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Easy Modification But Effective

17K views 33 replies 23 participants last post by  balzer 
#1 ·
If you dont care to wash your JK then this post is not for you SO CLICK HERE TO READ A DIFFERENT POST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

otherwise read on!

I wash my JK Rubicon once a week at a touchless wash, usually on Fridays before the wife and I go out. :D

One thing I did not like was after it would dry off I got those annoying spots under the side mirrors from the water dripping down. As I drove down the road the water would also spray on the door and looked like I was spitting out the window.

I read on another forum to drill a hole in the plastic mount under the mirrors. So I did it to my JK and wanted to try it and give it a few washes before I made a comment.

IT WORKS GREAT! If you want to do the mod it is worth the small effort.

NOT MY PICTURE


http://www.jk-forum.com/showthread.php?t=1291
 
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#5 ·
No, per the article the guy said he did remove it on his first mirror but on the second one he just drilled it, You dont drill straight into the bracket but upward, it is very thin plastic so you dont have to go far, in fact, if your nervous about it you can take the drill bit and twist it by hand and it will drill because it is that thin, Take one of those plastic thumb tacks and start the hole. It is very easy.
 
#6 ·
Fantastic mod. I am deffinetly going to do that tomorrow. Now I just have to wait another few weeks before I can wash and wax it. Built 05/31/07 need to let the paint cure.
 
#9 ·
I don't see it now, but on that "other" forum was a walkthrough on correcting the factory weep holes in the mirror. Basically remove the mirror and cut away the foam covering the existing weep hole.

Drilling worked fine as well. No need to remove the mirrors.

Jeff
 
#10 ·
dougolupski said:
Fantastic mod. I am deffinetly going to do that tomorrow. Now I just have to wait another few weeks before I can wash and wax it. Built 05/31/07 need to let the paint cure.
Your paint is cured by the time it leaves the factory. You can wash and wax as soon as you get it. Letting the paint cure is a myth left over from when they used the old paints.

As far as touchless washes; I would stay away from them. You are better off going to one with the soft rubber brushes. The touchless washes use a chemical that can and will dammage surfaces on your vehicle. There are tins of post on the corvette forum about what can happen if all of the chem is not rinsed well.

I try to keep mine clean as well but with all the rain we have had here in Texas recently, mother nature is doing a good job keeping the spot free rinse working on a daily basis.:thumbsup:
 
#11 ·
I really don't buy that theory. Paint today is even softer and need more time to bake than past lead based paints. A few hours in an oven at the factory just isnt enough. I only speak from personal experience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleen_S7
I did paint, body, electrical, suspension, and drivetrain for Saleen for three years beyond my R&D time at Mazda. We would always let the paint bake properly.
 
#13 ·
Sorry I must have misspoke abit. I think a month is long enough but I will not include the time at the factory. I really only look at the time that the vehicle spends in the sun with normal day to day driving. We had a 4 million dollar paint booth and oven and it still did crap for curing the paint. To each there own on this I am the kind of guy who will wheel the piss out of his jeep, put a dent in it and spend all next weekend banging and painting the dent out. I am really anal with my cars.
 
#14 ·
JK_Jeep -- Thanks for posting this picture. I had only seen the old thread discussing this, but the position of this "weep" hole is much better.

I drilled mine with a 1/16 inch drill bit after starting the drilling point by pressing in with a pushpin/thumb tack. I drilled upwards at 60 degree angle.

A few days later while washing the Jeep I sprayed water into the mirror housing as much as possible until I saw water spraying out the weep hole. I stopped the spray.

The mirror bracket looked like them little statues of cherubs pee'in in a fountain!

Great and simple mod!
 
#15 ·
dougolupski said:
I really don't buy that theory. Paint today is even softer and need more time to bake than past lead based paints. A few hours in an oven at the factory just isnt enough. I only speak from personal experience. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saleen_S7
I did paint, body, electrical, suspension, and drivetrain for Saleen for three years beyond my R&D time at Mazda. We would always let the paint bake properly.
I have painted for 20 years, and within 24 hours of painting (and I have painted motorcycles, cars, vans, trucks, firetrucks, you name it) the paint is color sanded and buffed out. This takes all trash and orange peel out of the paint. This is a myth, most paints today are a base clear, after you lay the color or base after 20 minutes it is completely dry. The clear hardens in about 24 hours. It doesn't get any harder than that. The single stage is sanded the next day as well. By the time you get your vehicle you can wash wax, color sand whatever you want to do.
 
#16 ·
kscobra2004 said:
I have painted for 20 years, and within 24 hours of painting (and I have painted motorcycles, cars, vans, trucks, firetrucks, you name it) the paint is color sanded and buffed out. This takes all trash and orange peel out of the paint. This is a myth, most paints today are a base clear, after you lay the color or base after 20 minutes it is completely dry. The clear hardens in about 24 hours. It doesn't get any harder than that. The single stage is sanded the next day as well. By the time you get your vehicle you can wash wax, color sand whatever you want to do.
Thanks for the heads up, when I was a kid, I worked in a body shop, the boss told me enamale's should be left alone , (we water sanded, and buffed the day after), as far as waxing though, wait for at least 3 mos so it could 'breath', a mis-conception ?, or is newer paint different these days ?
 
#17 ·
BopsStudios said:
as far as waxing though, wait for at least 3 mos so it could 'breath', a mis-conception ?, or is newer paint different these days ?
you will be fine with waxing your jeep, it is a base clear. You are right Enamel was a totally different animal than laquer paint. I don't know much about enamel, other than you can shoot enamel over laquer but not laquer over enamel.

Anything these days, as far as vehicles go, are all safe to wax, wash, color sand and buff. Although I would be careful with sanding and buffing, I don't trust these manufacturers with the amount of paint they are spraying on them.
 
#19 ·
This mod worked great!

I was also suffering from the water running down the doors for several days after washing my JK. I twisted and turned a 1/16 drill bit by hand and water came shooting out of the passerger side. I cannot believe there was that much water in there. The drivers side just drained for a quick second, but this mod worked great. The holes are hardly noticeable.

Thanks for the great info.

Dave C.
 
#20 ·
Wow- glad someone brought this thread back to the top. I had never seen this thread. Since buying my jeep, I have gotten into the habit of running thru a touchless car wash each week when I fill up the tank. And of course that water running out the mirror mount is annoying. This is a great tip that I will be doing very soon.
 
#21 ·
While we're talking about washing and waxing our JK's, have any of you tried the new Turtle Wax Ice? It's a wax you can put on the whole vehicle, plastics and all(except glass), and it makes everything shine. It is a pain to buff off, but it's worth it, this stuff really works. I even use it inside my vehicles to protect the dash and all.
 
#22 ·
jca1 said:
While we're talking about washing and waxing our JK's, have any of you tried the new Turtle Wax Ice? It's a wax you can put on the whole vehicle, plastics and all(except glass), and it makes everything shine. It is a pain to buff off, but it's worth it, this stuff really works. I even use it inside my vehicles to protect the dash and all.
Why can't you put it on glass?
 
#24 ·
Ice

I just used the Turtle Wax ICE today. I used the liquid polish and was very impressed with how it went on and came off with very little effort.

The results are impressive at this point. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts and protects.

Overall I am happy with this product.

Just my experience...

Dave C.
 
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