The Moment You've All Been Waiting For🙏 FORD BRONCO HARDTOP PROTOTYPE by ADV Fiberglass (Q&A Added)

[FellowM3]

@ADV Fiberglass Thank you guys for making a top. It definitely required a lot of hours and a large investment on your end.

Apologies for all the bitching from these boomers lol.

I have been finding the drip on IG fine...but please, do post the final / official stuff (more frequently) on the forums.

Many people on here will end as customers.

Also, if possible, please dont increase prices. You guys started this during the pandemic, so hopefully prices / supplies havent been increasing since then. But just my 2 cents.

excited to have you guys release this, as your other items are top quality!

Sponsored

 

[gtx_bronc]

We will post periodically on the forum as well but a lot of the content will be posted on Instagram.

BOOO this man. For those of us that aren't impressed by 18 year old "influencers" please post the content here also.

 

[FJ 432]

No 2 door being considered???

No FJ432.

 

[foreWard]

I have been waiting to see an actual, physical top before I plunked down $6K+ (10% of my ENTIRE vehicle price). Then saw the 6 second video last week and thought, Ok a little late getting here but where are the pictures - or anything remotely showing the top - but what's another week at this point. Then this morning I see an "official" post and thought, for sure they will post at least a couple of real pictures, but ALAS just a couple insta screengrabs.

After the debacle of the initial top announcement (part 1...2...3....4....) back in the spring and now this.....

ADV is really giving me Lebron vibes.. and that isn't a good thing. They may have an excellent top, but it really is difficult to look past the personality and see the product.

 

[Hkak45]

@ADV Fiberglass

Apologies for all the bitching from these boomers lol.

I have been finding the drip on IG fine...but please, do post the final / official stuff (more frequently) on the forums.

Millennial here, please don't just post these pics on Instagram. Nobody except the cool kids these days wants to download these stupid social media apps. There are many customers willing to drop thousands on a hardtop just for you to only post them on another social media page and not even post up everything here or maybe on your website is not good PR move. But then again I'm not the one spending thousands for a top with a company that runs like this so take what I say with a grain of salt.


Signed,
Not a boomer

 

[bradcd]

Way to post a billion Q+A pictures instead of actual, searchable text.

 

[USAGUY]

Watched video & skimmed thru post. Not very impressed with the roll out. Video was silly & didn’t show much at all.

 

[Scopebit]

I absolutely will drop by on Thursday!

Thanks for being the eyes on the ground Jedi. Look forward to hearing what you have to say after seeing this product. Thx to ADV for making a product that gives us options.

 

[ADV Fiberglass]

For everyone, we will be posting plenty of content now that the hardtop is finished. We appreciate all the recommendations in the post and look forward to showing more detailed pictures and videos of it.

 

[jalawson]

I have to be honest after my experience with the fenders I wouldn’t dare put down non refundable money on this hardtop.

The rollout so far has further confirmed this to me. Supposedly they have a product that requires no finishing upon arrival and is ready for install in the Black UV Hardtop. However they have posted no detailed pictures or videos of the product, it’s improvements over the OEM, or it’s installation. They also have not shared any tangible measurements to back up their claims of the top being quieter and more sturdy.

Also, all their posts claim this is a prototype and yet they also say customer hardtop orders are in production now. As someone familiar with manufacturing engineering the idea that they have already started production for customers without receiving a production run of their product should be the most alarming statement. If true, that means they started production before completing any sort of life testing on their prototype even. Also, it means they did not make any significant changes based on testing between their prototype and the final product, because if they had they would have wanted a final run or v2.0 of their prototype to approve before starting production.

As someone who bought the front/rear 2” fenders and then was told by multiple different paint shops that they had issues requiring extensive prep work for a factory quality finish I would encourage y’all to be cautious with placing non-refundable deposits. ADVFiberglass’s products look amazing but in my experience they are definitely not ready to paint and require a significant amount of block and sanding to have them be an OE finish.

 

[ADV Fiberglass]

I have to be honest after my experience with the fenders I wouldn’t dare put down non refundable money on this hardtop.

The rollout so far has further confirmed this to me. Supposedly they have a product that requires no finishing upon arrival and is ready for install in the Black UV Hardtop. However they have posted no detailed pictures or videos of the product, it’s improvements over the OEM, or it’s installation. They also have not shared any tangible measurements to back up their claims of the top being quieter and more sturdy.

Also, all their posts claim this is a prototype and yet they also say customer hardtop orders are in production now. As someone familiar with manufacturing engineering the idea that they have already started production for customers without receiving a production run of their product should be the most alarming statement. If true, that means they started production before completing any sort of life testing on their prototype even. Also, it means they did not make any significant changes based on testing between their prototype and the final product, because if they had they would have wanted a final run or v2.0 of their prototype to approve before starting production.

As someone who bought the front/rear 2” fenders and then was told by multiple different paint shops that they had issues requiring extensive prep work for a factory quality finish I would encourage y’all to be cautious with placing non-refundable deposits. ADVFiberglass’s products look amazing but in my experience they are definitely not ready to paint and require a significant amount of block and sanding to have them be an OE finish.

As we have stated many times in this thread, there are more detailed pictures and videos coming. We will do a decibel test with a production unit on a fully stock bronco. Our shop bronco is WAY too modified to provide the correct decibel reading. However switching from the soft top to our hardtop is a VERY noticeable difference.

We did testing in house to confirm and made necessary changes. Some of these changes include: changes in rubber density to allow a better seal, different length struts to allow the rear glass to open higher, and other small items as well (No larges changes were needed). Our team and many other experienced engineering teams have thousands of hours into engineering this hardtop so majority of necessary changes were things that the computer could not show us in CAD (For example: the compression of the seals).

As for the production, yes all orders have stated production. There are many many tools/molds that were already finished throughout the process that did not need any changes and therefore have begun production. In regards to our 2" kit, we can install the entire kit in 10 hours with gaps that give the OEM a run for their money. That kit in particular does require prep work for paint which is stated on our website.

The hardtop does not require prep work for paint for the Black UV Textured and White UV Textured. The high build primer option will require prep work for paint as stated on the website.

 

[604Bronco]

See their note on in house installation. Our border is now open and you can drive topless across the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls. Do post a video.

Not much different than coming to our stores by bus, loading a suitcase with new clothes with tags removed and a breeze to re-enter Canada avoiding duties and taxes. Now the the borders ate open the buses shall return

Not sure why I would drive to Niagara Falls, but thank you. We don't all live in Ontario...

 

[ColtN0ir]

damn, didn't know I had to scroll through a whole PDF. and all of that with one greyed out image and a 2nd one off angle? sure would be nice to see the actual product.

 

[Squatch Parade]

another thing i just noticed, this top has over 100 parts. ford's has about 25. even though they promise the customer doesn't have to put it together, this sounds like a much more complex top, with many more points of failure. i was initially interested because it was fewer panels, and seemed like it would be more reliable, but with that many parts i suspect it will have an even higher failure rate than ford.

 

[jalawson]

As we have stated many times in this thread, there are more detailed pictures and videos coming. We will do a decibel test with a production unit on a fully stock bronco. Our shop bronco is WAY too modified to provide the correct decibel reading. However switching from the soft top to our hardtop is a VERY noticeable difference.

We did testing in house to confirm and made necessary changes. Some of these changes include: changes in rubber density to allow a better seal, different length struts to allow the rear glass to open higher, and other small items as well (No larges changes were needed). Our team and many other experienced engineering teams have thousands of hours into engineering this hardtop so majority of necessary changes were things that the computer could not show us in CAD (For example: the compression of the seals).

As for the production, yes all orders have stated production. There are many many tools/molds that were already finished throughout the process that did not need any changes and therefore have begun production. In regards to our 2" kit, we can install the entire kit in 10 hours with gaps that give the OEM a run for their money. That kit in particular does require prep work for paint which is stated on our website.

The hardtop does not require prep work for paint for the Black UV Textured and White UV Textured. The high build primer option will require prep work for paint as stated on the website.

Maybe there is some confusion from everyone on what we are understanding from your release so far. The impression I, and I believe most people here, have is that the “prototype” you have posted in the video and pictures so far is the first and only full prototype you have. If that is not the case then that is where a lot of the confusion exists. Could you clarify whether the hardtop in the photos is a final production version or a prototype? Also, you mention testing done to confirm changes, could you clarify whether you had previous physical prototypes that you did that in house testing on that we just didn’t hear about or if this hardtop in the photos is the one you tested?

For the 2” kit I think my surprise came from expecting the kit to be on the low end of prep work required before painting compared to other fiberglass kits and both paint shops I used said it was on the high end for prep work needed with multiple areas needing smoothing and a couple areas needing material added because the fiberglass was too thin. The fit as far as body gaps on my kit was definitely close to OEM with only a few corners needing fixing to be straight.

Sponsored