My guess is the lighter hardtop doesn’t have as much material to prevent this type of movement. Not sure on a long term solution, seems that is up to FCA. For now I replaced the pillows with packing foam to provide relief pending a real solution.

Hope this helps others who hear the buffeting sound gives a test to see if they have the same hardtop flex issue. I’ll pass this info along to the dealer on my visit to get it documented.

I didn't notice the buffeting on the test drive, but on the way home from the dealer it started. It was so bad it triggered my first Vertigo attack. I was sick for a day and afraid to drive my brand new Rubicon again. I drove to the dealer with the windows open and they said they could hear and feel what I was talking about, but there was nothing they could do for me. I brought the Rubicon (3 piece Freedom hard top) home and after a few hours of searching online, found this thread. I found some hard foam and wedged it in between the roll bar and roof above the back seats. It really reduced the buffeting. Now I am looking at the vents in the back gate under the spare tire. It looks like they covered them internally with some foam. I am wondering if that is keeping them from operating properly. I am going to drive around with the interior panel off the gate and see if that makes a difference as well.

 

[some guy]

So i have been fight the hard top buffeting on my 17 Jeep JKU. I have tried the foam on the roll bar and removing the floor drains. The other one was bolts that hold down the hard top were over tightened. They all helped to reduce the buffeting.

I even tried bending a piece of metal to support the top over the rear passenger compartment. (this did not work and made it worse)

I am currently running a soft top in the summer months because that is when the buffeting is the worst.

Doing some maintenance, I changed the oil in the differential with Mobile 1 75W 90. This made some drive line vibration just disappear. I keep saying it feels different. Like the back gears (in the differential) are much smoother. There was also this vibration at low RPMs that is really minimized.

Could the gear oil have been low from the factory? This would explain why it is not in all jeeps and why it was not found while in the prototype phase. Just simple human error?

 

[Scott_F]

Seguerski did a good video on youtube

Does this change the clamping force of the clamps, or does it just slightly reposition the panel? What I’m noticing is that the force needed to rotate the clamps into the locked position is noticeably less than it was when the Jeep was new (only 3 months old), so I wonder if they’re just a little loose. I get some noticeable wind noise at >50 mph or so.

Thanks,
-s

 

[wwheeler]

Has anyone found any new solutions to this problem. Specifically, the issue with the buffeting feeling. I adding padding to support the roof and that helped but it is still there. I was considering getting the bestop sunrider. I was hoping that would allow at least some flexibility and reduce the buffeting even more. However, I want to find a real fix that doesn't make me hate having a hard top.

 

[Jeep&dogs]

I have been kicking around the idea of buying a JlU Rubicon but I test drove one and it had the buffeting and that would drive me nuts! I rented one today in Ouray and it is doing the same thing, this is a deal breaker for me if there is no solution.

 

[RangerRobAZ]

I just got a 2020 JLUR and was really surprised by the wind noise. And then come to find out from these forums it is no fluke. I don't expect a Jeep to be quiet, but it sounds like the window is cracked. Seems like the noise is coming from front driver side somewhere. My 2016 JK had none of this. I am going to try the tape method to see if it is actually a leak somewhere or just the way the wind sounds whipping over the top of the Jeep.

 

[DatsunX3]

I just got a 2020 JLUR and was really surprised by the wind noise. And then come to find out from these forums it is no fluke. I don't expect a Jeep to be quiet, but it sounds like the window is cracked. Seems like the noise is coming from front driver side somewhere. My 2016 JK had none of this. I am going to try the tape method to see if it is actually a leak somewhere or just the way the wind sounds whipping over the top of the Jeep.

Keep us posted on what you figure out. I have driven 3 JL's and one JT. 2 of the 4 had what I would call abnormal wind noise.

 

[mlangs]

Has anyone found any new solutions to this problem. Specifically, the issue with the buffeting feeling. I adding padding to support the roof and that helped but it is still there. I was considering getting the bestop sunrider. I was hoping that would allow at least some flexibility and reduce the buffeting even more. However, I want to find a real fix that doesn't make me hate having a hard top.

I noticed the hardtop buffeting sound the first day home and ended up with this long term fix. A 3ft by 3inch round piece of foam. It secures the hardtop on the two ends with pressure and eliminates the buffeting entirely. I later inserted sound inserts as an extra measure but this foam roll did the trick to stop the buffeting.

 

[JeepCares]

I just got a 2020 JLUR and was really surprised by the wind noise. And then come to find out from these forums it is no fluke. I don't expect a Jeep to be quiet, but it sounds like the window is cracked. Seems like the noise is coming from front driver side somewhere. My 2016 JK had none of this. I am going to try the tape method to see if it is actually a leak somewhere or just the way the wind sounds whipping over the top of the Jeep.

Hi Rob,
We're sorry to hear that you are experiencing this with your new Wrangler. If you cannot remedy this on your own and decide to visit your dealer, please feel free to send our team a private message and we would be happy to connect you with a Case Specialist!
Alex
Jeep Social Care Specialist

 

[HealthRebel]

I noticed the hardtop buffeting sound the first day home and ended up with this long term fix. A 3ft by 3inch round piece of foam. It secures the hardtop on the two ends with pressure and eliminates the buffeting entirely. I later inserted sound inserts as an extra measure but this foam roll did the trick to stop the buffeting.

That is a shame you had to do that. My 2020 JLRU with the hardtop is very quite with NO buffeting and in the 6 weeks that I have had it, its been on the highway a lot and up to 85 mph, back roads, etc. I have no issues, and this is my 3rd Wrangler and 2nd one with a hardtop.

Take yours back. Something is wrong.

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