Soft top at high speed -- loud deep thrum or harmonic vibration

[seajayseven]

Was cruising along the highway at what some might say is fast for a bronco into a bit of a head wind when we had what I think was a bit of a soft top separation. Out of nowhere an extremely loud deep thrum or harmonic vibration from the soft top. Didn’t see anything unusual from the inside and it stopped as we slowed down. Very startling. Anyone else experience this?

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[Dmorty217]

Never had this even well above the speed limit. Have you checked the latch in the middle of the soft top? Clips and seal of velcro around the rear windows?

 

[Midlife Crisis]

I've had some nasty crosswinds on the highway give what I would describe as a soft top separation. It happens. Part of life with a soft top.

 

[seajayseven]

Going to give it a hard look tomorrow in the light of day. The sound was hard to convey. Extremely loud and with a vibration you could feel. No flapping.

 

[iwantabasebronco]

Were you behind a semi truck by chance? I've experienced some odd wind buffeting behaviors with my top behind large vehicles.

 

[seajayseven]

Clean air. Definitely speed plus headwind.

 

[OK_Hunter]

Where specifically was the sound coming from?

I would put the soft top down and back up just to make sure all of the locking points are secured and also inspect those areas.

 

[seajayseven]

We couldn’t identify the origin as it happened. The sound was everywhere. Filled the whole cabin. But it continued as we slowed down well past (10-15 mph slower) than when it started.
I’ve had the truck at a higher sustained speed than we were going today with no noise. The headwind today was probably 15 -20 sometimes.

 

[22OBX]

It’s just a vacuum created occasionally at high speed where the fabric stretches up and then pops down hard. I have built what I think is a simple fix to soft top flop, even at slower speeds when you get some fabric flop. So far so good also makes the top quieter as well. Contemplating posting solution as i had thought about developing a commercial version. I think the new top design for some newer MY23’s may be Ford’s first attempt to limit soft top flutter. Be interested in how well it does over time and if it is indeed quieter. My guess is it will be based on how I saw it was seamed on the edge and was told foam was underneath the sides.

 

[Roll Tide!]

Was cruising along the highway at what some might say is fast for a bronco into a bit of a head wind when we had what I think was a bit of a soft top separation. Out of nowhere an extremely loud deep thrum or harmonic vibration from the soft top. Didn’t see anything unusual from the inside and it stopped as we slowed down. Very startling. Anyone else experience this?

I’ve had this happen when I was running my soft top on my Jeep. Didn’t happen often but when it did it was startling.

 

[Ft. Worth Rob]

It’s just a vacuum created occasionally at high speed where the fabric stretches up and then pops down hard. I have built what I think is a simple fix to soft top flop, even at slower speeds when you get some fabric flop. So far so good also makes the top quieter as well. Contemplating posting solution as i had thought about developing a commercial version. I think the new top design for some newer MY23’s may be Ford’s first attempt to limit soft top flutter. Be interested in how well it does over time and if it is indeed quieter. My guess is it will be based on how I saw it was seamed on the edge and was told foam was underneath the sides.

@22OBX im curious what your solution was. My Bestop etop has bad low frequency noise above 65-70mph. I’m thinking about whether some type of fairing/wind deflector might help.

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