I just test drove a new 2010 Mountain Edition JK 4 door hard top. I'm new to wranglers but almost any bump we went over seemed to cause this odd feeling of making both my wifes and my ears feel llike they were going to pop. I've driven a sahara hardtop before and didn't experience this.

It wasnt a noise but rather almost a senstion. It was the oddest thing. When we cracked the windows, it seemed to stop. The best I could think of was that when we went over the bumps, the jeep was flexing and causing the hardtop to flex, resulting in almost like a speaker box effect causing in an increase in pressure in the interior and our ears.

Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Thanks!


Kevin

 

Jeeps with hard tops and full doors are pretty air tight--many comment on the difficulty of closing the full doors in that configuration. It sounds like the one you drove was perhaps a little tighter than normal. Don't worry about that: Once you buy it, it will soon develop places for water to leak in during heavy rains.

 

I find if there is only one window down it.causes some kind of pressure imbalance and it has that effect... crack the other window and it goes away .... just my experience

 

It sounds like maybe the hard top isn't snugged down quite enough If that was the case maybe the top is bouncing just enough to temporarily pull a slight vacuum in the cab. The only weird pressure phenomenon that happens with my hardtop is if I open only the rear windows while driving down the highway a sort of wind resonance develops that does the same thing you describe. You can't hear it but the feeling in your ears drives you crazy... As soon as the front windows are opened it goes away so it isn't an issue for me because if the weather is good enough to put down one window, usually all windows and the freedom top are off

 

Got our 4 door hardtop the other day and noticed the same thing when we test drove another one on the lot. Doesn't do it in ours but the doors definitely close hard without a window down.

 

Yep, I know that sound, the kids will roll theirs down and before I can react, I feel/hear that.