JUNK Hard Tops......and a question

[9secondko]

I’ve been curious about the hard tops.

would be interested to see the breakdown between painted and unpainted hard tops experiencing cracks, etc. over time.

my theory is that the composite plastic they’re made out of gets brittle from the sun over time. The painted ones still experience heat damage, but not UV nearly as much.

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[EvilJim1971]

I’ve been curious about the hard tops.

would be interested to see the breakdown between painted and unpainted hard tops experiencing cracks, etc. over time.

my theory is that the composite plastic they’re made out of gets brittle from the sun over time. The painted ones still experience heat damage, but not UV nearly as much.

Some of the mic tops have shown issues while new on the lot.

 

[rgraphic]

My personal belief is that all these tops will get stress cracks at some point. I switched my hardtop for a softop this summer and the added flex of the body was staggering. Without a crossbar in the middle it appears the hardtop is acting like a brace. Hit a pothole, uneven surface, etc. over and over and stress cracks show up. Just my theory….

Can you explain more? Are you saying the hardtop is flexing when installing, the body or both? Because I'm starting to think that's why I see so many tops that appear not glued together squared. Example of a brand new 2dr on the dealer lot. Mine came exactly like this. If you look at all the corners the alignment is all screwy. Nothin quite lines up. The gasket doesn't even cover all the holes.

 

[Easy-v]

Are the MOD tops still available? Build and price seems to just have painted and mic

the mod has the ‘gunner’ hatch right?

 

[Beach_Bum]

Are the MOD tops still available? Build and price seems to just have painted and mic

the mod has the ‘gunner’ hatch right?

The "Mod Top" is a colloquialism from the days of the 6G launch. It obviously means the Modular HT that was initially promoted at launch but never materialized due to Webasto's inability to make it. It finally appeared for the MY'23 Heritage Edition (and some MY'24 HEs). But it was replaced by the painted HT. The painted HT is still referred to as the "Mod Top", but there is nothing "modular" about the painted HT as the rear windows are not removable. The 2-dr Mod Top/painted HT still has the "gunner's hatch".

 

[StinkBug]

From the pics I've seen, most of these are stress cracks that start at/near the windows...which is to be expected if the vehicle is seeing a lot of twisting and/or heavy shocks, though they should not be doing it this quickly.

My 22 was cracked the day i bought it with 6 miles on the clock. Must have been doing an awful lot of twisting and heavy shocks getting on and off the transporter

 

[Greek Bronco]

Ford should make it right and Swap out the MIC tops with painted ones.

 

[Hemisfear]

So we continue with these JUNK hard tops.......after 5 years Ford STILL cant find a vendor
that can make a decent hard top - my 2025 with 250 miles is showing signs of cracks - my
2024 cracked around 1200 miles - WTF FORD ??? Why cant you FIX this issue ??? Its been going on
for YEARS and they just continue to kick the can down the road UGH

Question - Do the factory painted hard tops crack ???
or are the cracks there and just masked by the paint?

What's wrong with your hardtop, mine is fine?

 

[Hemisfear]

21 with no cracks in the top. My issue is the airbag seam in the center hub of the steering wheel. On my third one and you can see a shadow of the seam the day they installed the latest one. It just seems to take one or two hard lays on the horn to start the seam really showing. Hope I encounter no jackwagons on the road and have to lay on my horn this time (impossible that that's NOT happening).

Same here, top is fine, but my horn pad is not! (replacement was no better)

 

[Minion]

I do not know the difference of the tops, mine is a fiberglass, matte grey, 12k miles in 8 months, daily driver, highways speeds weekender, offroad 10 times, engine mods, appearance mods, found the governer speed limiter a few times, automated carwash average 2x a week, front and mid panels off weekly, back off at least once a month, no cracks, a few scratches, no cracks.

You guys must be doing something rougher than I am.

 

[heavyD]

I do not know the difference of the tops, mine is a fiberglass, matte grey, 12k miles in 8 months, daily driver, highways speeds weekender, offroad 10 times, engine mods, appearance mods, found the governer speed limiter a few times, automated carwash average 2x a week, front and mid panels off weekly, back off at least once a month, no cracks, a few scratches, no cracks.

You guys must be doing something rougher than I am.

Yeah I'm sure that's it.

 

[Breptar]

Had mine MIC top painted and ppfd and I can see the cracks starting to come in! So annoying…

 

[Ducati1098]

I do not know the difference of the tops, mine is a fiberglass, matte grey, 12k miles in 8 months, daily driver, highways speeds weekender, offroad 10 times, engine mods, appearance mods, found the governer speed limiter a few times, automated carwash average 2x a week, front and mid panels off weekly, back off at least once a month, no cracks, a few scratches, no cracks.

You guys must be doing something rougher than I am.

Some are good. Some are bad.
Doesn’t have anything to do with how or where people are using it.

 

[Ike89]

I have a 01/23 Bronco and the cracks on my top just keep getting worse. Started showing around the begining of this year.

 

[DALOLA]

Some are good. Some are bad.
Doesn’t have anything to do with how or where people are using it.

Just from your anecdotal experience from what you see coming into your dealership, what would you guess is the ratio of good/bad?

There's a lot of noise about it here, but that's to be expected on a forum. I'm guessing maybe 80/20?

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