Waves in roof metal

[Repsol69]

Ok so I had my wife’s roof wrapped today and the installer called me to come take a look at the roof before he finished. Seems there are what looks like dents along the sides of the roof above the doors on both sides. One side was wrapped and the other was not. I never noticed this before even when I washed it but u really couldn’t see them . Has anyone noticed if they have them??

 

[Blue Bear]

Ok so I had my wife’s roof wrapped today and the installer called me to come take a look at the roof before ge finished. Seems there are what looks like dents along the sides of the roof above the doors on both sides. One side was wrapped and the other was not. I never noticed this before even when I washed it but u really couldn’t see them . Has anyone noticed if they have them??

I do not have any dents along the side of the roof.

 

[TakaraLC]

Looks like hail damage.

 

[Repsol69]

Looks like hail damage.

Nope he said the whole center of the roof was perfect .

 

[TakaraLC]

Nope he said the whole center of the roof was perfect .

Was this picture before or after wrap? If after, wrap shop likely caused it while trying to remove bubbles.

 

[Noctilucent]

Ok so I had my wife’s roof wrapped today and the installer called me to come take a look at the roof before ge finished. Seems there are what looks like dents along the sides of the roof above the doors on both sides. One side was wrapped and the other was not. I never noticed this before even when I washed it but u really couldn’t see them . Has anyone noticed if they have them??

Reminds me of the dents in this video

 

[Repsol69]

Was this picture before or after wrap? If after, wrap shop likely caused it while trying to remove bubbles.

The other side wasnt wrapped yet and there were the same dents.. not as many though that’s why they called me to show they were there before the wrap.. the wrap just made them more noticeable

 

[EOD Guy]

There were several posts concerning this very thing. Seems like some folks took delivery without noticing and it was surmised, they arrived from the port with dented roof sides. The damage occurred while in transportation from Japan.

 

[MSINAL]

Looks like pressure dents from kneeling on it. These aren't made from 1970s era sheet metal, knees and elbows (fenders) will deform it.

 

[Repsol69]

There were several posts concerning this very thing. Seems like some folks took delivery without noticing and it was surmised, they arrived from the port with dented roof sides. The damage occurred while in transportation from Japan.

Any Links to the other posts?

 

[katekebo]

This was a common "problem" (or "feature") with the FJ Cruiser. Basically, it's stress deformation of thin sheet metal structure under load. The LC is a body-on-frame construction, so the sheet metal "box" body is not designed to bear much load. The LC body is designed to provide good resistance in case of a rollover, but not to provide structural support in case of flexing or twisting loads like a unibody construction would do. The ladder frame is much more flexible than a box body and can absorbe much more "twist" than the "box", so the stress imposed on the sheet metal body can exceed elastic deformation limits of the thin "skin". The more you off-road and flex your LC, the more visible this deformation will become.
This is a common issue of any structure where the structural strength is provided by a "skeleton" (the frame in case of the LC) vs. the body and skin itself. It is very noticeable in airplanes where you can see "waves" in the skin due to structural overload after multiple landings - the B-52 is probably the most noticeable example.
It has no consequences except for esthetics.
Let me illustrate the issue with a video. All body-on-frame vehicle twist a lot on uneven surface. In a pickup truck it's not a problem because of the box is separated from the cabin. But in an SUV like the LC, it's the upper door frame structure that takes the beating. In a unibody construction, the vehicles body is designed to provide structural rigidity, but in a body-on-frame the passenger compartment is significantly weaker and really can't take that much stress. You could solve this issue by making the cabin stronger (like in a unibody SUV), but at huge expense of the weight, probably some extra 20-30% increase.
BTW, "wavy" roofs are not the only structural issue with body-on-frame SUVs. Another place where failure occurs frequently is the wheel well inner apron, close to where the hood hinges are located. As the front corner of the frame lifts when a wheel climbs an obstacle, it puts a lot of stress on the wheel well apron that can't take that much deformation. This is why old body-on-frame cars simply didn't have inner wheel well aprons (see pics below from an FJ Cruiser).

 

[EOD Guy]

Any Links to the other posts?

Search is your friend......

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