Talk me into a Sunrider

[jeepmojave]

Here's my feeling on my Sunrider. I love it when it's open but I find myself wanting to throw my freedom panels back on due to the noise when it's closed. On a normal drive stoplight to stoplight that's where this top shines especially here in San Diego. It's convenient to open and close and at lower speeds is nice and quiet. I feel like a rockstar when open. But on the freeway and crosswinds it can be rather noisy closed and find it flapping at 70+mph. I attempted different custom tricks I've thought up and even though things got quieter still annoys me and after calls and emails to Sunrider they are sending me a new bow apparently to try out. I have also previously adjusted both the front clamping mechanisms and the rear mounting points to press the top down closer to the roofline and that helped minimally and I think it's the stretching of the material that makes the noise. Once I was out in the desert and I was cruising at say 60mph and the way the wind hit the top I could barely hear my conversation I was having over my phone and ham radio with my other drivers. If I ever plan another desert trip I'm definitely planning to throw on the freedom panels since it seems to get windy out there.
As far as leaking goes this one does not leak when it rains like the one I had on my JK. I feel like the design has improved with the JT/JL model.
But yeah so my overall opinion is it's fun to have the sunrider for local cruising. As an accessory to me that's all it really is, an accessory. That being said, spending $800 on an accessory is really up to you. I picked mine up through northridge4x4 on sale, with an additional gift card, and with a rebate so it wasn't $800. If you are in the Clairemont area you can always check mine out before you make your purchase if that may help your decision.

Edit:. I just saw you purchased the sunrider yesterday so I guess my post was not needed. Oh well. Enjoy your new top and see you cruising around town.

Must be a San Diego thing. Because I’m having the same issues with the noises on the freeways.

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[bleda2002]

Must be a San Diego thing. Because I’m having the same issues with the noises on the freeways.

I've had my sun rider for over a year now, it definitely got noisier as the material stretched a bit. I've noticed that the wind noise is really loud in cross wind, or if the total wind is +75-80mph. What I mean by total wind is i can do 80 quietly if i'm going with the wind and its a 5+mph tail wind, but 70 into a 10 mph head wind and it is really noisy.


Short jaunts (a few hours or less) on the highway I dont mind the noise but on the trip from FL to TN it got old after awhile. Knowing this I actually brough noise cancelling ear buds, and basically drove in near silence the whole time. Its amazing what a bit of wind noise reduction will do to the mental fatigue.

P.S. Bestop customer service is second to none, I had a z clip break, new top no hassle once I got them photos of the top and the receipt.

 

[Volksparts]

Must be a San Diego thing. Because I’m having the same issues with the noises on the freeways.

So I managed to figure out why my Sunrider was flapping. I was sporting a roof rack behind the Sunrider and on that roof rack I mounted a pelican case. After several months I removed the pelican case and now the flapping is completely gone. I still get wind noise but no more flapping. I guess the case was creating turbulence. And now it's even quieter closed as I added a alien sunshade and when I'm driving further distances I leave my custom layer of moving blankets on top that I can remove whenever when I know I'm going to open the Sunrider. With the blankets it's really quiet now.

 

[jeepmojave]

So I managed to figure out why my Sunrider was flapping. I was sporting a roof rack behind the Sunrider and on that roof rack I mounted a pelican case. After several months I removed the pelican case and now the flapping is completely gone. I still get wind noise but no more flapping. I guess the case was creating turbulence. And now it's even quieter closed as I added a alien sunshade and when I'm driving further distances I leave my custom layer of moving blankets on top that I can remove whenever when I know I'm going to open the Sunrider. With the blankets it's really quiet now.

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That has to be the reason why it is making the flapping noise. I have a JCR Roof Rack with MaxTraxs and RotoPaxs. I do have the SpiderWebShade SunShade. Thanks for this info. Now I have an idea what the problem is.

 

[Volksparts]

That has to be the reason why it is making the flapping noise. I have a JCR Roof Rack with MaxTraxs and RotoPaxs. I do have the SpiderWebShade SunShade. Thanks for this info. Now I have an idea what the problem is.

Yep I have the JCR half rack also and I had my pelican case mounted sideways. But basically it was creating a back pressure towards the Sunrider. Once removed there is no problem after.

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