Plenty warm! Even with a windchill of -25. May even have to dial it back some as full blast high heat will roast you. At least for me and my '03 here in the Appalachian mountains.
If your heater is working properly it will kick out some serious heat. I've run a soft top year round for a long time and was never cold. I've only switched to a hardtop recently and it's only because my soft top was disintegrating and leaking.
If your heater isn't getting as hot as you think it should be you might need to flush the heater core. When the engine temp comes up both heater lines should be hot and the same temp. If one is colder than the other you'll want to flush it. Flushing the core is easy and will make a big difference if you're heater isn't blowing hot.
Since TJ's have great heaters, Soft tops are just fine in the winter. The biggest issue is that when the soft top windows get snow and ice on them, they get pretty scraped up when you try to clean the frozen crap off if you are in a hurry and don't give the heater a chance to melt.
When I owned my 2003 TJ, and used it up in our mountains in Arizona, mid-winter, below zero temps and with a soft top. The heater was just awesome!!!!!! I was never cold riding in it.
Both heaters and A/C units on our Wranglers, are one of their strongest attributes..IMO
I'm up in NH and I'll start it 10-15 minutes before I have to leave to go to school and by the time I get in the engine is up to temp and I turn on the heat on the second speed and five minutes later I'm nice and toasty. These heaters are great! Not sure I'll ever have to get a hardtop.
Soft top only in Chicagoland, with the exception of last year. I had a hard top and wasn't all that impressed with it, except for glass that I could scrape, vs just melting the snow off with the heater.
Soft top again this year, and not concerned in the least.
My Sahara has a super luxury item on it. A heated shifter knob. That little S.O.B. keeps my hand nice and warm. It already does at 4 am in the 40s with me running my Jeep naked.
By the way, my heated shifter knob is due to the tear in the boot. Hot air pretty much pumps out of that thing and makes the knob warm. I bought a replacement, but I'm actually hesitating replacing it until after winter.
When the weather turns snotty, icy, snowy, et c. I throw a 10'x12' tarp over the top, mirrors and windows, and bungee it in place. It makes clean up easy-peasy, and no need to defrost the windows. No more frozen doors or locks either. However, it can be challenging to put it on when it's breezy!
I'm in north jersey and ran last year with the soft top. Was very tolerable. Start it up about 10-15 (or if it is really cold 20 minutes) before you leave. This is what I do and it gets very toasty. Sometimes I have to crack the window open a little bit because it gets so hot. If it snows the night before (or if it snows in general) I usually let me jeep run for the amount of time I'm shoveling my small driveway and by the time I am done most of the snow/ice has melted off the Windows
x2 coat with a good rust inhibitor and oil it annually!
But back on topic, I run a hard top in the winter but I feel like I wouldn't be hurting with a soft top. Year round' I never notice any real temperature difference between the two tops. As stated before; our TJ heaters are beasts and the fabric retains heat well.
The only real concern about soft tops in the winter is how brittle the windows get in bellow-freezing temperatures. Can't scrape em', and you have to be gentle with them in general or else I heard you can crack them.
Better quality soft tops will hold up better in extreme temperatures too, keep in mind. Rocked my soft top the last two winters (harshest in recent Michigan history), it did just fine, except my head gets cold on drives north at night.
I like taking it to the quarter car wash and rinsing the salt off the top in an attempt to slow down aging of the material.
No problems with running a soft top in the winter. The heater on my 04 is part flame thrower. Running a hard top in the snow is a pain. The condensation builds up and it starts to rain inside my jeep! No problems with the soft top all all.
I have both tops and the soft top is just fine in winter here in NY. However, I enjoy the advantages of the hard top in the winter: Quieter, rear defrost, rear wiper and washer, and most of all...crystal clear glass windows. As for heat and comfort both work well.
i have both tops and the soft top is just fine in winter here in ny. However, i enjoy the advantages of the hard top in the winter: Quieter, rear defrost, rear wiper and washer, and most of all...crystal clear glass windows. As for heat and comfort both work well.
My biggest concern is access to the back. I am looking at LJs with both hard and soft tops and thinking you only have a mailslot access to the back unless you start messing with frozens rear window zippers.
What's your experience accessing the back in winter?
I do the same as TJDave, unzip up to the corners and flip the window up so the bar is resting on top of the top for putting groceries in and such. Forget pulling that zipper around a corner in the cold lol.
Mine came with a hard top only. I found a factory soft top just after I bought it, and rarely use the hard top. Maybe a month or two each year, sometimes not at all. It depends if we are having a bad snow winter or not.
Getting into the back is an inconvenience of a soft top. I keep the zippers lubed and unzip each side up to the corners. Set the tailgate bar on top for open access. It's more work messing with the tailgate bar and tabs than popping open a hatch, but I still prefer my soft top. It's a Jeep! Heat and staying warm is a non issue.
One thing I will mention is that because I run a Safari top all summer, and the hard top during harsh winter months, my original soft top is still in excellent condition, zippers and all.
If you have room to store a hardtop, and can find one that's not a million dollars, it may be worth it.
All it takes is one dirt bag, with no respect for other people's property, to whack a frozen soft top window with a stick or something, and crack it wide open.
Any recommendations for the Windows?? I know putting a tarp over it can be solved to clean the jeep easier...but the cold...
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