Thinking about running freedom panels only

[P.Lo]

We are planning on a day trip on Sunday and driving several hours with no top, Freedom panels only. Its not supposed to rain................ fold the rear seat down and bring towels and I'm sure the leather will be fine...

Should be great weather this weekend for us in NC.
I will be going this weekend to Raleigh with the Top off, to start moving my NC State grad daughter out. Hope you have a rain free trip!!!

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[steelponycowboy]

We are planning on a day trip on Sunday and driving several hours with no top, Freedom panels only. Its not supposed to rain, but I guess we shall see. I'm really only concerned about the leather on the rear seats and the subwoofer if it gets wet. I'm not sure how weather resistant it is. I read somewhere that the Alpine amp is up in the dash, is that correct? I'm going to fold the rear seat down and bring towels and I'm sure the leather will be fine...

The leather isn't really 100% leather in Jeeps so I wouldn't worry too much as long as you don't make a habit out if it. I would not use towels to protect as they will hold water, use something water proof it you want to cover them.

Amp is protected, the subwoofer is good, I had one that sat full of water for half a day and no damage.

 

[NC_Overland]

My Jeep got drenched. I was in E TN in the mtns by the ocoee River and it was a nice day. We were driving top on, freedom panels out and it started to rain. Not that big of a deal. 55+ and we were barely getting wet. Then it started raining harder and there was nowhere to pull over. Then it was a torrential downpour and I got stuck behind an idiot doing 25 mph. I finally had a spot where we could pull over and we threw the panels on real quick. I was impressed by how well my 5’4” fiancée worked under pressure and we got them on in like one minute (gotta love southern girls). My Jeep is fine. We had a lot of towels inside and dried everything as well as we could on the side of the road. I was concerned about the leather, but the backseat was down and it was pretty dry. The front seats were soaked so we took off our wet clothes and drove the roughly hour back with the seat heaters on. Luckily we had bathing suits on underneath our other clothes. The seat heaters worked fantastically and my seats are fine. I had the seat heaters on and the ac blasting. The combo worked great and was oddly relatively comfortable. At that point all we could do was laugh and hope for the best. So much water got in between the hard top and freedom panels it was dripping so much water on us and the interior. It was funny at that point. By the time we got to the hotel we were staying at it had stopped and my interior was dry and actually cleaner than before since everything got a good wipe down with the towels and micro fibers I happened to have inside. We must have looked like the biggest rednecks pulling up to that relatively nice hotel in my muddy Jeep in our bathing suits, it it was E TN so no one probably thought twice lol

Long story short, the leather is fine if it get wet unless it got completely saturated and was left and not addressed in an expedient manner.

 

[Jellygladiator]

Great story love the life style!!
check out the KAT Kentucky adventure tour trail it goes through eastern TN

 

[DocMcStuffins]

My Jeep got drenched. I was in E TN in the mtns by the ocoee River and it was a nice day. We were driving top on, freedom panels out and it started to rain. Not that big of a deal. 55+ and we were barely getting wet. Then it started raining harder and there was nowhere to pull over. Then it was a torrential downpour and I got stuck behind an idiot doing 25 mph. I finally had a spot where we could pull over and we threw the panels on real quick. I was impressed by how well my 5’4” fiancée worked under pressure and we got them on in like one minute (gotta love southern girls). My Jeep is fine. We had a lot of towels inside and dried everything as well as we could on the side of the road. I was concerned about the leather, but the backseat was down and it was pretty dry. The front seats were soaked so we took off our wet clothes and drove the roughly hour back with the seat heaters on. Luckily we had bathing suits on underneath our other clothes. The seat heaters worked fantastically and my seats are fine. I had the seat heaters on and the ac blasting. The combo worked great and was oddly relatively comfortable. At that point all we could do was laugh and hope for the best. So much water got in between the hard top and freedom panels it was dripping so much water on us and the interior. It was funny at that point. By the time we got to the hotel we were staying at it had stopped and my interior was dry and actually cleaner than before since everything got a good wipe down with the towels and micro fibers I happened to have inside. We must have looked like the biggest rednecks pulling up to that relatively nice hotel in my muddy Jeep in our bathing suits, it it was E TN so no one probably thought twice lol

Long story short, the leather is fine if it get wet unless it got completely saturated and was left and not addressed in an expedient manner.

This sounds like the beginning of a Penthouse Forum story!

 

[berb]

Does anyone have experience with the interior of their jeep getting wet with cloth seats. I'm just curious if NC_Overland's story would have turned out the same with cloth seats?

 

[HorneyBadger]

The wife has had Sahara JK's since 2007. Top comes off late spring. Usually put a sunrider but the top is mesh and not solid. Rained many times on both the 08 and the 14 Sahara. No issues whatsoever on the leather seats. There are more issues with the cloth seats and the carpet.
Enjoy it and dont worry about the leather seats!

 

[aprez27]

Does anyone have experience with the interior of their jeep getting wet with cloth seats. I'm just curious if NC_Overland's story would have turned out the same with cloth seats?

I've had cloth in all of my Wranglers. After a good drenching, I used to put a dehumidifier in the back over night. Bone dry by the morning.

 

[Professor_Chaos]

Cloth seats be damned. I'm going for it.

 

[Murgatroid]

We ran last summer with just the Freedom panels in. You only lose one of the 4 latches and I saw no movement at speed.

 

[ilmostro]

This sounds like the beginning of a Penthouse Forum story!

You really dated yourself with this comment

I have the Rain Gear cover and am really happy with it.

 

[NC_Overland]

This sounds like the beginning of a Penthouse Forum story!

We were in a hotel, so yeah.

 

[NC_Overland]

We ran last summer with just the Freedom panels in. You only lose one of the 4 latches and I saw no movement at speed.

It works well. I’ve done it several times now.

 

[MPMB]

As mentioned earlier with the "leather": Many mfgs have gone away from real leather, even if they advertise it as leather.

Outside of some luxury brands, and maybe a particular model or two from the domestics, the "leather" interiors are all synthetic.

The new Bronco is actually marketing one of the trims as having "marine-grade vinyl" for an interior option.

My wife was all excited at the prospect that we could drive to Utah with the top off. I reminded her it's a 1100 mile drive, over 3 passes and multiple climate zones.

 

[am1978]

Do the back end of the freedom panels lock in in the center if the hardtop is off? I don’t have my JT yet. Just sold my JL and I don’t think I ever tried that, nor would I.

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