I have a 2 door with no tint or insulation- and the roof gets so hot that I have had blisters on my hands removing them! I am not interested in doing a full tint up front, because I LOVE night driving on trails.

It seems a tint kit cut for my hardtop glass will run about as much as I would spend on a decent DIY headliner insulation setup (Probably the closed cell Neoprane) so as I am a broke-mo-fo I would ask for opinions regarding what would get the best results... opinions?

 

I would start off by getting a pair of gloves!

 

Seriously though- gloves are part of recovery gear... thanks though!

 

If money improves, a lot of guys on here swear by HotHeads.

 

But seriously, I can't justify paying $200 for an insulation I can do myself for $50 using Neoprane.

 

On both my hard top jeeps I picked up some silver metallic spray paint and masked off the the outside edges and the seams on the 4 door top. Then hit it with paint. Made a big difference and the air conditioner will actually work since the heat coming down from the top has been reduced. You could use white our any other reflective color. You can feel the difference on either side of where you painted and where you didn't.

The paint I used on the 2 door has lasted better than the Rustolum I used on the 4 door, not that happy with how long it has held up. This next time I touch it up I will get some duplicolor and try that. After a couple of years I am noticing that Rustolum is not as reflective as it once was and more faded than what I used on the 2 door, and I did the 2 door about 4 or 5 years ago.

I used 2 cans on the 2 door and 3 or 4 cans on the 4 door.

 

Much simpler than a glued insulator- and could glue/velcro one later anyway for TWO layers!

 

I followed a few writeups I saw around the forums on gluing utility carpet or padding to the underside of the top, I bought a $10 roll of black utility mat and a can of 3M 90 and did the front hardtop panels in an evening. The temps here in OKC are 105 +/- this week and I can touch the top above my head and the top in back where I haven't glued the mat up yet and the difference is astounding. The glue is holding up well too. I know what you mean about burning your hands taking the top off. It gets really hot. The mat helps with sound deadening too.

 

My dog just caused me to report a post in this thread. I apologize to whoever was reported as I have no problem with this discussion. Knocked the phone out of my hand and by the time I quit the ninja moves trying to catch it, it said I had reported a post... Again, I apologize.

 

You guys are saying paint on the EXTERIOR... a reflective coating. I was going to redo my top with bedliner- would a product like youve both described work UNDER a coat of bedliner?