Hardtop Mystery Crack

[Weezer007]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forums but not to being a Jeep owner. My first Jeep was a '78 CJ7 and I've owned handful of 2-dr Jeep Wagoneer SJ's. Loved every single one. In 2018, my wife and I fell in love with the new JL's and so we pulled the trigger and brought one home.

My 2018 has a hardtop which has never left the body was hoping to explore the removal this summer. In February we noticed the hardtops rear driver-side pillar showing a little white fiberglass. I'm curious if anyone has ever seen this before and what may cause something like this to occur.

Some additional info... no accidents, never hit the top with anything, the Jeep is parked outdoors year round, we do live in a cold climate (Connecticut), and until February 2021 we had never noticed any thing wrong. Oh yes, she has approximately 20k in miles and is still under factory warranty.

Thank you all and if I pass you on the road I'll give you a wave!!

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[sf5211]

There was a poster on here once before who had the same problem. Unfortunately he had no luck with a warranty. Every case and dealership’s are different however. It’s worth a try.
If not I think a body shop can repair that.

 

[jludave]

Hate to say it but that looks like the top was hit by something. You may not have seen it happen.

 

[LittleDog]

Hello everyone! I'm new to the forums but not to being a Jeep owner. My first Jeep was a '78 CJ7 and I've owned handful of 2-dr Jeep Wagoneer SJ's. Loved every single one. In 2018, my wife and I fell in love with the new JL's and so we pulled the trigger and brought one home.

My 2018 has a hardtop which has never left the body was hoping to explore the removal this summer. In February we noticed the hardtops rear driver-side pillar showing a little white fiberglass. I'm curious if anyone has ever seen this before and what may cause something like this to occur.

Some additional info... no accidents, never hit the top with anything, the Jeep is parked outdoors year round, we do live in a cold climate (Connecticut), and until February 2021 we had never noticed any thing wrong. Oh yes, she has approximately 20k in miles and is still under factory warranty.

Thank you all and if I pass you on the road I'll give you a wave!!

Ach, that stinks. My condolences.

No scratches or scrapes denoting a hard impact, e.g. a side mirror or hefty branch, and it doesn't look like any temperature damage I've ever seen.

Images look like you are in a driveway, but can't tell for sure. Do you ever park in the street? From the height, shape, and orientation of spalling, my best guesses would be some kid on a bike accidentally swerved into it, and gave it too good a shoulder or stiff arm before hastily peddling away, or a random angry palm in a parking lot. To reiterate, that stinks.

I dunno. I just clear-coated some fiberglass damage today, but that was in an inconspicuous spot. You'd see the shiny lines from that, or any other imperfectly textured and matte-finished repair work every time you walked around the rear. I say you go on a fun trip, get a bumper sticker, and slap it onto the offending area.

That, or go to back into some dense woods and get some matching "experience" marks.

 

[Weezer007]

There was a poster on here once before who had the same problem. Unfortunately he had no luck with a warranty. Every case and dealership’s are different however. It’s worth a try.
If not I think a body shop can repair that.

Thank you. I did explore body shops... two feel like they can handle the repair and one offered an interesting possibility as to how it may have occurred... thought was that water accumulated behind the panel and froze causing the fiberglass to expand outward.

I guess it will remain a mystery and appreciate the feedback! thank you.

 

[Weezer007]

Hate to say it but that looks like the top was hit by something. You may not have seen it happen.

At first glance I would totally agree... problem with this is where we drive... i'm sorry to say our adventure meter is quite low so she only stays on the blacktop shuttling the kids to/from school. We have tried to think through areas where this could have happened and were unable to flag anything. If we did hit something I honestly wouldn't be reaching out here. There isn't any scraps or scuffing which would be evidence of a collision. The repair will most likely be under $500... I'm not bitter about it but honestly really curious as to why that pillar. Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Weezer007]

Ach, that stinks. My condolences.

No scratches or scrapes denoting a hard impact, e.g. a side mirror or hefty branch, and it doesn't look like any temperature damage I've ever seen.

Images look like you are in a driveway, but can't tell for sure. Do you ever park in the street? From the height, shape, and orientation of spalling, my best guesses would be some kid on a bike accidentally swerved into it, and gave it too good a shoulder or stiff arm before hastily peddling away, or a random angry palm in a parking lot. To reiterate, that stinks.

I dunno. I just clear-coated some fiberglass damage today, but that was in an inconspicuous spot. You'd see the shiny lines from that, or any other imperfectly textured and matte-finished repair work every time you walked around the rear. I say you go on a fun trip, get a bumper sticker, and slap it onto the offending area.

That, or go to back into some dense woods and get some matching "experience" marks.

Love it! Thanks for your feedback!!

 

[jludave]

The repair will most likely be under $500

I'm not sure if you have any marine/boat places near you. If you do, try taking your Wrangler to one and see if they can possibly quote a repair for you. These places deal with fiberglass all the time and may have better pricing.

 

[Weezer007]

Just picked up my Jeep from the body after it had been worked on for the past two days. I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive on having this fixed due to color/texture matching but I feel like they did an excellent... dare I say perfect job! What do you all think?

 

[redsyphon]

Just picked up my Jeep from the body after it had been worked on for the past two days. I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive on having this fixed due to color/texture matching but I feel like they did an excellent... dare I say perfect job! What do you all think?

Looks pretty damn good.

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