RJP
Member
How well has your Topliner held up? Any detachment problems?I read about one other person doing this, but could not find a write up of any kind. If you want the topliner, keep in mind they take 30 days to make and ship for some reason. The first one that I purchased through Morris took 5 weeks to get to my house, only to find out the box was destroyed during delivery! Morris promised to fix it, but over a month later (now nearly 3 months into this) I still did not have the parts to install it. Anyway, returned it and found a guy on Craigslist that had one for sale near me.
The difference in sound noise is night and day! The radio sounds better, people can hear me on the hands free phone, and the black really looks better than the white in my opinion. Seems to have reduced the cold inside the JL as well. Certainly cooler to the touch. Will be interested in seeing what it is like in the summer. This should be offered by the factory. The fit and finish looks OEM. There is Zero smell from the Kilmat or Topliner.
The topliner itself is not much more than some carpet that you would see on a high end speaker box. However, it is perfectly form fit and fairly easy to install. I wanted a bit more heat and noise reduction so I chose to line almost the entire top with Kilmat. The 50 sqft box from Amazon was enough for the entire top. This significantly increases the time that it takes for installation. I would say it took at least 10 hours for me to do this on my own.
There are a couple of videos already out there on how to install the topliner itself. A few tips if you are going to use the Kilmat:
I have included a few pics below, I forgot to take a picture of the topliner installed with the top laying on the ground as a neighbor was walking by right when I finished so I grabbed him to help me lift the top back on.
- Carefully check all points that will contact the body of the Jeep before putting the Kilmat on those spots. I did not do this and found that it actually raised the freedom panels enough to increase air noise. After I pulled back the topliner and cut the Kilmat out, they sat down nicely. Fortunately, I did that before the rear part of the hard top so I did not make the same mistake twice
- If it is cold - pre heat the Kilmat with a space heater, I was working in a garage with a few heaters on as it was 23 degrees out. Goes on much easier this way.
- Buy a cheap roller set to roll the Kilmat on once you have it all laid out
- Regardless of whether it is cold or not, heat the Kilmat as you are rolling it down
- Buy additional double sided tape for topliner
- Leave a patch of the Kilmat off above the GPS/XM antenna. I tested this before by placing a few Kilmat layers directly on top of the antenna with the top off and it worked fine. So I thought I could line the entire top. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that the single cut out when I did this. I had to lift the top up and pull back the liner to cut away the Kilmat above the antenna. I only cut about a 6"x6" patch away and it worked perfectly.
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