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The Sunrider for Hardtop for the All New Jeep® Wrangler JL is here!

DanW

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I ran mine through a high pressure touchless car wash tonight. I got soaked with water on my left side and then realized my window was cracked open! :swear: I closed it tight and watched.....no leaks, drips, runs, or errors! This thing is tight as a drum!
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WXman

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Received my Sunrider today. Took about 3 weeks to get it. I ordered the twill. Since I got it for $250 under MSRP I didn't mind waiting.

Instructions said 30 minute installation. Instructions were wrong. To preface this: I've been into fast cars, trucks, and Jeeps for decades. I do most of my own work including lift kits, engine work, and everything else. So if the instructions for a Jeep accessory say 30 minutes, then it should take me 30 minutes. Ended up being at least an hour.

The two main issues were that the door rails are marked left and right, but they are not clearly marked. I had to search for a while before I found some really discrete LH and RH markings on them. And then, the instructions have no visuals to help you out. They only depict one of the door rails, and it doesn't say which side that depiction is. Secondly, those "Z-clips" are a P I T A. The instructions showed those little cables for the Z-clips to have a lot of slack. In actuality, mine had about 1" of slack and it was virtually impossible to get those Z-clips to go into their slots. And then they wouldn't STAY in those slots after I finally got them in there, even with extremely sticky vinyl tape over them per the instructions. And all of this was after spending an hour just trying to figure out which rail goes where.

After I got that figured out, the rest of the installation was easy. Took the Jeep for a drive in the rain (we got over an inch of rain today) and immediately noticed a lot more noise than with the freedom panels installed. No big deal, that's par for the course with fabric tops. Right? But then I got up to 45 MPH and the wind noise started getting bad. Then at 55 MPH it sounded like somebody was putting one of those cans of compressed air that you use to clean a keyboard with between the top and the windshield and had the trigger down. There's no telling how much wind is going to get under this thing at 70 on the interstate.

For $800 I would be pissed right now. For $550 I'm still pretty disappointed. On a scale of 1-5 I'm giving this thing a 3 right now.

Should I contact @BestopTeam and see if there's anything I can do?
 

Rhinebeck01

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@WXman

Funny that most others, that have installed this product, do say noise level is different... is a bit louder, but no one has painted the SR like you.

As for me, I have driven hundreds of miles in rain, snow, all the way up to 85 mph with the SR installed and I'm not seeing at all, what you are reporting.

I might add, I'm a hypercritical 70 year old, 8-) so if anybody should be a whiner / hypercritical, it should be me.

For the record, I think Bestop Customer Service for the most part is piss poor at best. Took them 2 weeks to refund what they overcharged me. (By the way, in the end I got the SR for way way less $ then you)

I can say that their SR offering is very decent though.... unlike their CS.

.
 

anotheraznguy

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@WXman i had a similar issue where one of my latches didnt close tight enough and it caused that same wind noise. I unlatched the SR and loosed the latch on the jeep and pushed it as far forward as possible and re tightened it. After that i had no more wind leak other than the standard wind noise. The driver latch on my jeep was pushed all the way back towards the rear and the passenger was pushed forward. I matched the driver with the passenger.
 

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Krondor

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Alignment was fairly easy and I didn't get the extra wind noise either. Just make sure everything lines up and the seals are good.

20181207_175605-jpg.jpg


I put the top on by myself and aligned the back first.

20181207_181513-jpg.jpg


Make sure everything is snug and that the seals look like this.

20181207_181526-jpg.jpg


And this...

When the top is down:

20181207_182211-jpg.jpg


The seam should be nice and even as above. If not, loosen the bolts and adjust as needed. then tighten back down.

I do love having the easy access to open on a nice day. Even on a cold day. Fresh air rocks. :rock:
 

WXman

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@WXman i had a similar issue where one of my latches didnt close tight enough and it caused that same wind noise. I unlatched the SR and loosed the latch on the jeep and pushed it as far forward as possible and re tightened it. After that i had no more wind leak other than the standard wind noise. The driver latch on my jeep was pushed all the way back towards the rear and the passenger was pushed forward. I matched the driver with the passenger.
So you're talking about the latch on the top of the windshield frame? You adjusted that one? Hmm... I'll have to check into that.
 

Krondor

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So you're talking about the latch on the top of the windshield frame? You adjusted that one? Hmm... I'll have to check into that.

You shouldn’t need to adjust the latches. Is everything lined up an still your latch doesn’t line up?
 

Rhinebeck01

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Alignment was fairly easy and I didn't get the extra wind noise either. Just make sure everything lines up and the seals are good.
You shouldn’t need to adjust the latches. Is everything lined up an still your latch doesn’t line up?
Agree...

And ...probably best bet is to just unbolt the Sunrider and then redo the install.

Takes 15 min. to re-do the install. When installing take extra care in regard alignment and yes, make sure the rubber seals are in proper position.

Could very well be the install is a muck if wind noise is crazy with present install.

IF others were having wind noise issues you know there would be other's here commenting about it.

Yes, the cabin noise is different with the SR but what you would expect from most any soft top.

.
 

WXman

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No, my latches aren't having an issue. They fit perfectly.

No, my water seals aren't having issues either. They're all fitting against the door rails as designed.

What I'm saying is that after installing per the instructions with everything fitting as it should, there is now excessive wind noise. Air compressor nozzle level of wind noise. And I was wondering if that previous post above indicated that he adjusted his latches and that's what cured his wind noise, because if so then maybe it would cure mine too.

In the half dozen different tops I've put on 4 different Wranglers, I've never experienced wind noise like this.
 

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anotheraznguy

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You shouldn’t need to adjust the latches. Is everything lined up an still your latch doesn’t line up?
Yes i adjusted the latch on the oe windshield frame. The latch on the sider was fine and linked up to the latch but it wasnt applying enough pressure to seat the sunrider on the front driver. While driving i squeezed the sunrider down in the front driver and the noise went away which led me to adjusting the latch.
 
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Bestop

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Give us a call at 1-800-845-3567 and we will troubleshoot this for you.

CassieAtBestop

No, my latches aren't having an issue. They fit perfectly.

No, my water seals aren't having issues either. They're all fitting against the door rails as designed.

What I'm saying is that after installing per the instructions with everything fitting as it should, there is now excessive wind noise. Air compressor nozzle level of wind noise. And I was wondering if that previous post above indicated that he adjusted his latches and that's what cured his wind noise, because if so then maybe it would cure mine too.

In the half dozen different tops I've put on 4 different Wranglers, I've never experienced wind noise like this.
 

WXman

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Here are some pics showing my weather seals. As you can see, everything is installed correctly and the seals fit properly. The header bar is even across the top and all looks well. Yet, driving down the road it sounds like a Hoover vacuum.

I will probably give Bestop a call tomorrow at the number they provided me above.

20181217_164624[1].jpg


20181217_164628[1].jpg


20181217_164633[1].jpg


20181217_164910[1].jpg
 

Bubba33

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Received my Sunrider today. Took about 3 weeks to get it. I ordered the twill. Since I got it for $250 under MSRP I didn't mind waiting.

Instructions said 30 minute installation. Instructions were wrong. To preface this: I've been into fast cars, trucks, and Jeeps for decades. I do most of my own work including lift kits, engine work, and everything else. So if the instructions for a Jeep accessory say 30 minutes, then it should take me 30 minutes. Ended up being at least an hour.

The two main issues were that the door rails are marked left and right, but they are not clearly marked. I had to search for a while before I found some really discrete LH and RH markings on them. And then, the instructions have no visuals to help you out. They only depict one of the door rails, and it doesn't say which side that depiction is. Secondly, those "Z-clips" are a P I T A. The instructions showed those little cables for the Z-clips to have a lot of slack. In actuality, mine had about 1" of slack and it was virtually impossible to get those Z-clips to go into their slots. And then they wouldn't STAY in those slots after I finally got them in there, even with extremely sticky vinyl tape over them per the instructions. And all of this was after spending an hour just trying to figure out which rail goes where.

After I got that figured out, the rest of the installation was easy. Took the Jeep for a drive in the rain (we got over an inch of rain today) and immediately noticed a lot more noise than with the freedom panels installed. No big deal, that's par for the course with fabric tops. Right? But then I got up to 45 MPH and the wind noise started getting bad. Then at 55 MPH it sounded like somebody was putting one of those cans of compressed air that you use to clean a keyboard with between the top and the windshield and had the trigger down. There's no telling how much wind is going to get under this thing at 70 on the interstate.

For $800 I would be pissed right now. For $550 I'm still pretty disappointed. On a scale of 1-5 I'm giving this thing a 3 right now.

Should I contact @BestopTeam and see if there's anything I can do?
That seriously took less than 30 min to install. There was videos of the install. How you couldn't figure out how the top rails go on. I still cant figure that out. Gaurrante if you would of spent 10 min looking at these post in here , you would of known how to install it. I knew from watching the video didnt even look at the instructions. All this z clip bullshit is crazy. It wasn't hard at all.
 

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I think he found later that the canned air sound came from not letting the rubber seal relax from being compressed by the freedom tops. Once the depression relaxed the noise went away. (At about 6:04.)

I didn't track the time to install, but most of the time will be spent figuring out which side the rails go on. Once you see it, things move fairly quickly and it's super easy after that.

Still love opening the top at stops. Quick as you please and I've got open air. Love it. :beer:
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