Colors matter... especially if you live in the desert

[Bandit’s Lair]

Glutton meet punishment! LOL

Pretty much. I do like the look of black/dark Jeeps though. Even if I do eventually go ahead and bed line this one it will be a darker color. Maybe a lighter hardtop color but body will probably be darker. Ive been going through the color chips on Monstaliner and have been mind gaming a few combos.

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[WambliSka]

I would like a lighter color on my top too, even though it is the factory insulated one. I have a white JTR with the black roof and live in South Florida. If I remember to, I put down the windows a couple of inches when I park it. That does help but sometimes I do forget and we get our afternoon thunderstorms and it does get wet sometimes. But in the desert or dryer climate, that would not be an issue. I would just leave the windows partially open all the time.

Speaking of color, I don't understand why people in hot climates buy black Jeeps, or anything else for that matter. Maybe some think it looks good but getting into any black vehicle that has been sitting in the sun for any length of time is no fun. I can't imagine getting into a closed vehicle wearing shorts (that's all we ever wear here) that has god-forbid leather seats. It must be an experience!

I've bought a few black vehicles in my life but in my defense I've lived mostly in northern and temperate climates where the difference was not huge. So as I mentioned I was never a color buyer. As matter of fact when I went to get my new JT the dealer had 2 Mojave Xs in stock, a white and a black and funny enough the deciding factor was not the color.

They were both fully loaded Xs and the ONLY difference was the white had AT Wildpeaks on it and the black had MT tires. My brain could not wrap itself around driving out of the dealer in a new vehicles with Mud Terrain tires on it when I live in NEVADA (or why the dealer would ever order that car?!?!?) so I went with the white. It was not until the temps started hitting over 100 here that I noticed the MASSIVE difference between my old black roof and the new white truck.

I now remember touching the freedom panels in my old JT while driving in a nasty 115 day where my AC was just BARELY keeping up and almost burning my hand. Silly of me how I never connected the two. I just thought that was the case with all cars in NV.

 

[WambliSka]

Hi, I live near/on the north west side of the Central Valley in California, we have temperatures in the low triple digits during the summer. I find that one of the folding-foil/metallic windshield shades helps with the interior temps, as well as cracking the rear windows open while the vehicle is sitting in the sun (as mine do all summer because my garage is full of stuff). Point being the foil/metallic shades help (not the flimsy collapsible cloth type ones) to keep the heat at bay so much so that one of my friends whom had never used a shade before, went out and bought one after we went out shopping and driving around one day. She felt the difference. Her car had a split dashboard due to the interior temps of her vehicle sitting in the sun.
That being said, yes, exterior color has a lot to do with interior temps as well, white with light seat materials being the best, black with black leather seats the worst.
My opinion doesn’t mean a whole lot, just thought I’d offer anyway.

Your opinion matters and thank you for offering it.

I do have a good set of windshield shades for the JT and they did help a little with the old JT. But when I'm home the cars are garaged and I don't commute to an office on a daily basis and I HATE going to places like shopping centers and such unless I HAVE TO. So for the most part if my JT is out and about it's either on the road going somewhere or off-road. When I park it's usually for relatively short periods of time and I'm just too lazy to do the shade on-off thing and they take up room in the back seat when I carry them around. Now with the white vehicle it's immaterial so I leave the shades in the garage nowadays.

 

[WambliSka]

I’m guilty of doing this. And it really wasn’t even intentional. I didn’t go looking specifically for a black Jeep. It’s just what I ended up with. TWICE!!!

First Jeep I owned was bought out of a grudge match with wife. I owned a small horse ranch with a fair amount of woods and hills and some really cool trails and old logging roads and she would not "let me" buy a four wheeler because she said I'd kill myself jumping rock walls so I was pissed off, left the house and drove around and found a Jeep dealer.

I went in and bought a first year Rubicon, drove it home and announced to my wife I'd bough the Jeep. She started laughing and asked "What color is it?" (those things matter to her). I was actually stumped so I stood there like an idiot for a few seconds and then turned around to go outside to see what the hell color my new Jeep was...

 

[azmojave]

The best thing about white is that it doesn’t show pinstripes like every other color. That’s the only regret I have about buying Sarge green. Mine looks like it spent a night with Freddy Krueger.

 

[Mr Miami]

The best thing about white is that it doesn’t show pinstripes like every other color. That’s the only regret I have about buying Sarge green. Mine looks like it spent a night with Freddy Krueger.

Just trying to figure out "doesn't show pinstripes". Do you mean you get pinstripes on the Jeep? I know they used to do them on cars but can't remember seeing them on a Jeep.

 

[azmojave]

Just trying to figure out "doesn't show pinstripes". Do you mean you get pinstripes on the Jeep? I know they used to do them on cars but can't remember seeing them on a Jeep.

We call them Arizona pinstripes. Scratches from bushes. They’re still there but white paint conceals them. Zoom in on the doors

 

[WambliSka]

Just trying to figure out "doesn't show pinstripes". Do you mean you get pinstripes on the Jeep? I know they used to do them on cars but can't remember seeing them on a Jeep.

Ha! It’s a regional issue for us in the SW where every bush dries out and turns into a ball of HARD thorny razor blades all of them tougher than our paint. Your stuff is green and soft in FL (except for those damn Saw Palmettos I used to walk through hog hunting). Walk by and try to get a bush out of your way out here you’ll need stitches.

 

[Mr Miami]

We call them Arizona pinstripes. Scratches from bushes. They’re still there but white paint conceals them. Zoom in on the doors

Wow! Got it. You and @WambliSka just educated me on the "pinstripe" issue. Honestly, I was first thinking that any guy (or gal) that put what I thought were pinstripes on a Jeep is a real pu**y. It's like, in my mind I'm thinking, "come on man, unless it's a mall crawler, pinstripes????"

Now I know. Thanks!

 

[azmojave]

Wow! Got it. You and @WambliSka just educated me on the "pinstripe" issue. Honestly, I was first thinking that any guy (or gal) that put what I thought were pinstripes on a Jeep is a real pu**y. It's like, in my mind I'm thinking, "come on man, unless it's a mall crawler, pinstripes????"

Now I know. Thanks!

I took a better pic after work. I’m told it’ll buff out but it’s a badge of honor to me. I love it when someone walks up and asks if I ever go offroad LOL

 

[Mr Miami]

I took a better pic after work. I’m told it’ll buff out but it’s a badge of honor to me. I love it when someone walks up and asks if I ever go offroad LOL

LOL ...

Or just tell them them that the car wash you go to has the enhanced wire brush option for 5 dollars more to do a thorough cleaning.

 

[WambliSka]

LOL ...

Or just tell them them that the car wash you go to has the enhanced wire brush option for 5 dollars more to do a thorough cleaning.

Ok, that's freaking funny!!!

 

[WambliSka]

I took a better pic after work. I’m told it’ll buff out but it’s a badge of honor to me. I love it when someone walks up and asks if I ever go offroad LOL

I don't know that your's will buff out brother, but good for you for using your Jeep as designed!

 

[Setec641A]

I never really gave the color of my vehicles a lot of thought. God I'll never make that mistake again. I've always been a suited for purpose and features buyer and just lucked out with petty colors since I've never had a car that looked bad to me. Hell I've had some beauties over the years. But I just moved to the desert a few years back and now it's time to REALLY pay attention and it makes more of a difference in the Wranglers since that roof is just a plastic shell absorbing and trapping heat with little or no insulation.

My last Gladiator was light grey with a black hardtop, no insulation on the roof. Bought it in the mountains of western NC so the color combo was never an issue (cab temperatures wise) until I moved here, but even then I just thought that I needed to just suck it up assuming ALL cars got that hot in the SW. Then I bought the Mojave and now that it's hitting 100s I REALLY notice the difference. My new one is bright white with insulation on the roof panels. The difference from the old to the new when you get into them after they've been parked outside in direct Nevada sun for a few hours has to be 20 degrees at least!!!

DAMN!!! The old one felt like you were climbing into Hades and there were days in the middle of the summer with temps of 110+ when the AC BARELY kept the temps acceptable in the cab while driving around town or off-road in the desert. The new one cools down in freaking minutes!!!

Just posting this in case there are some folks out there ready to buy a Gladiator around my coordinates and have not thought about this.

My thoughts exactly. See my thread about the Freedom Top. I had the same thoughts you did. I'm trying to find some inexpensive solutions to keeping the hard top from baking the inside of the Jeep, since I park outside at work.. Here's a pro-tip for you. Get all your windows including your windshield tinted with ceramic or metallic tint. I had all the windows done on my F150 and what a difference it makes! I just recently had to have my HUGE windshield replaced, so I lost the tint, and now I realized exactly how much of a difference it made. I can barely keep the inside of the truck cool with the sun just beating me up through that massive pane of glass.

 

[WambliSka]

My thoughts exactly. See my thread about the Freedom Top. I had the same thoughts you did. I'm trying to find some inexpensive solutions to keeping the hard top from baking the inside of the Jeep, since I park outside at work.. Here's a pro-tip for you. Get all your windows including your windshield tinted with ceramic or metallic tint. I had all the windows done on my F150 and what a difference it makes! I just recently had to have my HUGE windshield replaced, so I lost the tint, and now I realized exactly how much of a difference it made. I can barely keep the inside of the truck warm with the sun just beating me up through that massive pane of glass.

My windows are pretty heavily tinted, don't know if factory option or dealer local Nevada "upgrade" job. I guess I should find out... My old Gladiator being a NC Jeep did not have tinted windows. Probably part of the problem.

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