Hook

Hey guys. Thanks for this write up. I am picking up a used top today from a guy here in town. I may sound like a puss but I'm tired of the Ga heat. I'm in and out of the jeep all day and hope this top (after exterior top paint and custom headliner like this one) helps to cool this thing off some. When I was a lot younger I would just snatch the top of my jeep and let it ride but now k really enjoy AC. Here's to the folks willing to share great ideas!

marc33

Hi all

As I have 2 left hands, I prefered to buy an existing solution and that's why I used it in France (even if not Texas temperature....) and amazing the difference when around 30 to 40°C and also less noise in the car.

More than happy with it

Guitarnstuff

I was all set to do this DYI but the insulation had warnings about being combustible. Was sure if that would be wise if in accident. But also not sure if that is different than store bought kits. Thoughts?

JK-Forum Editor

Perfect topic for How-To Tuesday...
Jeep Wrangler JK 2007 to 2015 How to Insulate Hardtop - Jk-Forum

21mconte

This is awesome! Question on the bedliner, because that is the part that scares me...how hard is that to spray evenly/cleanly?

BeattyJK

My wife and I just welcomed our first kiddo, We're pretty excited and as we finalized daycare and who was driving to and from with our baby we realized it would be me, and it would be in my JK. I live in Central Wisconsin and most of my buddies who ride in the back seat of my JK either complain that its too cold or that they cannot hear half of our conversations, even with the hard top on. I decided it was time to do something about the noise/heat regulation for our new kiddo.

I researched the Mopar and Hotheads options, I even found a few other options that offered insulation for $500 or more. With hospital bills looming I wasn't ready to spend that much money. Lets be honest, I'll spend that in diapers and wipes in the first month. I started measuring and researching how I could insulate my hardtop and reduce the noise for cheep. Here's how I did it, It went really easy and if you have a weekend (Sat and Sunday) you could do this yourself for about $300.00.

Like most of the folks on this thread my first job was changing the color of the inside of the hardtop. I used a 3M pad to lightly buff it, used a light amount of rubbing alcohol to remove any remaining dust/dirt, and then tapped everything off and used Rust-Oleum 2X ultra Cover paint, Gloss finish, Dark Grey color. I used 2 cans and only did 1 coat. I was able to get everything covered in one coat and I'm satisfied with how it turned out. Looks really good from inside the jeep now. I only sprayed the raised sections that were going to be exposed. You'll see in the photo's below.

I found out that Dynamat (https://www.amazon.com/Dynamat-10455...ywords=Dynamat) offers a thicker sound-deadner on amazon and one box (9 sheets) will cover the recessed panels on your hard top and still have enough product left over to apply to the rear wheel wells and trunk floor of your JKU. I failed to get a photo of the Dynamat in the back of the JK, but you do have to pull the carpet, remove the plastic shrouding by the tailgate, and pull up the storage trunk. I started applying the Dynamat under the rear seat where the floor rises, I assumed that was where the majority of the noise from the rear end and tires was coming from.

After cutting the Dynamat to size and rolling it on (you'll want to by the roller applicator from Dynamat through amazon as well) I used cardboard on the two larger sections and foam board on the freedom panels. I cut the board so it was a 1/2 inch smaller than the recessed opening. I did this because the headliner fabric I had was 3/16 thick. I planned to roll it over the edge of the board and that would give me enough clearance so I wouldn't be fighting the opening. I bought Spray adhesive (1 can) from 3M and used it to adhere the headliner fabric to the board. When using the 3M spray adhesive (https://www.amazon.com/3M-38808-Head...spray+adhesive) make sure you coat both the fabric and the board. Give it 45 -60 seconds to tack before marrying the headliner fabric to the board. Then press from the center out to remove any wrinkles or bumps. I used the following headliner fabric in black (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1) plenty of material to get this job done. I have about 2 yards left over.

In order to attach your headliner panels to the Dynamat I used another 3M product called Dual Lock (https://www.amazon.com/3M-Reclosable...+hook+and+loop). Its stocked at a local hardware store for less in my area and I used two, six foot rolls to hold everything up. I cut it up into two inch pieces and began placing them every six inches around the perimeter of each recessed opening and then about a foot apart in the center on the larger openings. When I had them in place I locked the two sides together, secured it to the
dynamat and then placed my headliner in place and secured everything.

I'm really happy with how everything turned out and its a lot quieter at highway speeds now. The headliner will hopefully hold more heat/cold and the Dynamat on the floor of the JK is really squashing any noise that traveled through before. It took a weekend and the hardtop was off but if you time it with nice weather you'll love the result. Not to mention this was about $200 cheaper than anything I found online. If anyone is in the Central part of Wisconsin and wants to see the finished product or wants help on their let me know!