My MIC Replacement Top is Worse Than The Original!

[Dadsquatch]

Was the new top covered in a layer of mud when it arrived ? As a tech how do you see that top and think, “Send It!”. I’m sorry but that wouldn’t give me much confidence in my dealer’s service department.

And having owned a Jeep how did Ford screw up the top design so badly, did they look at a Jeep top and think “that’s way to fancy and probably will last forever, let’s do something that won’t make it through the warranty period”

It just boggles my mind that they even bothered installing that top. I guess the dealership gets to charge Ford for the labor. I’ve never seen worse quality control. Ford doesn’t seem to even care what this is doing to their reputation and customer loyalty.

In the dealer’s defense, and even my own after I did a thorough inspection, you can’t see any of these cracks in the daytime with a layer of dust on the top. It had to be cleaned first for the cracks to be visible in the daylight. And then I took it upon myself to do the bright flashlight test on it and that’s when I was like “holy shit”.

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[Dadsquatch]

Pretty horrible. With the dealer mentioning not to wash it for a couple days, I wonder if there's some kind of curing process/period? If so, touchless car washes use very harsh chemicals to try and "clean" dirt off vehicles without the need to touch. Mix those chemicals with a top that's still curing, and I imagine that could result in some issues.

I will say that the top wrapped like that could look kind of cool. You could have a gatorskin top. 1st of its kind.

I imagine the dealer and Ford will take care of you. Repeat issues aren't uncommon. I'm going in for another wiper cowl, after my original was replaced on Tuesday.

Thanks for the input. Not sure on the curing, but my gut says that’s not the case for a couple reasons:
1.) Dealer only said don’t wash it for a couple days because of the rear side windows they replaced. Due to the adhesive. Just like when you get a new windshield.
2.) The top sat at the dealership for about 2 weeks before I had them replace it. Because it arrived right before I went on vacation and they couldn’t squeeze me in. So I had to wait, hence it sat at the dealer and “cured” for another 2 weeks.

I’m not worried about getting it replaced. They’ll agree it’s not good and take care of me. If not, I’m a fighter and won’t give up. What really pisses me off is I debated for about 6 months to get the top replaced in fear that the new top could be worse, and sure enough it was. My guess is they shipped me a shitty top that was sitting in the corner of rejects at MAP which is why it got to the dealer so quickly. Tried to pull a fast one but not getting past me.

 

[Dadsquatch]

For those of you with MIC tops, I’m very curious (but don’t want to ruin your day either) to see what you find if you take a bright light or phone flashlight to your top when it’s in low lighting. Check at all angles and check the sides, around rear windows, and also on the top of the top.

 

[Tex]

For those of you with MIC tops, I’m very curious (but don’t want to ruin your day either) to see what you find if you take a bright light or phone flashlight to your top when it’s in low lighting. Check at all angles and check the sides, around rear windows, and also on the top of the top.

My 2021 is still fine at 35K, zero cracks or defects.
It appears that the design is perfectly acceptable if the build process and conditions are just right, but the possibility of something not being right is pretty high.

 

[HotLap]

Wow, sorry for the hassle, seems like it should have been inspected by dealer service dept prior to being installed on your Bronco…pretty sure they’ll make it right though

 

[Markubis]

The red flag to me was that it was so dusty. Maybe there's more to that back story but a "new" component for my car should be immaculate.
And why would the dealer install new windows on it if it was so dirty?

 

[Wolfeman]

For those of you with MIC tops, I’m very curious (but don’t want to ruin your day either) to see what you find if you take a bright light or phone flashlight to your top when it’s in low lighting. Check at all angles and check the sides, around rear windows, and also on the top of the top.

I just had mine replaced and the new one, so far, seems just fine. I haven't given it a thorough inspection to be honest.

The good news is that your replacement is so bad that it can't even be debated that you should get another new one. And, odds are that you won't get two bad ones in a row.

That said, I still don't think the design on these tops is what it should be. This is one area where I can say Jeep has an advantage over Ford.

 

[Evolkidbell]

I know right? I think there are more bad ones out there than good. For instance, this replacement top looks pretty good out in the sunlight and when dirty. But all clean and examined under low lighting with a flashlight on it and it really comes alive with all the cracks and imperfections. I encourage you to take your cell phone light and review your top at all angles and sides in low lighting and see what you find.

When I have a chance, I’ll take another pic of the top of the top in direct sunlight and you can see how the cracks can be camouflaged and unnoticed.

I was pretty surprised when the dealer told me my new top arrived in 2 weeks. Probably because they grabbed a bad one from the plant reject pile and gave it to me. It was pretty dirty when I went to pick it up, so not surprised it was sitting somewhere for awhile.

The sticker on my original top had a date on it. This new top has a sticker but no date (see attached photo). Does this mean it’s a 1.0 since no date? It also had the green and blue circle stickers.

My 1.0 top had a date on it. Upper passenger rear area right on a seam. "Date Primer Applied"
My 2.0 took me almost 6 months to get, and it has a similar sticker. Literally a few days after the announcement of the top "fix", so my 2.0 was sitting somewhere for 6+ months.

TBH, my 1.0 top was better quality, besides the seams, which were horrible. the 1.0 top was noticeably quieter too. My 2.0 sounds like there's a cracked open rear window all the time.

 

[Bronccraig]

I live in Fla, have 2023 2 DR base BB HT and no issues as of yet but also scared to take off top at this point ), many afternoon downpours..i feel lucky so far, no flashlight test for me..ignorance is bliss until it isnt maybe (

 

[Black_Stallion13]

If you get a “good one” next time sell it immediately for $6-7k and either buy an ADV or a Trektop. It’s probly only a matter of time before all the hardtops crap out. Laminated cardboard is not gonna stand up well as the years add up. I did exactly as you suggested - regular close inspections over the last year and I noticed minor imperfections/slight patterning showing up here and there at just a year old and I even had mine garaged most of the time. It was a 2.0 version with no defects at all just didn’t have confidence it would hold up another 3-5 years very well. Cash in that hardtop while you can.

 

[Rydfree]

I wonder who got your old top ? Ford probably shipped it right back out to someone and that person is probably thinking "Wow, this top is so much better than my last one !".

 

[Biz]

I believe that's the worst one I've seen. I wouldn't be happy either.
You'd think this far down in the process they'd have it figured out.
Clearly they don't.
Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Ft. Worth Rob]

These pics are from the attachment. If I read this correctly, the green check mark means warrantable and the red mark means not. But the top in the picture with the red mark looks much worse to me.

Like others, I don’t understand why the dealer wouldn’t clean the top to inspect it before installing glass. They easily could have followed the bulletin instructions and used a sponge.

 

[Dadsquatch]

I wonder who got your old top ? Ford probably shipped it right back out to someone and that person is probably thinking "Wow, this top is so much better than my last one !".

I’ve been wondering the same thing. And to be honest, I want my old top back at this point. My other conspiracy theory is someone at the dealership had a bad hardtop and they swapped it with mine and now I have theirs, but again why go through the window replacement trouble. Likely not the case, but I am going to ask for my old top be put back on while I wait for a new one.

I believe that's the worst one I've seen. I wouldn't be happy either.
You'd think this far down in the process they'd have it figured out.
Clearly they don't.
Hope you get it sorted.

Yep. And that is what untimely pushed me to move forward with a replacement top, thinking they have to be past these issues by now. I do still believe that, but they likely just shipped me a bad one from the reject pile boneyard at MAP.

These pics are from the attachment. If I read this correctly, the green check mark means warrantable and the red mark means not. But the top in the picture with the red mark looks much worse to me.

Like others, I don’t understand why the dealer wouldn’t clean the top to inspect it before installing glass. They easily could have followed the bulletin instructions and used a sponge.

Correct, the red mark means not warrantable and is a worse condition picture, but the description that goes along with that pic says it was a user “cleaning/chemical error”, which I’m calling BS since mine looks like that supposedly brand new and was cleaned with simple soap and water like I’ve been doing the past year with my old top and rest of my MIC panels. Seems they’re using the white staining as an excuse to blame chemicals, but my new top seems to have that too and had no chemicals.

 

[subg]

The aluminum Armadillo top looks promising if you don't mind a slant back.

Looks like the interior liner is $1500 though.

Hope you get this sorted out.

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