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

[Andrew Bynum]

It's good to have a friend at Ford HQ

Sorry dude I’m calling BS. No engineer at Ford ever told you that the issues with MIC tops on the Bronco had been resolved.

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[BeachTiger]

In my case, they both had the headliner. But near the passenger B pillar, the noise was terrible. I even implemented the B6G ideas on additional weather stripping to no avail. There is always going to be more noise than compared to a solid roof and that is to be expected.

My current top is a warranty claim candidate, but I'm unsure of submitting the claim as the replacement can be worse.

Check the alignment of the window compared to the driver's side. Mine was MUCH louder at the passenger B pillar when I first bought it, and very quiet on the driver's side. After adjusting the passenger window I made it 80% better. It's not perfectly quiet and could probably benefit from a second attempt, but it's good enough for now.

 

[swamp2]

Sorry, which line 1?

Fan F&^%ing tastic!

 

[Eldowerks]

I recently bought a model year close-out ‘24 Badlands with a (so-far) pristine MIC top. Pretty good for a January 2024 build that had presumably been sitting out on the car lot in the bitter Minnesota winter cold and hot summer sun for better than a year and a half. The fit and finish so far look great. So maybe I got lucky with this MIC top and am one of the “silent majority” who fortunately have no problems with their tops.

But after reading all of the comments here about cracked hard tops, I am considering getting the top preemptively coated with black Mil+Spec bed liner (Line-X clone) and a UV resistant clearcoat. I would think between the UV resistance and the great tensile strength of a high pressure two-part polyurethane elastomer like Mil+Spec would go a long way toward preventing cracking. The Line-X I’ve had installed in my two F150 construction work trucks has been bulletproof and immune from abuse for over ten years.

$1000 or so for the Mil+Spec and UV topcoat is a whole lot less than the $5k+ for an aftermarket replace hardtop.

I’d like to hear about any experiences other Bronco owners have had with bedliner coatings on their MIC tops.

 

[Deleted member 64921]

I recently bought a model year close-out ‘24 Badlands with a (so-far) pristine MIC top. Pretty good for a January 2024 build that had presumably been sitting out on the car lot in the bitter Minnesota winter cold and hot summer sun for better than a year and a half. The fit and finish so far look great. So maybe I got lucky with this MIC top and am one of the “silent majority” who fortunately have no problems with their tops.

But after reading all of the comments here about cracked hard tops, I am considering getting the top preemptively coated with black Mil+Spec bed liner (Line-X clone) and a UV resistant clearcoat. I would think between the UV resistance and the great tensile strength of a high pressure two-part polyurethane elastomer like Mil+Spec would go a long way toward preventing cracking. The Line-X I’ve had installed in my two F150 construction work trucks has been bulletproof and immune from abuse for over ten years.

$1000 or so for the Mil+Spec and UV topcoat is a whole lot less than the $5k+ for an aftermarket replace hardtop.

I’d like to hear about any experiences other Bronco owners have had with bedliner coatings on their MIC tops.

I'm seriously thinking about doing this as well.

 

[swamp2]

I recently bought a model year close-out ‘24 Badlands with a (so-far) pristine MIC top. Pretty good for a January 2024 build that had presumably been sitting out on the car lot in the bitter Minnesota winter cold and hot summer sun for better than a year and a half. The fit and finish so far look great. So maybe I got lucky with this MIC top and am one of the “silent majority” who fortunately have no problems with their tops.

But after reading all of the comments here about cracked hard tops, I am considering getting the top preemptively coated with black Mil+Spec bed liner (Line-X clone) and a UV resistant clearcoat. I would think between the UV resistance and the great tensile strength of a high pressure two-part polyurethane elastomer like Mil+Spec would go a long way toward preventing cracking. The Line-X I’ve had installed in my two F150 construction work trucks has been bulletproof and immune from abuse for over ten years.

$1000 or so for the Mil+Spec and UV topcoat is a whole lot less than the $5k+ for an aftermarket replace hardtop.

I’d like to hear about any experiences other Bronco owners have had with bedliner coatings on their MIC tops.

Don't bother.

Did you see my post just a few pages back?

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/junk-hard-tops-and-a-question.122623/post-2651121

No paint is really very strong unless it is epoxy but even then that's not very strong. The top itself is probably of a similar strength to epoxy and way stronger than paint.

You just can't save this thing from large structural loads and deflections with any thin coating.

 

[EvilJim1971]

Don't bother.

Did you see my post just a few pages back?

https://www.bronco6g.com/forum/threads/junk-hard-tops-and-a-question.122623/post-2651121

No paint is really very strong unless it is epoxy but even then that's not very strong. The top itself is probably of a similar strength to epoxy and way stronger than paint.

You just can't save this thing from large structural loads and deflections with any thin coating.

Have any of the people who did the Line-X posted their results?

 

[TPadden72]

Don't bother.

You just can't save this thing from large structural loads and deflections with any thin coating.

No structural engineer, but failure may not be due to structural loading. I wouldn't completely dismiss surface cracking allowing water ingress structural degradation.

Tom

 

[swamp2]

Have any of the people who did the Line-X posted their results?

To be fair I've not seen that specifically, but because the overall failure rate is relatively small (way higher than it "should" be, for sure) folks who report success absolutely would not be a confirmation that the technique works.

 

[swamp2]

No structural engineer, but failure may not be due to structural loading. I wouldn't completely dismiss surface cracking allowing water ingress structural degradation.

Tom

Indeed, I shouldn't have implied that I know the cause and I also don't believe it is the cause or at least the sole cause. That said, the cardboard core, along with a thin/low cost polymer isn't going to play nicely as a flexible and removable item.

 

[Deleted member 64921]

Sorry dude I’m calling BS. No engineer at Ford ever told you that the issues with MIC tops on the Bronco had been resolved.
[/Q

Indeed, I shouldn't have implied that I know the cause and I also don't believe it is the cause or at least the sole cause. That said, the cardboard core, along with a thin/low cost polymer isn't going to play nicely as a flexible and removable item.

My 2024 BD top cracked in several spots and had never been removed - also, it led a sheltered life in the garage most of the time, NEVER off road, it was a weekend mall crawler

 

[TPadden72]

Indeed, I shouldn't have implied that I know the cause and I also don't believe it is the cause or at least the sole cause. That said, the cardboard core, along with a thin/low cost polymer isn't going to play nicely as a flexible and removable item.

Uh, cardboard can be both flexible and strong until water gets involved.. Alot like my electrical engineering expertise; I may not know much but I know water let's the smoke out and that isn't good.

Tom

 

[Eldowerks]

I’m thinking that 65 mils of Mil-Spec or Line-X is gonna be a whole lot tougher than 4-8 mils of a typical automotive paint job on top of 25 mils of gel coat on a roof panel as well as add to the water resistance and tensile strength of an untreated MIC top.

Mil-Spec or Line-X undoubtedly take a heckuva lot more abuse than paint and/or gel coat.
For example, the US military is using a Line-X variant for ballistic protection.

https://www.ixscoatings.com/military-defense/

Did you see my post just a few pages back?

 

[dingle87]

This might be an option if i get to the end of warranty without MIC top issues. I have until May 2026. I’ll keep checking it in various light over the next 6-9 months.

 

[swamp2]

I’m thinking that 65 mils of Mil-Spec or Line-X is gonna be a whole lot tougher than 4-8 mils of a typical automotive paint job on top of 25 mils of gel coat on a roof panel as well as add to the water resistance and tensile strength of an untreated MIC top.

Mil-Spec or Line-X undoubtedly take a heckuva lot more abuse than paint and/or gel coat.
For example, the US military is using a Line-X variant for ballistic protection.

https://www.ixscoatings.com/military-defense/

But you are missing the forest for the trees....

The top is in places probably 1" thick and so +/- 1.5 mm of essentially strong paint is going to solve the problem? Very unlikely to stop whatever is happening with these tops IMHO. I think you would also seriously struggle to get any sort of uniform 1.5 mm thick coating across the top and in critical areas that seem to be often problematic - around the windows.

Look, I get it, the failing tops suck (I had one...) and it would be great if there was some magic way to stop it. I just think it is extremely unlikely. These things are a somehow deeply flawed design.

Furthermore, as I noted prior, if you coated top does not fail, and most of them don't, you will almost for sure have confirmation bias and a non sequitur fallacy going on. You just can't know that your "fix" actually "fixed" anything.

I'm sure I'm not going to dissuade you, so proceed and post up some pics when your all wrapped up. Good luck on the warranty post whatever coating you choose.

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