Soft Top Bronco Survives Its First Snow Trials

[DanO1138]

PSA: removing large accumulations of snow from the top of your vehicle before driving on the road is not optional

non removal of snow is illegal in some states..

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[Firefight911]

I was thinking how fun it will be for the OP and his snow pile on his roof after he scoffs at everyone, drives around for a while, all toasty and warm in his ride, only to not remember that the roof isn't that insulated. The warmth from inside will melt some snow, he will then park, where it will freeze, and he will then have the extra weight on there for an extended period of time...oh, yeah, I can see it now. He will go to his dealer and cry foul that his top is ruined and stretched and sagged out and, by God, Ford should warranty replace it. Well, that is if he makes it there before the snow and ice he carted around fly off and annihilates someone behind him. So short-sighted and self-absorbed.

 

[Hanverg07]

Impressive pictures man! Glad to know the soft top held up that much of snow, be prepare bringing a proper tools next time.

 

[BEM-S4]

non removal of snow is illegal in some states..

It's also classified as an act of negligent douchery worldwide... it's in the Geneva convention.

 

[Ryno]

6 pages of the forum police telling this guy to remove the snow from his roof. I blame myself for reading all of it.

Nice trip to Tahoe and nice ride. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BLMike]

I was reading an article on the huge amounts of snow the Sierras have gotten and the extent to which people try to go around closures. They even had plows that were stuck. However I came across the below. Was that you OP? . Nice pics regardless.

Officer Charles Caster said he stopped a driver on Sunday who had 30 inches of snow atop his Ford Bronco. Caster told him to clear the snow from his vehicle before driving, and the driver replied, “Well, you should have seen it before.”

Edit: I didn’t make this up. See here. About middle of article. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ound-drivers-astray-sierra-nevada/9044433002/

 

[CaliforniaBurrito]

I was reading an article on the huge amounts of snow the Sierras have gotten and the extent to which people try to go around closures. They even had plows that were stuck. However I came across the below. Was that you OP? . Nice pics regardless.

Officer Charles Caster said he stopped a driver on Sunday who had 30 inches of snow atop his Ford Bronco. Caster told him to clear the snow from his vehicle before driving, and the driver replied, “Well, you should have seen it before.”

Edit: I didn’t make this up. See here. About middle of article. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ound-drivers-astray-sierra-nevada/9044433002/

I swear it wasn't me although it sounds like it could be

Also not sure how people got the impression I went to Tahoe on I80. The Sierras span a couple hundred miles and I was far far south of Tahoe. Also did not drive on freeways.

 

[BLMike]

I swear it wasn't me although it sounds like it could be

Also not sure how people got the impression I went to Tahoe on I80. The Sierras span a couple hundred miles and I was far far south of Tahoe. Also did not drive on freeways.

Just poking fun. But you know that. A lot of the article talked about back roads too. Donner Pass last record December snow fall was, I think, in the 1970s at 179”. We are over 200” now for December.

In CA it seems feast or famine lately With the climate.

 

[bigblueboing]

When I was up there snow was accumulating while I was driving and the temp wouldn’t let it fly off. I also wasn’t sure how I was going to clear off the top of a high top ford transit passenger van.

 

[Rolandfj40]

So you’re one of the people who don’t clean off the roof?

 

[310BroncoTK]

I swear it wasn't me although it sounds like it could be

Also not sure how people got the impression I went to Tahoe on I80. The Sierras span a couple hundred miles and I was far far south of Tahoe. Also did not drive on freeways.

Mammoth ?

 

[AshleyG]

We went up to the Sierras for Christmas and got absolutely dumped on, 1-2 feet of snow in 1 night. I didn't quite realize just how much snow we were going to get overnight, and as we were staying at a hotel I had to park outside overnight.

The night before:

The morning after:

I was not prepared at all for this amount of snow, no brush, shovels, anything. But like every good Cali boy, I did have a pair of flip flops in the back that I was able to use to clear my windshield lol

There was also quite the snow berm that had been built up in front of the truck from them plowing the parking lot. Again I didn't have a shovel, so I decided to just yolo it and was able to drive over it pretty easily after putting it into 4H.
A downside of the soft top of course is no re-window defroster, so I had to manually try to scrape the snow off the back plastic.

After clearing enough snow to be in a somewhat drivable state:

In hindsight my big concern would be I don't know how much snow the soft top can actually support. Thankfully the top didn't out right crumble or give out. Sitting inside you can definitely see the top material sagging down inbetween the cross supports. I could also see the top over the rear quarter windows was very strained. After the snow finally melts I'm a little curious to see if there has been any deformation of the top due to the weight, I'll also have to test the functionality to make sure it still folds back easily.

As for the roads and winter conditions we were mostly driving around on snowy roads, sometimes sanded, moving later into the day of slushy and icy roads. This is a stock badlands on 33" K02s and I left it in 4A all day and it was an absolute beast. No slipping or sliding and felt very composed the whole time. I felt very confident, even with seeing at least 5 cars that had slid off the road during the day. Here's some final pictures driving around during the day.

I drove to Mammoth on Monday was an absolute blizzard/white out... Chose to take the Raptor 37, was wondering how my Bronco would handle it. My KO2's were amazing in it....

 

[zombie]

Also, people saying clean off your roof, yeah that's the courteous thing to do. But do you live in cold climates and not daytrips? No one does that. People drive around with Civics with a foot of show. I wouldn't clean off my car top, much less a vehicle this high. Shit gets old fast when you just need to go. Much less snow blowing your damn driveway at 5am when you need to get to fricken work.

Maybe where you live, up here the vast majority clear off their roof like a responsible human being.

 

[stormshadow3800]

Maybe where you live, up here the vast majority clear off their roof like a responsible human being.

That's because you're from Canada, and everyone there is nice. I'm not an asshole, I really do clean my car off when possible. Most people here do not. Depends on sitch.

 

[Packen8]

We went up to the Sierras for Christmas and got absolutely dumped on, 1-2 feet of snow in 1 night. I didn't quite realize just how much snow we were going to get overnight, and as we were staying at a hotel I had to park outside overnight.

The night before:

The morning after:

I was not prepared at all for this amount of snow, no brush, shovels, anything. But like every good Cali boy, I did have a pair of flip flops in the back that I was able to use to clear my windshield lol

There was also quite the snow berm that had been built up in front of the truck from them plowing the parking lot. Again I didn't have a shovel, so I decided to just yolo it and was able to drive over it pretty easily after putting it into 4H.
A downside of the soft top of course is no re-window defroster, so I had to manually try to scrape the snow off the back plastic.

After clearing enough snow to be in a somewhat drivable state:

In hindsight my big concern would be I don't know how much snow the soft top can actually support. Thankfully the top didn't out right crumble or give out. Sitting inside you can definitely see the top material sagging down inbetween the cross supports. I could also see the top over the rear quarter windows was very strained. After the snow finally melts I'm a little curious to see if there has been any deformation of the top due to the weight, I'll also have to test the functionality to make sure it still folds back easily.

As for the roads and winter conditions we were mostly driving around on snowy roads, sometimes sanded, moving later into the day of slushy and icy roads. This is a stock badlands on 33" K02s and I left it in 4A all day and it was an absolute beast. No slipping or sliding and felt very composed the whole time. I felt very confident, even with seeing at least 5 cars that had slid off the road during the day. Here's some final pictures driving around during the day.

Nice Ride dude !! but use a little common sense next time you drive in snow and clean the snow off of your vehicle !

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