Bestop installation and impressions

KillerIsMe

TJ Enthusiast
Supporting Member
Joined
Aug 30, 2019
Messages
239
Location
NE Pennsylvania
I bought a Bestop Supertop NX squareback about two weeks ago directly from Bestop and it's finally installed.

When placing the order I saw the option to buy the top installed. Now I'm not an idiot but I am alone out here in the middle of nowhere, and on top of that I'm not a spring chicken anymore, so I called Bestop to find out what "installed" involves. They farm the installation out to a company called Buy It Installed who in turn has a "master craftsman" come to your house and do the installation - like Safelite. My wife called it a no-brainer; at $1549 for the top and another $108 tax, the additional $149 doesn't seem all that excessive. So I opted in.

Buy It Installed customer service is actually very good. They answer emails, they call right back - nothing at all to complain about. They gave me the contact number for my installer and I called him Monday morning and he came out Tuesday afternoon. Surprising as we're in a remote area of northern Pennsylvania and I was expecting maybe two weeks at the soonest, at which point I would have cancelled and just installed it myself (I was skeptical). But he showed up right when he said he would and he was finished in about two hours (although I took it out for a shakedown cruise today and there were just a few minor details he missed that I ironed out). If anyone is in my situation, with no one to help you out, and you don't mind the $149 I would recommend going this route.

The top itself - it's nice. Not overwhelming but nice. It looks very new and my Jeep is muddied up a bit so now I guess I have to wash it. I had a factory soft top on my old TJ and I think the OEM hardware is easier to screw with when taking the top off and putting it back up, but it could be that I'm just not used to this one yet. Also the twill is a noticeably heavier material so a little more awkward. It has the goofy cartoon logo but I can live with that.

Anyway, I haven't seen "buy it installed" mentioned here before so I thought I'd chime in with my experience.
 
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Hello KIM,
Thank you for your feedback on the Bestop soft top and do you experience less noise in the interior of your TJ due to the triple-layer fabric?

Wonder if the thick fabric will help to reduce the noise level as well as potentially help to reduce the heat inside.

I live in SoCal and we have temperatures around 115 F in summer time (sometimes higher). So any degree I can keep the interior of my TJ cooler, will help my dog to feel more comfortable.
btw: My TJ has an AC and it is running full blast all the time, but with the factory soft top it gets pretty warm/hot inside.

Thank you in advance for your replies.
 
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Reactions: KillerIsMe
Hello KIM,
Thank you for your feedback on the Bestop soft top and do you experience less noise in the interior of your TJ due to the triple-layer fabric?

Wonder if the thick fabric will help to reduce the noise level as well as potentially help to reduce the heat inside.

I live in SoCal and we have temperatures around 115 F in summer time (sometimes higher). So any degree I can keep the interior of my TJ cooler, will help my dog to feel more comfortable.
btw: My TJ has an AC and it is running full blast all the time, but with the factory soft top it gets pretty warm/hot inside.

Thank you in advance for your replies.
I have the Bestop NX Trek Twill top and noticed a significant reduction in the road/wind noise compared to the original soft top. As far as heat, I've noticed a small reduction in the interior heat when it sits in a parking lot, but not up to the level of the noise reduction. I get 90's and some triple digits where I'm at, and I don't think that comes close to the CA and AZ desert heats. Plus my TJ is white, with black top, black seats.....

Ray
 
Here is Florida where it's both HOT and HUMID; keeping the windows rolled down 3" while parked with the sail cloth SPICE colored top make a difference for the inside temperature after being parked for a couple hours. I would imagine having the BLACK top will be noticeably hotter.
As for driving... the sail cloth is noticeably quieter and cooler than the Smittybilt that my Jeep had when I purchased her last year.
 
Hello KIM,
Thank you for your feedback on the Bestop soft top and do you experience less noise in the interior of your TJ due to the triple-layer fabric?

Wonder if the thick fabric will help to reduce the noise level as well as potentially help to reduce the heat inside.

I live in SoCal and we have temperatures around 115 F in summer time (sometimes higher). So any degree I can keep the interior of my TJ cooler, will help my dog to feel more comfortable.
btw: My TJ has an AC and it is running full blast all the time, but with the factory soft top it gets pretty warm/hot inside.

Thank you in advance for your replies.


Having had four tops so far - the Jeep I have now came with a hardtop which I replaced with the twill top, and the 2000 Sport I had way back when came with the factory spice top that eventually wore out and I put on a black diamond replace-a-top.

The hardtop is by far the quietest of the four but the twill top is not far behind. Both the factory top and the replace-a-top from my old Jeep were noisy as hell (or as noisy as I would imagine hell to be - I've never been there myself). I think the twill being a heavier and stiffer fabric is what makes it quiet as it doesn't flap around much - if at all - even with all the windows out.

Being in northern Pennsylvania I can't speak to extreme heat but I can tell you I drove to Ocean City a few weeks ago, five hours in a heat wave (mid 90's), including being stuck in some Philadelphia traffic and the AC kept the Jeep relatively cool. I can't say HOW cool - for reference we keep our house at 66 in the summer and I don't think the temperature was that low but the dog and I were perfectly comfortable. I CAN speak to the opposite - extreme cold. My old Sport was a drafty affair with both the factory and the black diamond tops - the hardtop on the current Jeep kept the interior toasty no matter what the temp. I haven't had the twill top through a winter yet though.

If you decide to make the move to a twill top I can't see how you would be disappointed in anything besides the cost. All the good things people say about it are true. It's a little harder to put up and take down because the fabric weight makes it uncooperative, but it's really just a notch below a hardtop.

Hope this has helped.
 
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Thank you all for your feedback - it helped to make a decision, but I have to postpone the project.
Had two overheating situations last week and needed a new fan clutch and a new radiator.
So the soft top has to wait a little longer.................

Happy and Safe Wheeling to all of you!