UPDATE: I got the fronts today, so there are some pics of them on page 4.

I had a few of you guys ask, so I thought I'd put up my impression and some pics of the Bestop Elements door enclosures. I only have the rears right now, but fronts are on order (well... backorder)

I got these in an attempt to be able to run half doors all summer. They don't make the uppers yet, but last I heard they would be out by the end of the summer.

The enclosures came in a box about the size of the actual doors. They were separated by some foam and strategically placed slices of what appears to be a large role of toilet paper.



I put the driver side on first. I was a little concerned because it appeared to be slightly warped and the "hooks" on the bottom were radiused to a different size of pipe than what the doors were. I bent them around a little and finally got them to where I was somewhat happy with the fit, but I think I will still do a little tweaking. Here are a few pics of the outside.





Here is the inside of the door





Notice on the closed shot that you can see daylight around the door. I didn't put the seal on the door yet because I want to paint the enclosure, but I am afraid it might end up with some open space.

OK... now for the good and bad. The good - The enclosures are made of quite thick metal and should hold up on a trail. i haven't noticed any vibrations in 200
+ miles, so they seem to be relatively quiet. For the most part, they look like they belong there...

Now the bad - They leave a little lip at the top of the door above the frame and probably won't be all that comfortable to rest your elbow on. (door should be fine, but with enclosures they might not be comfortable.) The fit wasn't quite as good as I would have liked around the door handle, but I think I'll probably be able to work that out. They do seem a little close to the hinges and I scratched some of the paint off of the hinge while mounting it. (not a problem on the passenger side door, but it fit perfectly out of the box and didn't require and "gentle persuasion" to fit.)

Here is the one that may be bad for some of you guys... I know there have been a few comments that they would be perfect because you can switch between half doors and tube doors at will, but the way they go together you might not just want to yank them apart on the trail. They are essentially held together by two "hooks" that grab the bottom tube, a bolt where the mirror would be, and the door handle which uses four smaller bolts. The only way to take off the enclosure is to take off the door handle, which is kind of a PITA. I am thinking about trying to use wing nuts instead of the locking nuts on the door handle to make it easier to take off the enclosure, but ultimately I think it will be something that you will want to leave on all of the time.

Also, one more heads-up I have been thinking about in relation to painting the enclosure. Because it clamps up close to the bag on the door, I am concerned that the paint might rub off and leave red spots on the bag. For this reason, I am probably going to paint only the outside of the enclosure but I'm still kicking this around. I'll let you guys know when I get the fronts and move forward with any method of painting.

Also - for those of you who are picky, don't expect these to be the same as factory half doors. You can see in the enclosures where the bolt is welded on the back side, and you will probably still see it after painting. The metal is thicker and tougher, but the look will probably not be perfectly clean and shiny unless you use some bondo or something to smooth out the enclosure before painting it. I might go to this length, but it kind of depends on how much I think I will want to leave the enclosures on full time, which also depends on the yet-to-be-released uppers.

Hope this helps some of you in your half door decisions...

Also, I realized after I started typing this that I never got a pic of the jeep with the half doors... just closeups. I'll try to grab one tomorrow and post a followup.

 

those look sweet i like them.. still in the air about getting half doors or tube doors not sure yet but those look awesome

 

THanks for posting the pics. They look great.

I figured you'd have to remove the storage bags to install the enclosures, but apparently not. That's a good thing.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to post the pics. How heavy are the doors? Are they a lot easier to take on and off than the full factory doors?

I look forward to seeing a shot of the full Jeep with the doors.

 

I am one of those people who was hoping for something that was easy to change between half doors and tube doors. I thought this might be a good option for me, not so sure now. I appreciate your time, Thank you for posting this up!

 

How are your door handles? I have the Warrior doors and the latches seem lose. The latches are the same on all the doors is there a way to make them tight?

 

Great post thanks for the info

 

Great write-up. This helps with a lot of questions...

I also noticed you like red!
- the other vehicle
- the atv
- the wet/dry vac
- kid's bike (pink is a shade of red...)
- kid's scooter

 

Great info! Thanks. Been thinking about a set of these for my rig.

 

THose look Great....I may have to buy the enclosures now!! Didn't buy them at 1st b/c wasn't sure how it would look but I like yours and I like how you kept the pockets on.

I saw a guy riding around a couple weeks ago with the pockets on the outside on his 4 door Definately not a good look. Looked like he was riding around waiting to see if someone was going to put something in there
I know they did it in the ad but that was just so we could see how they looked. So please everyone if you buy these PLEASE put the pockets on the inside!!