A hard top or a soft top

Well, I thought I would poll the crowd for input on this one. I bought my Jeep with a hard top. I have been going over in my mind what I would like to do with the Jeep as it is a daily driver for me (hopefully will be for a little while!)

While the hardtop provides an element of security and protection from the elements as far as storing things in the Jeep, its hotter then hell when its on, and the doors rattle like crazy when you are on less than "smooth" roads. I know I can remove it for the summer, and I have taken it off to see what it was like driving in the open air.

It would be awesome to just have a bikini top for the summer, but do you all think the hard top is worth the hassle of removing and reinstalling it around the year? If so, what ways are there to quiet the doors, windows, etc?

If you are a soft top person, are there any pros and cons or things you would like to point out from your experiences?

My choices.

1. Keep hard top, get bikini top and cover for summer months

2. Sell hard top, get a supertop soft top

3. WTF are you talking about Tim?

I know no one can make my mind up for me, but it is nice to hear other people's thoughts.

hardtop on

hardtop off

 

average life span of a soft top: 4-6 years, depending on weather, on/off, window glass going bad, zippers going bad, etc etc.

average life span of a hard top: with care, who knows ???
During summer, you could remove the doors and leave at home; it's hard to do that on the trail.

You have many options; out of all, I would choose the hard top off in summer with bikini top; hard top back on in winter.

 

I never even thought about the life of the soft top! Great info Jim... Thanks!

 

I've never had a hard top on mine but I can't see a soft top being any quieter.......... flapping in the wind at highway speeds gets pretty noisy.
I agree with Jim. Keep it on in the winter and run a "bikini" top or something in the summer. Bikini tops are pretty cheap.

 

Hard top's gotta be a little bit warmer in the winter than a soft top, I would think. If your heater's worth a whiz anyway.

 

I vote #1

 

Not sure of your budget but you can get a brand new soft top for about $520 from Herm. You could use that in the summer and the hard top in the winter.

 

I'd keep the hard top even if I were to buy a soft top. I think it adds to your resale and makes the jeep look more nostalgic.

I once posted about 50 pros for the hard top, but it was mainly because I had one and wanted to keep it and I was trying to justify doing so.

Biggest down side to a hard top is the weight of it. Really drags a little jeep down. Also kinda top heavy...and can be really noisy and the acoustics inside it are pretty rough.

You can spruce them up and solve alot of that though. Headliner helps with acoustics. And you can put weather sealer material on your doors where you have metal to metal connections.

 

If I had the chance to fit a hardtop on my jeep, I would keep it for sure, at least for the winter. Because the tub of my jeep is homemade, i'm not able to even fit a softtop on it, so I only have a bikini and half-door I made. In the winter, well I ride my car, not the jeep.

So my opinion is, keep the hardtop for winter, get a bikini top for the summer, and put your hand on a set of soft door for those rainy days, might be good with the bikini top, but never tried it, only saw this setup once or twice.


Bob

 

I've owned them both, and would not have another hard top. They affect the handling of the Jeep too much, are a pain to remove, install and store, and aren't any quieter than a good, tight fabric top. I expect they are colder than a soft-top in cold weather, because of the heatsink effect. They are somewhat less drafty, and more theft resistant.

 

I have a Best Top softtop for the winter and a bikini top for the summer. I probably baby my soft top compared to most people. For some reason, I'm scared of scratching the windows. I keep it on most of the winter season, but the jeep is also garaged in the winter. I just put my bikini top on yesterday as a matter of fact. I like the open air driving around. If, for whatever reason the Jeep's sitting outside during a storm, I'll stick the softtop doors on with the bikini top. Keeps the seats dry enough if it isn't raining too hard. My favorite "look", besides having no top at all, is the soft top on with sides and doors off. Kind of has that military WW2 canvas top look. Gives the passenger in the back some shade too.

Can't comment on a hard top, other then I wish I had one just to say I had one.

Dondo

 

Are we talking about a Supertop, with doors and all for 520? If so, that would be over $100 cheaper than any online store I've seen.

 

I got mine on Ebay (new), for less then $550. Have been very pleased with it.

 

I've had 1 CJ with hard & soft top - hard top is much quieter & warmer during the winter - I won't have another one due to effort to remove, store & put on - just not worth it IMO. If I lived further North, it may be an option but not here in GA for me. Love being able to drop the top even in winter months when a warm spell hits.

 

STC (formerly Kayline) full top and doors for 55-75 Cj5 $520 shipped from Herm the Overdrive Guy. I like this top better then anything Bestop has. IMHO a much better value and product.

 

I am not so sure about soft tops with the snaps. The idea of the rail system is favorable to me. If STC had the rail system on the 55-75, I would probably pick that up. Do the snaps hold up after years of use?

 

You could fabricate your own railing system. Its been done before and shouldn't be that difficult. Snaps should last a good while as long as you go easy on them. Some of mine are bent because the PO took a rubber mallet to them, i suppose he had trouble snappin the top.