Sunrider owners - MY mess-up, or theirs?

[ShadowsPapa]

I wouldn’t mess with torque wrenches on these. I’ve installed and removed mine probably 6 times. The good n tight method applies here.

That's what I settled on - figuring I might break or crush something! Besides, their instructions are for 2020 (printed August 2020) and we KNOW things have changed between 2020 and 2025 but Bestop hasn't changed a thing - Jeep has changed that area a whole lot, seals, and more - but the instructions are a joke showing the old seals.

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[heretic]

one last thing...the gap at the back of yours looks too large (compared to mine).
My drip edge to door edge is tight and uniform the entire way.

 

[Charles 236]

That's what I settled on - figuring I might break or crush something! Besides, their instructions are for 2020 (printed August 2020) and we KNOW things have changed between 2020 and 2025 but Bestop hasn't changed a thing - Jeep has changed that area a whole lot, seals, and more - but the instructions are a joke showing the old seals.

That is how I tighten mine when I install it. As for directions (and products as well) not being updated, typical Mopar way of (not) doing things. Even the new Hurricane engine has poor details in it's service documents. It takes a while to get updated, for some reason.

 

[WILDHOBO]

That is how I tighten mine when I install it. As for directions (and products as well) not being updated, typical Mopar way of (not) doing things. Even the new Hurricane engine has poor details in it's service documents. It takes a while to get updated, for some reason.

Calling bestop is likely the best way to get the right info I’d expect. But since it’s a mopar version, extreme politeness might be a good idea.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Calling bestop is likely the best way to get the right info I’d expect. But since it’s a mopar version, extreme politeness might be a good idea.

Always go in nicely - go in with guns blazing and the normal human response is defensiveness. So don't go in in such a way they are instantly defensive. Go in nice with "I think there could be a problem here" sort of talk.

So far - neither JeepCares nor Bestop has come back to a PM I sent, no chance to get to a dealer to show them (that's a 40 minute trip across the county through some massive interstate and highway construction areas).
Want to see what either of them says - will still try to get to dealer but have to prep my wife's Jeep for a trip over there EARLY tomorrow am for the repairs from the Safelite work, a couple of hours of mowing and such. So, we'll see...........

 

[WILDHOBO]

Always go in nicely - go in with guns blazing and the normal human response is defensiveness. So don't go in in such a way they are instantly defensive. Go in nice with "I think there could be a problem here" sort of talk.

So far - neither JeepCares nor Bestop has come back to a PM I sent, no chance to get to a dealer to show them (that's a 40 minute trip across the county through some massive interstate and highway construction areas).
Want to see what either of them says - will still try to get to dealer but have to prep my wife's Jeep for a trip over there EARLY tomorrow am for the repairs from the Safelite work, a couple of hours of mowing and such. So, we'll see...........

Bestop doesn’t open for 4 more minutes. 9am mountain. I’d guess you’ll get a response today, but I’m a phone person.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Bestop doesn’t open for 4 more minutes. 9am mountain. I’d guess you’ll get a response today, but I’m a phone person.

LOL - I'm used to everyone being NY time.
While in IT - everyone was mountain or pacific time.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

More on the saga (SAGA, not sage - dang smell check) -
The sunrider has literally CUT my door seals! Yes and the pattern matches the rough area on the bottom of the sunrider drip rail..
It's literally cut the seal.

And I tried to compare our 2023 JLU seals to the 2025 seals - they look different, and one seems to be shaped similar, but are also somehow different.

This was not damaged prior to the sunrider - so it's what has done the cutting. I knew it was close but never figured on it having a rough surface - rough enough to do this -

So the sunrider has gone so far as to cause damage to the Jeep factory seals

Left side has similar damage but not as deep yet.......... because it isn't pressing down as hard on the seal as the right side.

Left side of the sunrider has that same really rough, course sandpaper type of spot that has left the same pattern on this left seal, but it hasn't appeared to cut enough to cause damage to the seal.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Bestop doesn’t open for 4 more minutes. 9am mountain. I’d guess you’ll get a response today, but I’m a phone person.

AND - it's a Monday. I'm not their only customer, and likely they have to get through a list and sort things through first.
So I'm mowing the lawn before it hits 90 and let them settle in and go through what greeted them on a Monday AM.

 

[Charles 236]

At this point, I would definitely put the ball in the dealership court. Since you have been a regular, faithful customer, they surely will want to take care of it for you. At least, I would if I were in their position. A happy customer is worth more than a couple of door seals.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

At this point, I would definitely put the ball in the dealership court. Since you have been a regular, faithful customer, they surely will want to take care of it for you. At least, I would if I were in their position. A happy customer is worth more than a couple of door seals.

It was more "iffy" and "less obvious" until I checked things this AM with fresh eyes - and standing on my wonderful power steps....... now there's actual "evidence" things are not what they should be.

I'm the sort, and I've told my sales guy this - mistakes happen, it's how those mistakes are handled that I care about. Mess up - who hasn't, yeah, even me more than I'd care to admit - but make it right, I'm good with it.

Off to spend a couple of hours on a JD lawn tractor.........

 

[Charles 236]

Good plan, taking a break from it. When you go back to it, you might see the problem from a different perspective.

 

[flipmcgee]

Be honest, blunt if necessary. It was a heck of a struggle and my back is killing me, and holding bolts to get them started - NOT fun, took longer than it should have (unboxing to full install, 1 hour, should have been half of that)

I have been all over my "processes", the "instructions" and thought and thought and thought, but I can't see any other possible way that the Jeep's own seal and weatherstripping (esp. that corner seal) can go.

The door pretty much rubs the sunrider on the passenger side. closing the door shoves the rubber seal in and the top of the door is hard against the sunrider. If it wasn't for that other seal there, it would likely take paint it's a hard fit.
The left is really tight, too - but not as tight.
You can see the sunrider shoves the Jeep's own seal downward. On the right, closing the door shoves the seal in and bends it inside. There's zero - 0 - clearance for that seal. I have to hold the seal, slowly close the door until it's amost latched, then give the door a shove to get it closed without shoving that seal to the inside.

I think the thing rides way too low on the roll cage (as I call it)
But any higher - it would leak at the windshield?
It also had a horrible BOW. I had a hell of a time getting the back down to get that rear clamp installed. I had to stand on my power steps and hold down really hard with one hand on the top and then use that clamp to wedge and pull down the rear of the sunrider. There's a crazy amount of tension on the thing.
I seriously thought the clamp back there was going to break. Before I clamped it, there was a gap big enough to put my hand through.
If it's this bad of a deal - it's coming off and getting shoved in a corner.
No way I'm going to struggle to get the rear back in place again next time, and the way it is now,
I'm seriously considering getting help and yanking the thing back off anyway - I don't want the paint on the doors damaged, or the Jeep's door seals messed up and this is really screwing with them.

anyone else have this? Did I mess up?

anyone else have a HUGE gap at the back where it almost took two people to shove the top down and get that rear clamp in place? Yeah, it was bowed a couple of inches upward and that's before I even bolted the sides in place! It was seriously bowed JUST SITTING THERE!

In short, I"m not happy with the fit or quality - and that rear bow, wow, how does anyone else get that rear clamped in place?
Do your door top edges actually touch the sunrider?
Does it shove your Jeep seals down and distort them badly?

Right door would likely rub if not for that bit of rubber there - I had to hold that in place while closing the door otherwise the sunrider forces that seal down so hard, the door catches it.

Sunrider shoves the factory seal down so far the door hits it and shoves it inward.

Because the sunrider shoves the seal down the door catches it and pushes it in, instead of being where it should be, deforming and distorting the seal.

See how it shoves that factory seal down?

Yes that little rain flap seal has to be placed behind the rail on the sunrider. Hold it up and drop the rail in front of it. I put mine on in about 10 minutes about a month ago. If you don't fold that up it will not sit correctly. Otherwise fit has always been excellent, I'm on my second top and they really stood behind their warranty. My fabric became very loose after the first year and they gave me a whole new top and let me keep the orginal. This year I added the new headliner from Hot head for the soft-top and it made things much quieter than before.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yes that little rain flap seal has to be placed behind the rail on the sunrider. Hold it up and drop the rail in front of it. I put mine on in about 10 minutes about a month ago. If you don't fold that up it will not sit correctly. Otherwise fit has always been excellent, I'm on my second top and they really stood behind their warranty. My fabric became very loose after the first year and they gave me a whole new top and let me keep the orginal. This year I added the new headliner from Hot head for the soft-top and it made things much quieter than before.

Mine is beyond that little flap that Bestop should have accounted for way back - mine is chewing up a door seal and sits too low on the truck, sunrider rail all but against the door, cutting into the door seal.

There's no "sticking the flap" anywhere on this - the sunrider is cutting into it because it almost hits the door.

I already put those "flaps" up there - still, though, it's a sunrider issue because many did not need to do that because theirs fit fine. There's pictures of these out there that have left that flay out like it belongs and the sunrider doesn't shove down on it, so it's a fitment issue with the sunrider. If it sat properly, that wouldn't be needed (see pics in this and other threads where they didn't have to do that).

I may pull mine back off before it totally cuts the door seals.... (refer to picture above - that's damaged by the sunrider)

it is louder - but then Jeep made the 2024/2025 models so much quieter that even with the added noise of the sunrider, my truck is still quieter than my 2022 was!
So it's still a win, noise-wise (except the sunrider flaps and vibrates when open, like some drummer up there. If I grab the fabric and cross-rail, I can stop the "rattle".)

 

[DBravo]

Be honest, blunt if necessary. It was a heck of a struggle and my back is killing me, and holding bolts to get them started - NOT fun, took longer than it should have (unboxing to full install, 1 hour, should have been half of that)

I have been all over my "processes", the "instructions" and thought and thought and thought, but I can't see any other possible way that the Jeep's own seal and weatherstripping (esp. that corner seal) can go.

The door pretty much rubs the sunrider on the passenger side. closing the door shoves the rubber seal in and the top of the door is hard against the sunrider. If it wasn't for that other seal there, it would likely take paint it's a hard fit.
The left is really tight, too - but not as tight.
You can see the sunrider shoves the Jeep's own seal downward. On the right, closing the door shoves the seal in and bends it inside. There's zero - 0 - clearance for that seal. I have to hold the seal, slowly close the door until it's amost latched, then give the door a shove to get it closed without shoving that seal to the inside.

I think the thing rides way too low on the roll cage (as I call it)
But any higher - it would leak at the windshield?
It also had a horrible BOW. I had a hell of a time getting the back down to get that rear clamp installed. I had to stand on my power steps and hold down really hard with one hand on the top and then use that clamp to wedge and pull down the rear of the sunrider. There's a crazy amount of tension on the thing.
I seriously thought the clamp back there was going to break. Before I clamped it, there was a gap big enough to put my hand through.
If it's this bad of a deal - it's coming off and getting shoved in a corner.
No way I'm going to struggle to get the rear back in place again next time, and the way it is now,
I'm seriously considering getting help and yanking the thing back off anyway - I don't want the paint on the doors damaged, or the Jeep's door seals messed up and this is really screwing with them.

anyone else have this? Did I mess up?

anyone else have a HUGE gap at the back where it almost took two people to shove the top down and get that rear clamp in place? Yeah, it was bowed a couple of inches upward and that's before I even bolted the sides in place! It was seriously bowed JUST SITTING THERE!

In short, I"m not happy with the fit or quality - and that rear bow, wow, how does anyone else get that rear clamped in place?
Do your door top edges actually touch the sunrider?
Does it shove your Jeep seals down and distort them badly?

Right door would likely rub if not for that bit of rubber there - I had to hold that in place while closing the door otherwise the sunrider forces that seal down so hard, the door catches it.

Sunrider shoves the factory seal down so far the door hits it and shoves it inward.

Because the sunrider shoves the seal down the door catches it and pushes it in, instead of being where it should be, deforming and distorting the seal.

See how it shoves that factory seal down?

Something does not seem right. I have the 2020 JT overland and have the BestTop Sunrider. First install took 30 minutes, but now it 's 10 minutes to remove and stash the Freedom tops and install the sunrider. Wonder if the Sunrider is warped?
The front seal is about even with the leading edge of the sunrider as it is compressed.
My doors definitely don't hit and no seals are displaced.
Tight seal no air leaks and drive through touchless car wash with no water leaks.
When installing, I latch the front before I tighten the bolts and install the center clamp last.
I also go back and forth front right, front left, back right, back left and just tighten to when I see it start to suck down, then go back and snug them up to try to get them even.

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