Through stupidity on my part, I've ended up with a crack on the inner door sill portion of my JKUR's hardtop, and it's seemingly spread about an inch - but no further. I'm worried it might progress farther if not looked at before wheeling next season, so I'm looking to get it professionally done.

All the answers on my local FB groups have been more or less versions of "just do it yourself", but I know my own DIY limitations and doing structural/paint repairs more complex than a simple chip is out of my league. Has anyone had their hardtop repainted, and what did it run you?

If it was a common color I might hold out just to buy a used one, but Sahara Tan is awfully hard to find in any configuration. Thanks!

 

I suggest you go to the very end of the crack and stop drill a hole about 3/16". This will prevent further damage and seal it with some silicone or similar until it gets fixed. If the hardtop is fiberglass (I don't know what mine is) it will need a layup of mat and resin to repair it. Whichmeans grinding out a fillet where the mat will lay down on both sides so that it is level with the surface once the resin and filler are sanded down from finishing. If it is a plastic / PVC material it can be plastic welded. But you still have to fill and finish and paint.

 

y, it's fiberglass. I think this would be a pretty simple repair if it was just the standard black. In fact, I had a friend have to do a pretty big repair on one of these and it turned out nicely, but it was a standard black, which is a lot easier to paint with the Mopar hard top paint and have it look blent in. It sounds like you have a painted top and that is going to be much, much harder to DIY IMO. I do agree with Sixty4x4's method above though of drilling a hole to stop the crack and a filet that then gets filled in.

 

KG you are going to have to do a paint match anyway. Don't let the paintshop bullshit you about clearcoating the entire top. Just tell them to touch it up on the repair after applying the base coat.

 

Just get some Marine Tex and grind the crack into a V a little. Fill crack let dry then sand and paint with Jeeps hard top paint its a perfect match.

 

What a pain the Khaki colored interior and top has been for me. It's nearly impossible to find items in that color. Sheetz and tops! I ended up with replacement Freedom tops that were black oh, and I had to have them painted. The guy was a rip-off artist and did terrible work. High tops no longer match the rest of the top. I don't feel like having them repainted Mopar khaki top paint is no longer available. I've tried for three years to get a replacement driver's seat, also impossible.

 

I used a backyard Body Shop to repaint my to lift up sections which were black. I have the Khaki top and was unable to find replacement tops in the color. The backyard Body Shop claimed he did his very best to match the color, but they are so not managed. I think you can go to any high level Auto Body supply shop and get paint mixed which will match your top. For now, I'm just happy to have tops again. I lost my original Tops on the highway going 70 in January. It was an exciting ride home!

 

This sounds like a story worth sharing!

 

The mystery is far better than the story!