Soft Top Envy

[Maverick909]

love my hardtop. only for the fact is i will be running a RTT in the very close future

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[flipboltz]

Poop what? I also used to live in Bangor with a soft top. I'm just not a hard top on a Jeep person. Now, my husband on the other hand

Colorado, Iowa, Florida and now Costa Rica. Always Soft Top. Is it a safety reason to buy a hardtop? I just don't get it.

 

[Snayte]

I went with dual tops just like I did on my last 2 JKs. I have a five year JK old soft top that looks like new except for some very minor scratches on the windows (we all know that is unavoidable) I am sure it would not look as nice if it were used in the harsh WI winters.

I forgot to include it with my trade so if anyone needs a JK premium soft top I might have one to sell...

 

[americonium]

I like having the hard top in the winter. Just because.

 

[TrailTorque]

I'd like that, but would prefer the full soft top - I'd like to be able to fold it down quick, throw in my surfboard and hit the road..

Not to make things worse but it’s super easy to remove all together also which makes it even easier to throw your boards in. Just sayin..

 

[trouphaz]

i have the hard top and got tired of taking it off and putting it on. so i bought a suntop, but that top is pretty thin that i'm worried about NJ winters, but it was annoying enough to install that i don't know if i'm going to want to swap back to hard top. we'll see. :D

i am liking the suntop though. i like the fastback look with the ability to open the entire roof which no other top had (yet).

 

[Lil Punk'n]

We went with the cheaper option : Bestop trektop nx , its wonderful. It also has the sunrider . Price was right got it for 1029 from Quadratec .

 

[Dadams20]

We went with the cheaper option : Bestop trektop nx , its wonderful. It also has the sunrider . Price was right got it for 1029 from Quadratec .

Looks awesome !!

 

[Lil Punk'n]

Looks awesome !!

Thanks, use the sunrider quite often. The bikini top not so much . The mosquitos this year are terrible.

 

[SDJeeper]

Living in So Cal (Orange County) I do get soft-top envy.. I sometimes wish I'd gone that route from the beginning...just get a bit tired of the removal process when the weather's nice .. which is a lot. Wish I could trade it somehow for a premium soft.. Instead of paying full for one I wish/wonder if Jeep had a buy-back trade program for the tops? Probably just have to bite the bullet and have both..

I have a hard top and I just installed my BestTop trek top yesterday and I LOVE it!! Went cruising around yesterday and it was so easy to flip back the sunrider portion. I’m still keeping my hardtop, bought the Quadratec storage cart for it to store in the garage.

 

[SDJeeper]

I have a hard top and I just installed my BestTop trek top yesterday and I LOVE it!! Went cruising around yesterday and it was so easy to flip back the sunrider portion. I’m still keeping my hardtop, bought the Quadratec storage cart for it to store in the garage.

 

[xtopherm]

Living in So Cal (Orange County) I do get soft-top envy.. I sometimes wish I'd gone that route from the beginning...just get a bit tired of the removal process when the weather's nice .. which is a lot. Wish I could trade it somehow for a premium soft.. Instead of paying full for one I wish/wonder if Jeep had a buy-back trade program for the tops? Probably just have to bite the bullet and have both..

I have the premium soft top and it is my second year-round softtop Jeep living in New England. The winters are no problem - the heater is more than powerful enough.

But there are three pretty big disadvantages to the softtop that prospective buyers may want to consider: (1) rear cargo area is much less useful because the rear window does not hinge up - it is a major pain to disconnect the rear window and the cross bar and flip up and scratch the whole dirty mess just to toss a few grocery bags or a dog back there - do not under estimate the convenience of a hinged flip up glass window - without one, using the rear cargo area sucks - it is either work/hassle, or stooping and crushing your grocery bags down to limbo in under the window bar (2) theft risk if you ever park in or near the city - not a huge likelihood, but always in the back of your mind, especially if you have a day where you have to leave tools or other valuables like a laptop in the vehicle - no bueno (3) roof storage - with a softtop, you simply cannot use the roof for hauling anything ever - even a 2x4 from the hardware store without adding one of those exoskeleton racks, and we all know those racks introduce a bunch of trade-offs of their own.

All that being said, I still like the soft top the most (because you can put it down without planning ahead), but it does have its trade-offs. For me the perfect top might be that new softtop from BestTop that has a hard flip up hinged rear window - I've been meaning to look into one of those....

 

[dsgrey]

Having owned a soft top convertible car for many years, I knew the only route was a soft top Jeep. My top is down more than up. Security can be an issue thus a Tuffy/Slipstream/Backbone. Good point about the lack of accessibility into the back without a hinged window but I cheat by always having my back seats down and use that area for hauling bulk stuff. Biggest downside is the cost of replacing the top when it wears out.

 

[verbaltharhino]

I sold my JKU hard top about 4 years into owning it, owning a soft top, too. I needed the $$ and it was a quick $900 plus an item in trade, which was worth about $500. All was grand until the zippers on my soft top started pulling off at around year 8. I got a Pavement Ends Trektop at that point, which looked great and worked OK.

Bought the JL with a hard top, knowing I'd get another Trektop for the Spring, Summer, and Fall. A Bestop Trektop NX was purchased before we even took delivery of the JL and it was installed as soon as it arrived. AMAZING. Not the same top I used to own. This is a far better design and the flip-back sunrider seals the deal. It takes 5 seconds to flip down the latches and push it back.

I found out it also has an "auto-open" feature. This activates at around 25 MPH when you forget to latch the front.

The hard top was easily removed by me and my girlfriend. I built a stand for it with two Harbor Freight dollies, 2x4's, and a moving blanket. Admittedly, I'm not sure how much of the Trektop I'll need to disassemble and store to get the hard top back on but the initial install only took a couple hours. I can do that a couple times a year....

 

[Katej1213]

I originally bought my Jeep with a hard top, too. I live in East TN, so the weather is fairly warm most of the year, and I recently decided to buy an after market soft top. I went with the Bestop Trektop NX Soft Top in Black Twill for my 2 door 2018 JL, and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase. I use it almost every day! It is super convenient to slide the top back and take the windows off. I honestly think I’m going to sell my hard top and keep this one on all year, that’s how much I love it! I highly recommend if you’re researching to look into this one!

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