1/2 doors were, for me, more of a concession for when we're doing a long drive with the dog. With the full doors, even with the top down, it didn't really feel like it (weird, I know). With the 1/2 doors it at least feels more open than with the full. But 90% of the time I have everything off if remotely possible (even when it was 3 degrees).
Take off the doors. I don't even consider my doors a part of my jeep. They are just the things I have to put on when it rains. Jeeps aren't meant to have doors, it just feels better without them. Plus, you don't have to spend money to have them rekeyed.
Run my half doors in the summer and my full doors in the winter. Summers are long here so about 8 months of the year. Also, the half doors are easier (lighter) to remove when I feel like running without doors.
That's for sure.
The 1st time removing the full doors, they were a pain. Probably never been removed before. So, I had to work them to get them off.
But, the 2nd time I removed them, I remembered how they didn't want to move up off of the hinges the 1st time. So, I exerted a little more force than was necessary. The first door FLEW off, and I almost dropped it.
The half doors are a whole lot lighter than the full doors.
For me. 2 piece soft doors are the best of both worlds. Easy to remove and bring along in case it starts raining or you have a long highway stretch of road to drive. Doorless on the trails.
I feel like you have as much side protection with the half doors as you do with the full doors. Might be a false sense of security but I feel better about my son when he has his half doors on instead of no doors.
You may be on to something there.
If you are in an accident, where you are hit from the side, there is always a chance that the glass in the door could shatter and be thrown at your face, or that your head hits the glass.
With half doors, there is no glass to be concerned about.
Yeah, you might hit your head on the metal framework of the uppers, but that should be better than hitting your head on the door glass.
I have owned jeeps for ten + years , this time around I got a jeep with factory half doors and I love them. I run them year round and it makes it fell more like a jeep even if it's to cold to take the doors off. I also enjoy just being able to just unzip the Corner or then to let in fresh air. Also where I offroad there is a ton of brush and going door less is not a great idea unless your wearing some very thick blue jeans lol. To each there own I am very happy I got matching half doors !
What I meant was I love to open air fell no doors, but with restrictions that I have it's not possible. With half doors it's as close as you can get IMO. It's also great that it takes all of 20 seconds to pop the frames off and put them in the trunk. The doors will not fit in the trunk so if your out and about and want to get some wind in your hair your all set!
Once again to each there own, I love half doors , and hate crank windows.
If your over them put them on the forms or CL I am sure they won't last long !
What I meant was I love to open air fell no doors, but with restrictions that I have it's not possible. With half doors it's as close as you can get IMO. It's also great that it takes all of 20 seconds to pop the frames off and put them in the trunk. The doors will not fit in the trunk so if your out and about and want to get some wind in your hair your all set!
Once again to each there own, I love half doors , and hate crank windows.
If your over them put them on the forms or CL I am sure they won't last long !
That's true, im considering putting my full doors up for sale and buying full soft doors. This is one of the cool jeep only problems that I love. What kind of doors am I going to put on my Jeep? Or maybe no doors... lol, I love Jeeps.
I've always thought half doors would be cool to run when I run my soft top, but I just can't justify the cost of finding a paid of OE doors, having them painted and keyed, and then figuring out where to find uppers to match the factory top... full soft doors seem like a better idea assuming I could find some of those to match the top either.
I've always wanted half doors ever since I had my TJ back in college. So with the purchase of my LJ back in January I made it a point to get some and was lucky enough to find a set on ebay that was color matching (exterior and interior). I paid a little more probably than I should but not having to paint them was a big plus for me and they come with new uppers. I hope I really like them once they get here tomorrow if not I always have my full doors.
I ran the Bestop full soft doors on my JKUR and really liked them but they leaked pretty good. They were also loud going down the interstate, I fixed some of this with the pipe insulation on the lowers but the uppers would pull away from the top and flap (sounded like a tornado inside the Jeep). But I got them used for a good price, front and rear for $400 so I didn't care too much. The best thing about them is the ability to seperate them and store them in the back and still have room for other stuff. I never ran them on trails because they did leak and didn't feel like cleaning several inches of mud out of my carpet, that's a reason for getting the OE half doors.
I have decided to keep my half doors for a while. That way, until I know for sure, I will have the best of both worlds. I may never get rid of the half doors. Time will tell.
What I need is a "beach" trip, running the half doors.
I had the half doors for a decade. I now have full doors and could not be happier. If I want *freedom* I remove the doors. They are heavier, of course, and finding a place to stick them is a PITA (but that was the case with the half doors, too).
The plastic windows suck. Going through a drive through for coffee (or whatever) is needlessly odd what with unzipping them and folding them down to pay and get the stuff inside the cab. They offer zero security and can be opened with a fingertip when locked.
Full steel doors offer glass with much more side visibility. The road noise is somewhat reduced (not that important to me, though). The ability to lock them up with the top up BUT THE REAR WINDOWS OFF is pretty cool, too. Unless you are a midget you cannot squeeze into cab with the top frame in the way. It would take too much time to get in to make it a good target if in a well lit, public area. Thieves look for easy targets. This would be like a jungle gym. Can't get in through the rear, either, as my tire is too large. But the half doors, even with the top up AND THE WINDOWS ON takes me about 10 seconds to get into with no key and everything locked up. No damage to the plastic with a knife, I just use my pinky to unzip the window zipper, reach in and flip the lock bar.
Because of my use of half doors for a decade I was in the habit of leaving NOTHING in my TJ and leaving it unlocked at all times. Now I can lock it up. The half doors seem to draw thieves to the Jeep. The full doors seem to make it more like a regular vehicle to them and they look elsewhere.
The *only* drawbacks to full doors IMHO are the weight when putting them back on and the greater space needed for storage. They seem to be more stout in the event of a T-boning, too. Not much, mind you, but more than the cardboard-like protection provided by the hollow half doors. With my stout rocker guards with slider rails, the full doors make me feel a bit more safe in the even that some knucklehead runs a light when I am crossing an intersection. This could easily be fantasy, though. The full doors are also not much more than a sheet of cardboard between me and the grille of that light-running fool...
To each his own. I was tickled to get the full doors after ten years of suffering with the half doors.
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