Few questions for other Jeep owners

03FreedomEdition

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Original poster
Joined
Jun 8, 2024
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74
Location
New Jersey
I'm just going to list them off. How much does a silver windshield surround cost? Mine is totally rotted out.


Where and how do I drill frame drain holes?


And is there any risk with doing so.


How much will a professional paint job on the bumpers and hardtop cost? I would be willing to sand it down and mask it off.


Ballpark how much would a full silver repaint of my silver Jeep be?


How much work is it or how much would it cost to sand down and coat the frame with paint? Weather I do it myself or pay someone to do it.

My chrome wheels are dirty no matter how I clean them. How much to get them refinished?

And one final question. Does anyone know of any water tight subwoofer boxes. My jeep like every other jeep I’m pretty sure leaks sometimes. Not always but sometimes it does and I don’t know where from.
What can I do to prevent a sub box from being water damaged? I have never noticed leaking water and maybe I fixed it when I got a new trunk seal not sure.
 
I'm just going to list them off. How much does a silver windshield surround cost? Mine is totally rotted out.


Where and how do I drill frame drain holes?


And is there any risk with doing so.


How much will a professional paint job on the bumpers and hardtop cost? I would be willing to sand it down and mask it off.


Ballpark how much would a full silver repaint of my silver Jeep be?


How much work is it or how much would it cost to sand down and coat the frame with paint? Weather I do it myself or pay someone to do it.

My chrome wheels are dirty no matter how I clean them. How much to get them refinished?

And one final question. Does anyone know of any water tight subwoofer boxes. My jeep like every other jeep I’m pretty sure leaks sometimes. Not always but sometimes it does and I don’t know where from.
What can I do to prevent a sub box from being water damaged? I have never noticed leaking water and maybe I fixed it when I got a new trunk seal not sure.

1. Car-part.com. Decent windshield frames in Texas are gonna be way different than a frame in the rust belt worth putting in.

2. 3-4" past the bend where the control arms mount. 2 on each frame rail 5/8" in diameter. 4 holes total. 2 in front, 2 in rear.

3. No, unless you take a hole saw to it. A slight circular opening won't hurt it. It is actually the biggest, IMO, oversight from Chrysler. Whether or not that was a "we can sell more Jeeps later on if we rot the fuck outta the current ones" kinda thing is up to your discretion. The lack of frame drain holes are, where we are in the country, the #1 reason of TJ's ending up in the boneyard.

4. I don't know. But don't pay someone to do the bumpers. Get new milk jugs and paint that bitch yourself. It's a bumper after all, you don't gotta go too crazy. I still have my OEM front bumper if you want it. I'm in Ohio though.

5. A lot, if you want it done right. It's all about location. Auto body costs require some personal window shopping, other than that, it's basically a "how long is a piece of string" type of thing. Same goes for that windshield surround.

6. I did mine. I didn't pull the tub or anything however. For the inside of the frame, Eastwood frame coating works great in partnership with Fluid Film. I skipped that, but I will say an auger with a few chain links on the end of it REALLY grinds up that interior rust before coating. The exterior is easy. Grind it down, spray it with a rusty metal primer (I used Krylon) and then topped it off with a good couple coats of Krylon Rust Tough. I liked flat black, but others prefer matte.

7. I was quoted $125 in Ohio for redoing the chrome on each wheel on my 20" alloy wheels on a 2016 Silverado. They're fairly oxidized. Fucking road brine. What are you using to clean them? Are they corroding or is brake dust makin em look crusty?

8. You need to fix the water leak first before throwing in new mods. Not work around it. I suppose a plastic marine-grade enclosure wouldn't get dry rotted, but you can't put an amplifier inside of a sub enclosure if you don't want it to go in "protect" mode all the time from overheating. If you have a water leak and your amp is in the open, expect that to go too. Not just the enclosure. I love doing car audio installs, so I can probably help you a little there once you're at that step.
 
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1. Car-part.com. Decent windshield frames in Texas are gonna be way different than a frame in the rust belt worth putting in.

2. 3-4" past the bend where the control arms mount. 2 on each frame rail 5/8" in diameter. 4 holes total. 2 in front, 2 in rear.

3. No, unless you take a hole saw to it. A slight circular opening won't hurt it. It is actually the biggest, IMO, oversight from Chrysler. Whether or not that was a "we can sell more Jeeps later on if we rot the fuck outta the current ones" kinda thing is up to your discretion. The lack of frame drain holes are, where we are in the country, the #1 reason of TJ's ending up in the boneyard.

4. I don't know. But don't pay someone to do the bumpers. Get new milk jugs and paint that bitch yourself. It's a bumper after all, you don't gotta go too crazy. I still have my OEM front bumper if you want it. I'm in Ohio though.

5. A lot, if you want it done right. It's all about location. Auto body costs require some personal window shopping, other than that, it's basically a "how long is a piece of string" type of thing. Same goes for that windshield surround.

6. I did mine. I didn't pull the tub or anything however. For the inside of the frame, Eastwood frame coating works great in partnership with Fluid Film. I skipped that, but I will say an auger with a few chain links on the end of it REALLY grinds up that interior rust before coating. The exterior is easy. Grind it down, spray it with a rusty metal primer (I used Krylon) and then topped it off with a good couple coats of Krylon Rust Tough. I liked flat black, but others prefer matte.

7. I was quoted $125 in Ohio for redoing the chrome on my 20" alloy wheels on a 2016 Silverado. They're fairly oxidized. Fucking road brine. What are you using to clean them? Are they corroding or is brake dust makin em look crusty?

8. You need to fix the water leak first before throwing in new mods. Not work around it. I suppose a plastic marine-grade enclosure wouldn't get dry rotted, but you can't put an amplifier inside of a sub enclosure if you don't want it to go in "protect" mode all the time from overheating. If you have a water leak and your amp is in the open, expect that to go too. Not just the enclosure. I love doing car audio installs, so I can probably help you a little there once you're at that step.

Alright thanks! I have used a couple different wheel cleaners, highly concentrated simple green and power washing. They are smooth to the touch. It is etched.
Also would it be risky to just weld the windshield myself?
Thanks for the response!
 
Alright thanks! I have used a couple different wheel cleaners, highly concentrated simple green and power washing. They are smooth to the touch. It is etched.
Also would it be risky to just weld the windshield myself?
Thanks for the response!

Depends on your welding skills. There's not a lot of room to work unless you take it off, which at that point IMO is already worth just putting in a rust free frame. Jeeps are 19 gauge steel (hard to come by but can be substituted) which isn't that thick. One up from tinfoil is how I've heard it described, which also means easier to burn through and harder to make it look good and functional.
 
Chiming in on hardtop painting because I'm also in the tri-state area and have been researching it myself (need a spice hardtop painted to match the dark tan ("carmel"/VK9 color code) hard uppers (which match the soft top). Was planning on doing it myself with spray cans or spray gun but I don't have a heated garage and missed the window of warmer weather. The color matched spray cans are also super expensive (I did get one to make sure of the color) so figured I would shop around for a cheap paint job since the rear glass is still out.
I went to three different body shops and explained: it's 24-year-old car and a 27-year-old top. Don't need the tiny chips fixed. It's not a daily driver. It won't sit in the sun; hardtop is only on in winter so it doesn't need massive UV protection. It's garage-kept. But it *does* need to be color-matched (there is no SEM match for dark tan).
Shop #1: Gotcha, quick & dirty, can match the color, will mask off glass & vents, $750.
Shop #2: Wouldn't touch it unless they could "do it right" - taking the glass out, fixing the scratches, (which I respect, but no way I'll risk messing with the gaskets). $1500-2000.
Shop #3: most thorough guy, but..."you need primer, need UV protectant, you need a topcoat", $650, plus 2 quarts of paint, which would cost...wait for it...$613 🤣 "with his discount" (and no I didn't mis-hear him, he wrote it down).
So I got more help on this forum and looked into PPG paint, which brought me to Aboff's. Spoke to a knowledgeable guy who recommended this stuff, apparently it's also suitable for the canvas on the uppers. He color matched my spray can sample perfectly. Only downside is the minimum order was a gallon but it was all of $72 😀. Neighbor across the street (who works on classic cars) has a heated garage and offered to spray it for me. I'll post pics when it's done. Hope this helps.

(And you can totally spray a bumper yourself!!! I really like the "hammered" black finish.)

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