Reviews for Bestop Trektop NX Glide Twill Soft Top for 07-18 Jeep Wrangler JK 4 Door
It will look good and will fix my present leaks.
The top looks great on my 2016 Rubicon!
I knocked one star off the review because of the poor quality of the pan head screws that are included. Do yourself a favor and throw them away. Buy some stainless steel, self tapping screws to use instead. About half of the supplied screws stripped out when I tried to screw them into the frame holes.
It's definitely not an easy install - but totally worth the pain and trouble once it's done because it looks AMAZING!
I was prepared for the difficult install after reading other reviews, knowing I would spend the better part of a day and experience a lot of frustration, and boy did I.
Everything went fairly easy, though time consuming at first. I found a video by Bestop on the internet with a step-by-step install that followed along the instruction manual. This helped immensely, especially watching it once before the install to know what I was getting in to.
The trouble started like many others suggested - trying to get the screws screwed in. You would think as much as this top cost they could at least thread the holes or given decent screws, and is why I gave it only 4 stars rather than 5 stars. I ended up heading to the hardware store to buy #8 x 1/2" self tapping metal screws with a hex head. They aren't black, but they're all hidden. Once I had the proper screws, it was a breeze.
Next was my fault. Apparently when installing the tension cable, I had looped it around a post, so when we went to flip the top down, it snapped! We were so close to being done and this totally sidelined us. Customer service said they would order it and ship it, but it would take 8-10 weeks. The rep told me "to make it work however I could in the meantime". I was able to do this with about $15 dollars in supplies from the local big-box hardware store.
Once installed, the top was easily put on and take off (after all, we had to remove it to put the hard top back on until I could fix the tension cable). Within 20 minutes the hard top could be off, stored, and the soft top on.
It is a bit bulky to fold back for just one person, though it could be done. I didn't find the window panels and back window to be too difficult to install. I did lay them out in the warm, but there was no sun and they still installed easily enough.
My suggestions:
Watch the video before install, and during install. It helps supplement the written instructions.
Buy #8 x 1/2" hex head self-tapping metal screws (at least 20 of them) before getting started to save yourself the headache.
Assure the tension cable is not wrapped around anything prior to closing the top.
Have fun and Jeep on!
Two part review. First part, the top itself. After finally getting it on, its great. Nearly as quiet as the hard top, very little wind noise, about the same as the hard top especially around the windshield header and only at highway speed, 60+. Haven't driven it in the rain yet but so far so good.
Part Two: The directions for assembling the top are HORRIBLE, written by a 10 yr. old, maybe. Very confusing, lacking in sufficient details. I absolutely cannot say enough bad things about this issue, otherwise someone would delete the review. (Who knows, maybe they still will.)
Suggestion: read the first page or two of the directions to get familiar with the parts and then throw away the remaining 30+ pages and watch the youtube video by the guy from Besttop, its about 37 minutes long and is INFINITELY better than the garbage directions sent with the top. Come on, Besttop. Surely someone, anyone, can do the directions better than this. You make a great top and then have people cussing you for this simple matter. 4 stars instead of 5 for this extreme incompetence on your part.
When fully installed, this is a great product. It took 4+ hours to install, mainly due to three problems that, if solved, would have reduced it to about 2.5 hours. First, The main brackets that attach to the Roll Bar were mis-stamped. One had to be installed with the "this end up arrow" pointed down. It took some time to deduce that they have a factory QC problem. Next, as other reviewers have noted, the pre-drilled holes in the bow are simply too small for the non-self-tapping screws they provide. Finally, the three rear windows were a real bear to install. They're made too small so that they fit nice and tight, but getting them to fit the first time required judicious use of a heat gun to warm them enough to pull them into place. Instructions should suggest careful use of a hair dryer if temps are below like 80 degrees and install is not happening in direct sunlight. I did email Bestop about this but no acknowledgement so far. Again, It is a great product, and the fit and finish is excellent. Had to reduce the stars by one because of the factory defects.
Have it installed for 2 weeks now. Couple of issues - 1) Install went pretty easy except for the screwing the bow flap to the #4 bow with 8 screws - holes in flap are hard to fine and not all the way thru, 2) Attaching the Quarter Windows to the door rail - very tight had to use hair dryer to heat it up then snapped in place. 3) Noticed small leaks that were easily fixed.
Overall looks good, sounds quieter than stock soft top, and twill is quality product.
This top is of the highest quality and installed well while watching the Bestop installation video. I am in the construction business so it was fairly easy to follow. The top performs very well for highway noise. Not much noisier than the hard top. I would have given it a 5-star review except Quadratec's video makes it seem so easy to open from the driver's seat. I am 6'-3" and 230 lbs. It takes a lot of strength to flip it into the open position which according to Bestop requires additional folding as it is opened. I sold my wife on this top as an easy open top. She is 5'3" and 115 lbs. No way she can open this by herself. False advertising and I am in the dog house.
This was our first DIY jeep project. It took us approx 6 1/2 hours to install. I highly recommend watching the video while installing. The larger parts were labeled but be careful with the small parts (screws, washers, nuts), they give you the EXACT number needed. No extra. We had to make a run to the hardware store because a nut was lost during install. The back window was a tight fit. We had to use some muscle to get it to fit into place. We've had one rain storm and had no leaks, so we must have installed everything properly.
I just installed the top today (4/28/19) and it went pretty good. I followed instructions from a YouTube video which was extremely helpful. I hardly used the written instructions.
Issues: I had one pan-head washer screw shear when trying to fasten the fabric into one of the brackets so had to drill it out. Be careful with these screws because they might be real snug going into the pre-drilled holes in the metal (and careful using a power driver to fasten, too much torque will shear these screws).
After everything was assembled I went to close the top and fasten the front header assembly down but it was about 1/2 inch too short for the front latches to catch onto the top hooks behind visor. I don't know if others have had this issue (?) but the left and right rods of the side bow attach to the front header assembly with 2 screws on each side (pre-drilled holes). In order to get my top to latch, I removed these screws and slide the header assembly back 1/2 inch, drilled additional holes, and refastened. This provided the additional length for the latches to reach. This took some additional time and to me was an unnecessary step. For that reason I give this top 4 stars.
That aside this appears to be a great top. Hopefully it won't leak during the next good rain. Installing and removing the side and rear windows is much easier than my previous soft top (NX Trektop) so that is a big improvement. Taking the top down from fully closed to fully open is pretty easy but putting it back up from the fully down position seems a little awkward and tricky by myself and with gravity working against you on the way up. Probably will just take some getting use to. This seems like a really neat top overall! I recommend it for sure!
Installed this top alone; close to 5 hours. I HIGHLY recommend watching the you tube video that walks through the installation guide step by step. My parts weren't all labeled, and getting some of the screws in the tight spots was a big challenge. Now that it's on, i love this top. Looks great, takes seconds to open the sunrider top. Road noise is without a doubt louder than in my hardtop, but not too much. One small leak after driving 75mph in a downpour - other than that, no issues. If you get this top, spring for the twill....sharp!!!