For thos of you that live in areas that get snowy weather in the winter. How did the soft top perform/ hold up. Especialy after multiple winters. Does the cold/road salt/ elements destroy the soft top? Also How noisy is the soft top when it is up, and your traveling on the highway?
Handles the snow fine - brush it off like any other car.
My top is 4 yrs old and is in working condition even though I didn't make much of an effort to to take care of it. Lots of "rub" marks from tight trails...no rips or tears. Cleaned with Simple Green and soft bristle brush.
Huh? noise on the highway? it is what it is - it either bothers you or you get used to it
Winter snow is not really an issue. My top is 7 years old and no major issues. As for sounds on the highway.. its of course louder than a car, but you don't have to yell to have a converstion or talk on your cell etc.
With normal people yes. But when my kids are in the back seat of the Jeep - the rule is that we use our outside voices in daddy's Jeep, inside voices in mommy's car.
I hear the newer factory tops and bestop sail cloth tops are much quieter at highway speeds. As for the winter, obviously teh plastic is stiff and i would never use an ice scraper to remove the ice from teh plastic windows... however if you push out from the inside the ice usually breaks right off.
I'm a buffalo, NY resident and I drove w/ a soft top for years. Everyone is right...just brush off that snow and you'll be set....HOWEVER it's not the snow you have to worry about....It's the cold tempuratures that affeect the windows. They are much more suseptible to cracking in the cold. I put a baseball sized hole in my back window one year because I thought it would be faster to whack the snow brush on the window vs. brushing the snow off. Needless to say I had to drive around in a buffalo winter with a hole covered with packing tape.
I have an '02 with the original top. My Jeep has been here in the Poconos for the past 5 years and I think the top has held up exceptionally well, no tears or discoloration.
The weather here in the winter can be harsh. Lots of snow and very cold.... It's not Buffalo but where I'm located, we get double the average for this area due to the topography.
I have a few gripes... The zip up sides can be challenging if you do not have the "loops" for the zippers and if you have big hands it can be a PITA to zipper the driver's side. If it gets cool and the sun goes into the clouds or you get caught in a cold rain the fabric shrinks and things can get really challenging to zipper closed. I believe the user manual states something like 65 degrees as the minimum temperature to fool around with the top.
As far as heat, the Jeep heater is more than adequate for the winter. Gone are the days of old. I had a Mack truck heater in my '65 CJ6 and still had to wear a cover all and I still froze my ass off...However, the newer Wranglers don't have this problem. I can literally cook food using this heater it's so damn hot.
The benefits have far outweigh any negative issues I have experienced...
The only thing that gets anoying is the back windows flapping like crazy when your doing 50. We haven't had any problems. Ours is from 97 and it is still holding up. It takes abuse but there are a few minor leak spots when it starts to rain heavily. The snow doesn't go in though.
Like everyone else has said, put the top back on (if you are going to) before the sun goes down. We spent about 2 hours putting the top back on because it shrunk. Other than that, they are a lot easier to take off because they just fold right down. Id take one over a hardtop any day.
first, my jeep had the stock soft top on it when I got it (from 91), hardly any tears at all! it had some fading, but not much. well, it spent 18 years up in pennsylvania/ohio area, and it was still in okay shape. I got a new one though, and found out that Bestop sells a cleaner/protectant, that will strengthen up your top against the elements. So just as an extra precaution I put that on there... but i would say that the soft tops hold up VERY well in the elements!
second... The noise really isnt that bad, some clicking and whooshing here and there, but nothing you cant live with, and it stands up fine against the long drives from Florida back up to Pennsylvania twice a year (not sure about my jeep's top yet, but in my grandfather's it is fine).
hope i helped
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