Questions for anyone with a Bestop Supertop NX soft top

@THEREALJIM , yea that's crazy! I even talked to them on the phone a few times last year and they told me that the only option for the LJ was the black diamond material. I really wonder if it was something they did offer and quadratech has some old ones. Dang, I'd like to know.
 
GorillaBiscuit said:
@THEREALJIM , yea that's crazy! I even talked to them on the phone a few times last year and they told me that the only option for the LJ was the black diamond material. I really wonder if it was something they did offer and quadratech has some old ones. Dang, I'd like to know.
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Yeah maybe they did a big run of them a while ago just for sale through other retail stores or something. Hopefully this doesn't throw a wrench in your soft top plans! Lol
 
Vinman said:
I picked up a brand new factory soft top last year for my LJ and can honestly say I never had a louder soft top in my life. I’ve had a Bestop on my old 2000 TJ, a factory soft top on my 03 Rubicon (which was no louder than a hard top) and a Trektop NX on my 05 LJ. It’s been quite a few years since I drove to 05 but don’t recall it being over loud, it was definitely as warm as a hard top.

Now the current LJ with factory soft top did have a Garvin roof rack the last time I drove it so maybe that contributed to the soft top noise. I removed the rack today and hope to have the soft top re-installed this week and will follow up on noise after I have it on for a few days.
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Update, I installed the factory soft top today but left the Garvin rack off and took a run up to 70mph, the top is significantly quieter now. Last year it was unbearable with the rack on. It wasn’t the noise from the rack either but the disturbance in airflow from the rack must have caused the additional noise from the soft top, if that makes sense.

Either way, the soft too is not much louder than the hard top now.
 
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Vinman said:
Update, I installed the factory soft top today but left the Garvin rack off and took a run up to 70mph, the top is significantly quieter now. Last year it was unbearable with the rack on. It wasn’t the noise from the rack either but the disturbance in airflow from the rack must have caused the additional noise from the soft top, if that makes sense.

Either way, the soft too is not much louder than the hard too now.
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Do you have one of those aerodynamic ramp things on the front of you Garvin rack?

If not, I wonder if it would help?
 
MountaineerTom said:
Do you have one of those aerodynamic ramp things on the front of you Garvin rack?

If not, I wonder if it would help?
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No front spoiler on the rack, although it may have one before it gets re-installed.
Thinking about it now, I may make one that will protrude low enough to sort of cover the gap between the top of the windshield frame and bottom of the rack.
 
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Well I finally installed the factory soft top!
20200531_165825.jpg


I've gotta say that it's really quiet. I fully expected to hate it, and thought the slapping around when driving would be unbearable, but at 55mph it's not much different than the hard top. I haven't got it on the interstate and up to 70mph yet, but so far it's working great.

There are two things right off the bat that I'm not really liking tho, one is the soft top is way hotter in the sun than the hard top. The temp in the Jeep gets way up really fast with the soft top.
The second thing is, I'm not really digging getting into the back of the Jeep now. It was definitely a lot easier just having the glass pop up and not having to un do zippers and have the plastic hanging there.
And I guess one other thing is I now have a giant hard top taking up room in my garage. Lol!
 
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I bought my '05 LJR with a factory hardtop that I installed headliners into to reduce noise and improve insulation. I thought I wanted a soft top (supertop NX) to have the sunrider feature, etc. I bought the Supertop NX, installed it, and It was so loud compared to the hardtop, I ended up putting the hardtop back on after 1 season.

I typically drive 1 or more hours at 70MPH to get to wheeling destinations. The noise with the soft top isn't horrible if there is no wind but here in NM, it's often pretty windy and the soft top was terrible with any crosswind. And unzipping/zipping the back window was also a pain.

YMMV but I'm spoiled by the relative quiet when running a hardtop with headliners. I still have my soft top and have not yet decided if I'll keep it or sell it but this summer, the hardtop is staying on.
 
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@g.hayduke ,
Yea, I've only had it on for one day, and 100% honesty, I'm already thinking about putting my hard top on when the winter comes and then selling the soft top next summer. I'm going to give it this full summer to see if I really enjoy it, but if not, I think I much prefer the hard top just because it's way easier. Lol
 
GorillaBiscuit said:
@Apparition , I'm really hoping that using the soft top this summer will make me really love it. I'm actually going out right now to test it on an actual drive. Yesterday I only spent about 8 minutes driving around with it on. Lol
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I drove to Moab and back last year with the Trektop. The year before Colorado and back with the hardtop.

Wheeling is so much more fun in the softop. Lots of times I run safari style with a duster cover on the back.
 
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g.hayduke said:
I bought my '05 LJR with a factory hardtop that I installed headliners into to reduce noise and improve insulation. I thought I wanted a soft top (supertop NX) to have the sunrider feature, etc. I bought the Supertop NX, installed it, and It was so loud compared to the hardtop, I ended up putting the hardtop back on after 1 season.

I typically drive 1 or more hours at 70MPH to get to wheeling destinations. The noise with the soft top isn't horrible if there is no wind but here in NM, it's often pretty windy and the soft top was terrible with any crosswind. And unzipping/zipping the back window was also a pain.

YMMV but I'm spoiled by the relative quiet when running a hardtop with headliners. I still have my soft top and have not yet decided if I'll keep it or sell it but this summer, the hardtop is staying on.
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If you end up deciding to sell the Soft Top let me know your price. I’m in Colorado so meeting up wouldn’t be too terrible.
 
Lots of things about the Trektop I'm not crazy about, but mostly this.
I only put it on a couple of times a year for cross country wheeling trips. I wanted the option to wheel topless which isn't easy with a hardtop. However, it's not really designed to be removed. You can run it flipped back or safari style.
 
GorillaBiscuit said:
Well I finally installed the factory soft top!
View attachment 166432

I've gotta say that it's really quiet. I fully expected to hate it, and thought the slapping around when driving would be unbearable, but at 55mph it's not much different than the hard top. I haven't got it on the interstate and up to 70mph yet, but so far it's working great.

There are two things right off the bat that I'm not really liking tho, one is the soft top is way hotter in the sun than the hard top. The temp in the Jeep gets way up really fast with the soft top.
The second thing is, I'm not really digging getting into the back of the Jeep now. It was definitely a lot easier just having the glass pop up and not having to un do zippers and have the plastic hanging there.
And I guess one other thing is I now have a giant hard top taking up room in my garage. Lol!
Click to expand...

I just recently got my soft top put on as well. I completely agree the back window is a pain in the ass. The rear window zippers are in terrible shape, I had to buy a replacement back window last year just to get by. Should have bought a whole new top lol. I use the rear window daily since I haul my horse sized dog around everywhere, but I'm starting to just leave it in the rolled up position.

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The noise isn't too bad with full doors but with my half doors and the smittybilt uppers that came with them the noise is pretty bad. Plus those smittybilt fit poorly so rain gets in easily. I guess that's why they came free with my half doors🤷‍♂️

With that being said I love having the soft top option! Just a fun experience!
 
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