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Paint Wrangler Sport Hard Top or opt for buying Sahara instead?

6K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  JKURz Wild 
#1 ·
Hi, I've been in search of the perfect Jeep. I wanna be in the price range of a Jeep Wrangler Sport but looking for the look of a Jeep Sahara. I want the fiberglass matching color hard top and fender flares. I have been consulting dealerships about just painting the hardtop on the Jeep Wrangler but don't know if the Matte texture on those hard tops will look right like the glossy fiberglass does. I was wondering what I should do because I just want a Wrangler Sport with that nice fiberglass 3-piece body color hard top. Buying the Sahara always ends up being $39,000 because with that hard top it usually comes with a lot of optional things already added to it opposed to the $33,000 Wrangler Sport. Thanks in advance!
 
#2 ·
I was in your same boat back when I was shopping. No dealership would work with me in getting a color matched hardtop without buying the Sahara. I was even offering to flat out pay the difference between the cost of one top vs the other (which I think came out to like $2,800 if I recall correctly). I wanted a Freedom Edition, but with the color matched top... eventually ended up getting a deal on a Sahara that blew my other options out of the water.

As far as painting the regular hardtop... I've seen 2 different Jeeps that tried that... both looked... less than ideal. No matter how I looked at it, it just didn't look right. One was white, and the hardtop looked just a little more beige than the rest of the Jeep. One was Hydro Blue and the hardtop looked darker than the rest of the Jeep. In reality, they were perfect match colors, but since they don't have the same "shine", it makes them look like they don't match.
 
#3 ·
Just a thought but if you buy an easy color to paint match like white or black, you could just plasti dip the top. It's pretty easy, cheap and removable. I did it to my prior car and it turned out really cool and pretty durable. I'm not sure how well it would stick to the plastic fenders of the sport though.
 
#4 ·
You could try local CL or jeep club sites. There's a few FB page local to me with peoples selling their hardtop all the time. Black painted top seems to be the most listed for sale. Other colors not so much.

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#5 ·
You cannot paint the black hard top properly, as it is textured. You would need to get a painted hard top off of Craigslist and repaint that to match. I'd bet it will set you back $3k. Imho, pony up the extra cash up front and get a Sahara. It will have everything a Sport does, and then some, more than making up for the price difference(especially with the color matched hard top).
 
#6 ·
I would go with the Sahara. The biggest problem with painting a textured hard top is all of the sanding and prep it takes to smooth the surface and some body shops won't do the work. I thought about painting the top on my 2010 until the quotes started coming in around $1500 and the bulk of the cost was prep.
 
#8 ·
Thank you all!!

I am planning to get white for that "all white" look. I am thinking I might as well just get a Sahara. I might just get a Sahara with a black top for now and order the 3-piece body color top later when I gather about $2,000. I had the option to build my own jeep but I don't want to wait 8-10 weeks because I've already taken so long in deciding which to get. I know I can get a Sahara with a black top for around $36,000 or maybe less if i'm lucky, so I can just save a few thousand instead of getting an all white for $39,000 with a bunch of things on it that i'm not sure I need.
 
#9 ·
I am planning to get white for that "all white" look. I am thinking I might as well just get a Sahara. I might just get a Sahara with a black top for now and order the 3-piece body color top later when I gather about $2,000. I had the option to build my own jeep but I don't want to wait 8-10 weeks because I've already taken so long in deciding which to get. I know I can get a Sahara with a black top for around $36,000 or maybe less if i'm lucky, so I can just save a few thousand instead of getting an all white for $39,000 with a bunch of things on it that i'm not sure I need.
Great choice! At least you know you are getting exactly what you want instead of what someone wants to sell you. Here's a little inspiration from a fellow white Jeep owner :).

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Tire Automotive tire
 
#11 ·
Just order your own exactly the way you want it and be patient. I doubt the wait will be nearly as long as they're saying. Check on the of the threads for people waiting for ordered 15's and see what kind of time frame it takes real world. When we ordered my wife's they told us that same timeframe and it was in our driveway in a day or two under a month. That was early in the 2013 model year, but I can't think it's changed that much.

At least then you'll have the exact options you want, nothing more or less.
 
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