I have a 2015 Rubicon Hardrock. On expressway speeds the wind gets under the hood and raises up and down like it's not latched. A bit uncomfortable driving, especially if real windy. Took to dealer and the guy looked at me like I was crazy and he'd never seen or heard of it. Thought it may be the Hard Rock hood, but drove next to another jeep on hwy and could see his doing same.
I know a lot of people get the aftermarket hood latches (Rugged Ridge, etc...), which seem to take care of the issue from what I have read. If you search for "hood flutter" you should get some hits.
Hood flutter is common on the Wrangler. Common fixes are new hood latches such as those above or the Daystar Hood Wranglers. Some people say you can remove the hood spring. You can also ignore it. Search hood flutter for other threads.
I've got a 15 Hard Rock. The hood doesn't flutter at all and I've had it up to 90 mph. It does lean a little to the passenger side though. I would definitely take it back to the dealer and have them ride with you and show them what it's doing.
I guarantee you all Jeep hoods flutter (with rubber hood latches), under the right conditions. I never saw it in mine until I was driving 75-80 on an extremely windy day on the freeway and passed a semi.
The center hood latch has a gap and it's the rubber latches that close that gap. Under extremely windy conditions the hood latches stretch and contract within this gap, causing the hood to flutter.
Its a tolerance issue, my 2012 JK Unlimited Sahara had no issue and 2013 JK Moab had complete hood flutter. Replaced the latch as everyone is suggesting above. Well worth it.
We have a 2014 Rubicon X. I never had that happen, but my wife went on a road trip one day and it happened to her. She was driving home into a big head wind. My understanding is that they can all do it in the right conditions, combination of wind and the play in the rubber latches. I had already ordered the RR latches, so we just installed them and it never happened again. I kind of agree that it sucks to have to do that to a new vehicle, but you have the added benefit of being able to lock the hood. When I look at all the mods people do, this simple one is pretty practical.
Every wrangler owner that do sent have the aftermarket hood latches has seen this. My 08 does it. My buddies does it too. Just hit ebay up for new latches and you'll be fine.
My wife didn't believe me when I complained of the same thing, and wouldn't let me buy the better latches. That is, until we drove to Texas, and she saw it too! Scared the hell out of her. Permission granted after that!
I got the Rugged Ridge, by the way, best purchase so far!
you can remove the spring under the front center of the hood to reduce the flutter. mine got it bad after i lifted it and removed the air dam. it won't fix it completely but will reduce it to virtually nill. i've seen flutter once in the past year.
i wouldn't do this as a permanent fix but it will do the trick for the time being to ease your mind until new latches are put on. i've done it for the last year with no issues but only cuz i keep forgetting to set aside money for latches and spend it on other stuff.....
Have been running Jeeps since my 52 M38A1 and even that had hood flutter.
I have had several Jeeps since that one including a 2012 Rubicon (ok only for a couple of months) and today got a 2015 Rubicon Hard Rock..
All of them had hood flutter of some sort.
Even the 2012 had some flutter, the rubber latches cannot hold the hood very well in high wind. The rubber just isn't strong enough.
I did got to a set of Stainless from Chrysler and they have a much shorter piece of rubber in them so they may last a bit longer before they stretch out and get a case of the flutters but it is part of life if you own a Jeep that doesn't have a real hood latch.. nostalgic they say.. lol
Have been running Jeeps since my 52 M38A1 and even that had hood flutter.
I have had several Jeeps since that one including a 2012 Rubicon (ok only for a couple of months) and today got a 2015 Rubicon Hard Rock..
All of them had hood flutter of some sort.
Even the 2012 had some flutter, the rubber latches cannot hold the hood very well in high wind. The rubber just isn't strong enough.
Mine had only fluddered occasionally during windy highway conditions or semi-truck passing highway conditions. I took a close look at the stock stretches and figured it was just a matter of time. - not sure how well the front latch would hold under a violent jolt.
Bonus was replacing the stock latches that grossly faded to gray in less than a year.
BTW: I have a YJ with a nice hood crease that suspiciously lines up perfectly with the top of the windshield frame.
It's interesting that JEEP would use rubber latches to begin with, especially when they stretch causing hood flutter and can crack and break due to UV exposure over time.
When the bottom line is the dollar, the best decisions aren't always made. For us, its the only car of its kind, we tend to be do it yourselfers and are willing to accept some poor quality as a trade-off because we will fix it ourselves, and they know this because we keep buying them. Ok, sorry for channeling my inner Yoda. LOL
just added Rugged Ridge latches to my 2015 Hard Rock Rubi unlimited. I never had this issue with my other 5 jeeps. I think because the hood is so light on the new jeeps it is more of a problem. No more problem now! Going to add a Tuffy lock to the safety catch as well. I have to say that the flutter was bad coming home from the dealer in February!
Removing the spring solved 99.5% of my hood flutter issues. Takes 2 minutes, and you can't beat the price.
But, driving into a stiff headwind/crosswind at highway speeds under just the right conditions and it happens still.
To give an idea, I used to get pretty regular hood flutter on a weekly basis when I first got my '07 JK. Took spring out four years ago, and I can only recall hood flutter once in all that time, and that was doing a Vegas to Barstow run while driving into steady 30+ mph headwind.
I don't understand how this helps. Hood flutter is because the rubber latches are stretching, like a rubber band. Removing the spring doesn't stop that.
Well, you sure can't beat the price to try it out.
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