Have Four Bronco Tops - OEM, Bestop Trektop, Anderson Composite -- (happy to answer questions)

[Cable Guy]

I meant the Anderson top is only available for 4 door Bronco-right? I went to their website and only so 4 door for $6k

I think they do a two door also.

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[BroncocnorB]

I have had the Trek top on my 2dr for over a year. I see no reason to install the hardtop. I don’t mind the slant back (I love it,actually), I don’t mind that it doesn’t fold all the way down (kinda like the look), I don’t mind that I have to stand on the rocker to fold it back ( I’m a dude I can do it myself), I don’t mind that it kinda sags in the back (it’s a 2 Dr who cares) - if I really want to I can spend time sorting out the fabric folds if it’s gonna be a long roof-down day. Everything has compromises. The twill trek top is well made, quiet. Glad I have one.

 

[Ninjak]

I have my soft top and no issues. The only thing I was looking to do is to buy a 23 OEM soft top as Ford did make some improvements from the 21. If I ever decide to get a Hard Top, I think the Armadillo top is a great top. Aluminum, has gull wing windows, and has the middle sections that come off more like a sunroof. Also from speaking with people who have ridden in Bronco with it, they say it is indeed quieter than the OEM mic top.

 

[Ryan Feilner]

I bought mine with the hard top and found a soft top on market place for $650 and picked it up too. I love the way the hard top looks, but have been falling more in love with the OEM soft top as the summer drags on. I love how compared to the jeep it comes with the thicker cloth and just feels more substantial, however its not as tight as the jeep... My wife thought the soft tops looked like crap, but now I cant get the damn Bronco back from her anymore. She is always coming back in the house with her hair all messed up and a smile on her face as I find out she stole my vehicle again. She can barely wrestle the hard top panels and she now sees the advantages of the soft top and is glad we got it. Honestly I don't know if I will ever take the hard top T-tops off after how easy it is to remove the soft top. Thinking the hard top is the winter only top now.

I have the top down in the first position most of the time, and when I park the truck I just walk on the running boards and flip it back closed and don't even latch it. When I'm ready to drive off again I easily (3 seconds) flip it back open. Mostly so the sun doesn't burn my ass on the leather.

My father in law only has the hard top and for the first time in 6 months he just took the hard top off, then had to scramble when it rained on the trail to put it back on, as his wife chewed him out for taking it off in the first place and her having to help..... He is 65 and with his shoulders he says he needs to get a soft top, as he witnessed how effortless they are. When we took a 750 mile trip to WV last week I had my soft top back at least 15 times with the rain coming and going over a couple of days and trail riding. I guarantee I would not have gotten that amount of sun if I had to keep man handling those pieces and stowing them over and over, plus you only get the first row when you store in the truck and the soft top flips back to open all the seats.

The Best top is nice, but the guy that sold me the OEM soft top said if you're going to flip from hard to soft, you want OEM for both as they are meant to be interchangeable. I assume going from Best Top to OEM hard top there are extra brackets/etc.. to remove, as with the OEM tops everything stays on. Just my 2 cents of living with the OEM dual tops.

 

[Joe Skates]

I don't ride in the back, so I have no idea if ut's loud back there, but the oem hard top on my 1st edition isn't loud at all. I don't understand the "convenience" of the oem soft top? I can have the 3 top panels off in less than 5 minutes, and I keep the 2 front seat panels in the back with a cover on it in case rain pops up. The clean look of having nothing on the top is unlike any other option, and tge only thing that takes any time is the back shell, and getting the soft top all the way down, or off (no clue what the options are, cuz I don't have one) seems as hard or harder than removing the back shell. All the soft tops I see look like they're halfway down, and I just don't like that look, but to each his/her own, and I don't want people telling me one is better than the other, so if you love what you have, then more power to you. Just stating opinions based on experience with mine and what I've seen on others. All new Broncos are badass looking machines imho. Drive on fellow riders!

 

[Slyder]

I meant the Anderson top is only available for 4 door Bronco-right? I went to their website and only so 4 door for $6k

As of right now the 4 Dr top is the only one available from them.

When I reached out to them late last year, they said the 2 Dr was in development and 'should' be available late 2023.

It's hard to say if that date will hold with as long as it's taking with 4 Dr stuff, so we'll just have to wait until this year's SEMA to see if it shows up then.

 

[jrollo7]

As of right now the 4 Dr top is the only one available from them.

When I reached out to them late last year, they said the 2 Dr was in development and 'should' be available late 2023.

It's hard to say if that date will hold with as long as it's taking with 4 Dr stuff, so we'll just have to wait until this year's SEMA to see if it shows up then.

Thanks for the response and info

 

[Bestop_Team]

I must say, having had the OEM soft top and now having the Trektop, I am surprised by this opinion. It greatly differs from my experience with the exception of how BUTT UGLY the OEM top is and how easily the windows scratch.

The OEM top could be thrown back at a red light, from inside the vehicle in less than 5 seconds. My Bestop I have to slap open the latches just right or else they'll hang up and I have to push upward from the front center while standing outside the vehicle to keep it from getting hung on the corners because it is so flimsy.

Furthermore, with the top back the Fabric sags in front of the rear headrests, intruding on the headspace of the rear passengers.

And finally, my Bestop is MARKEDLY louder than my OEM top. I was shocked at how much louder it was. Aside from the wind noise, after 6 months of it being installed the fabric over the rear window has become so loose that it flaps in the wind when driving over 45mph and makes a plop plop plop plop noise constantly.

Aside from how it looks, I really could not be more disappointed with the @Bestop_Team Trektop. It has failed to meet my expectations in every conceivable way. I'll likely be doing a comparison YouTube video on the two tops in the near future showing people the functional and quality differences between the OEM and the Bestop Trektop. I wish I had the info I have now prior to buying it, and I am sure plenty of other people who think they're unhappy with their OEM top would be happy to see that comparison as well.

*Side note.. I had heard a long time ago that Bestop actually produces the OEM soft top for Ford. Not sure if that's valid or not, but if it is, it makes me wonder why they wouldn't have put the same level of functional quality into their own branded product as they did to the Ford product (i.e. the stamped metal OEM frame vs the flimsy bolt together linkage) unless Ford had an upfront design exclusivity ironed out as part of the OEM contract.

@Bo-Ronco I'm sorry our Trektop didn't meet your expectations I'd be happy to help fix the issues you're having if you'd like to shoot me an email, [email protected]. I'm going to copy and paste your post and share it with QA as feedback for them.
As far as your side note, Bestop does manufacture the OEM soft top for Ford, it is a Ford design though per the contract.
Again, let me know if there is anything I can do to help!

~Crystal@Bestop
www.bestop.com

 

[GroovyGeek]

My wife and I call it the Diaper Hat. It really is unattractive. I have the hard top, but I do yearn for the ease of a soft top. Perhaps someday a 3rd party manufacturer will get one right for the Bronco. At which time I'll jump on one.

Adding to the collection of derisive names for the OEM softtop - I call it the sagtop. Fugly, saggy POS as far as I am concerned.

Full disclosure - my only experience with the Bronco Softtop is during a weekend Turo rental. After driving a Wrangler with a soft top for 7 years I will never again come near one, as it has significant liabilities in the SW deserts - dust gets in through EVERY little crevice, which is particularly troublesome with red Utah dirt. Gets on your food, camping gear, everyting inside the car, no matter how carefully you zip the zippers. Even worse, the dust jams the zippers and makes them very difficult to operate. At one point I purchased a set of wax candles and kept it in the Jeep for emergency use when the zippers jammed in the middle of nowhere. On the cosmetics side, the JK soft top looks SO much better than the saggy Bronco top.

 

[fields_day]

I have the top down in the first position most of the time, and when I park the truck I just walk on the running boards and flip it back closed and don't even latch it. When I'm ready to drive off again I easily (3 seconds) flip it back open. Mostly so the sun doesn't burn my ass on the leather.

Have you forgotten to latch the top down and start driving and it flies open by itself? Scares the shit out of you and everyone else inside

 

[Junior127]

Have you switched from the hard top to the soft tops and if so which do you believe to be the easier swap?

I would be doing this alone and from some of the responses it appears the Trektop would be more difficult to do every year than the OEM soft top.

I understand the Trektop might be the better product but I could see myself not switching tops in the spring if it takes a day to do. I contacted Trektop and they said doing it alone would be a 4 to 5 hour process.

I live in an area that it snows in the winter and prefer to have the hard top on for that.

Thanks for the input in advance

 

[flebaum]

Appreciate this thread I hope to receive my ordered 2 door with hard top shortly. I really think I prefer the OEM soft top and intend to sell the new hard top.

Prior daily was a mustang convertible, here in Fl, so having a soft top only isn’t much concern and I’d rather not store the hard top and never likely use it.

The ability to fold ‘all the way’ back is the aspect that has me thinking OEM is better, but trying to find one with all the pieces is the challenge.

 

[GroovyGeek]

I

Appreciate this thread I hope to receive my ordered 2 door with hard top shortly. I really think I prefer the OEM soft top and intend to sell the new hard top.

Prior daily was a mustang convertible, here in Fl, so having a soft top only isn’t much concern and I’d rather not store the hard top and never likely use it.

The ability to fold ‘all the way’ back is the aspect that has me thinking OEM is better, but trying to find one with all the pieces is the challenge.

Especially if you have the sas package you may want to drive your hard top for a couple of weeks, then rent a soft top from Turo and see how it feels. Noise is subjective but to me the soft top is unbearable on sas, while the hard top is not quiet but tolerable. The hard top is almost exclusively wind noise. With the soft top you hear tires, 18 wheelers, engines, EVERYTHING around you.

 

[Ksjrb03]

I


Especially if you have the sas package you may want to drive your hard top for a couple of weeks, then rent a soft top from Turo and see how it feels. Noise is subjective but to me the soft top is unbearable on sas, while the hard top is not quiet but tolerable. The hard top is almost exclusively wind noise. With the soft top you hear tires, 18 wheelers, engines, EVERYTHING around you.

This is 100% true. And I can’t stand the wind noise from the hardtop. I’ll take the SAS tire roar over wind noise every day, personally.

 

[jd-ford-hd]

So you get everyone to click on this post expecting to see a variety of tops on your Bronco for us to critique and all we get is a pic of a box on a pallet and a pic of your lawn mower.!! I don't think you had to tell us you were drinking.!!

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