I just got my Rubi back from the dealer, having them fix a leak with the soft top. The leaks were somewhere above the a-pillar, letting water drip onto the inside of the door, above the door handle, on both driver and passenger sides. It leaked in the rain, and with power washing. They had it for a week and said they replaced several seals, rivets and adjusted the doors. I also noticed that they added a couple pieces of that cheap, foam weather stripping to the plastic door frame (which i had already tried doing to no avail). But after they thought they were finished for the second time, they did a quality check and found the driver's side still leaked a little and had to order another seal that would take a week to get in.
The soft top is very hard to close now, and the passenger side door has to be closed VERY firmly to close it all the way.
Before I left, they told me that after it is fixed, it should never leak in the rain again, but anytime I use a pressure washer, that it will probably push water in and cause a leak and there isn't anything they can do about that.
I washed it with a pressure washer tonight and the leak that I had afterwords seemed exactly the same as it was before, but I haven't had it in the rain on it, so I don't know if that has improved at all.

Is this the case with everyone, or is this just BS? Is there really no way to keep the soft top from leaking when using a pressure washer to clean it (i'm talking around the seals, not through the fabric itself)?

is there anyone whose top does NOT leak when washing with a pressure washer?

 

I don't belive that you are supposed to pressure wash the top, so that could be part of the problem.

 

the water doesn't leak through the fabric of the soft top itself.
it leaks in either through the seal around the door, or possibly gets in above the windshield and runs along the channel and ends up leaking above the door.

 

adjust your striker plate on the door... it fixed the rattleing and the leak for me.


also... if you take the plastic door frames off.. make sure when you put them on that they allow the rubber seals to seat over them. They have a tendency to smash them, fold them, or other wise defeat their purpose.

 

yup, that little piece of rubber seal is always outside of the door frame - where it is supposed to be when the leaks occur.

does your soft top leak if you wash your jk with a pressure washer?

 

You should never wash a soft top with a power washer. It will destroy them after a short time. There is a thread on cleaning the soft top, but I don't remember what it was titled. I've been in the awning business working with soft top fabric. More customer ruin thier awning by power washing them. They even do it after you tell them not to. Oh well! Some people have more money then they need I guess. Mild soap, soft brush, and a hose is all it takes to clean your top. Might not be as fast but it won't hurt your top.

 

As your dealer says, you shouldn't get any leaks in the rain, but when you use a power washer or put it through a car wash, you will probably get something coming in around one or more of the doors. I don't have the soft top on my JK, but I do on the TJ and this is what I have always experienced.

 

I would avoid pressure washing the top.
That being said, I do use the do it yourself car washes and hose the top off, but i never squeeze the handle on the wand to open it up to full pressure. I just use the light spray to soak it down and loosen the bird stuff and mud. If the brush at tha wash isnt completely trashed, i use that to lightly brush off any adhered goop. If it is still stuck, i just soak it again and repeat. Then rinse it off (again, with the light spray).

The way it was explained to me:

Think about the stitched seams. This is the weak point of the soft top.
They are sewn together like the back of Rosie Odonnel's jeans.
Overpressurizing them will cause them to stretch, brake, and/or eventually come apart...

...and no one wants to see that when they are standing there holding their wand.

 

we're missing the point of the question here. leaks.

even if you don't use the pressure spray on the soft top fabric, then you use it on the windshield and doors (assuming full doors).

 

I normally use the local HydraSpray carwash. I would say that's a power washer, and the only time I ended up with water inside the JK was when I left the rear drivers side window open about 2 inches. My soft top does not leak around the doors.