Bestop eTop Power Retractable Convertible Soft Top ... review

[Roger123]

Will you be providing me with a new updated top once released? Yes, I am frustrated and reasonably so. I didn’t sign up to Beta test a product. This top was extremely expensive and I want it to work out. The issue is that every time I identify an issue I’m either told it’s being addressed in future refinements or we now have a kit to address.

They did that for the Sunrider. We had an early Sunrider and they redesigned it so we reached out and they sent us a complete new top free of charge. I still have the old one, not sure what to do with it. Probably just keep some hardware and toss the rest.

Sponsored

 

[Ft. Worth Rob]

That sucks- sorry to hear that. Hope it comes in soon- just the standard black? Champagne is on backorder and I wanted that with the Hot Pepper Red Bronco.

Side note- nice EB in your Avatar pic. What year? I have '70 & '75.

Basic b!tch black . That’s a 75 in my avatar. Wish I’d never sold it.

 

[Black Bronco Convertible]

does anyone with the eTop have a light bar - I really like the look and function but I'm concerned the flapping could get worse.

https://amzn.to/4ggRfzq it will work with this one because the brackets are in front of the soft top

 

[Ft. Worth Rob]

Not yet. July 14th is what they’re telling me now.

My Bronco has been in the shop two weeks. Bestop didn’t show to install with the shop on July 14th after a few postponements. Shop installed and a pinion broke on the fifth time they opened it. Needless to say I’m fired up.

 

[Bestop_Team]

My Bronco has been in the shop two weeks. Bestop didn’t show to install with the shop on July 14th after a few postponements. Shop installed and a pinion broke on the fifth time they opened it. Needless to say I’m fired up.

Hey, we owe you an apology here. We missed our install appointment because our installer had a personal emergency come up and couldn't travel — that's on us, and we should have gotten word to you sooner.

We've also seen a limited number of pinion failures like yours, and we tracked it down to a component issue that we've since worked out with our supplier. When something like this pops up, we move as fast as we can to get the part out to the shop — we know all too well what it's like to be without your rig, and two weeks is a long time to wait.

Glad to hear the top is confirmed up and running now. Really sorry this all landed on you, and thanks for hanging in there with us.

-Bestop

 

[DewarT]

My Bronco has been in the shop two weeks. Bestop didn’t show to install with the shop on July 14th after a few postponements. Shop installed and a pinion broke on the fifth time they opened it. Needless to say I’m fired up.

Are you all good now, did they get new motors or pinions?

I ordered one over the weekend and I am waiting on confirmation of shipping. Bestop called Monday to confirm ship to address and they said it would ship out this week. I hope my installed doesn't have the same problems...

 

[Ft. Worth Rob]

Are you all good now, did they get new motors or pinions?

I ordered one over the weekend and I am waiting on confirmation of shipping. Bestop called Monday to confirm ship to address and they said it would ship out this week. I hope my installed doesn't have the same problems...

They replaced the pinion and all seems good now. I will say that I was surprised at the loud, bass-level frequencies of wind buffeting above 65mph with the top and windows closed that they seem to say “it is what it is”. The latches are a bit of a pain to latch right now but I assume it will loosen up over time.

 

[heathw101]

They replaced the pinion and all seems good now. I will say that I was surprised at the loud, bass-level frequencies of wind buffeting above 65mph with the top and windows closed that they seem to say “it is what it is”. The latches are a bit of a pain to latch right now but I assume it will loosen up over time.

Yep, mine is definitely not quiet. It’s louder than the hardtop but quieter than the OEM soft top.

 

[jmichael83]

I wanted to continue this thread and share my own experience with the E top, because all the discussion about it seemingly being a prototype for the Bronco is in my opinion very much the case.

I sprung for the E top because our family had scheduled a trip to Colorado and I didn’t want to have to deal with hardtop panels 900 miles away. Unfortunately, on day three of the trip, I undid the latches to the top, pushed the open button, and about 3 inches into travel it popped the pinion gear shaft on the passenger side motor. There was an authorized E top installer just 10 miles up the road in Frisco, so I filed a claim asking if that shop could take a look and get us back on the road for the rest of the trip and the drive home. The initial conversation was like dealing with the DMV. I understand the legalities of wanting pictures and documentation, but they didn’t offer any support from the local installer and only asked if I could remove the motor covers and get more pictures as well as proof of purchase. That was quite contradictory to their instructions to not DIY anything with this top so I once again asked about support from the authorized installer closest to me. My initial installer called me the next day and long story short it was not fixed for the rest of the trip or the drive home and I had to wait a couple weeks on the part once we arrived back home.

@Bestop_Team explanation for the failure was a sourced lot of subpar materials. When I questioned their solution of only providing a replacement pinion gear for the passenger side if the top was supposedly manufactured from subpar materials, they agreed to swap for a new top and shift the warrantable date to the installation date of the new top. I had to argue about the warrantable date, which was infuriating since I really had no time to enjoy it before it broke, and I was inoperable for roughly 3 weeks.

The new top was installed roughly a week after the warranty conversation, but the OEM did not fit new windows. That will come in to play later. When the tops were switched, the drivers side pinion shaft was found to be snapped too.

Understandably a little unnerved to operate the top after the equipment failure so far from home, I only operated the it a couple times over the next couple weeks. The second time, the passenger side once again seemed to bind up. I took it back to my installer and he was able to free it up and suspected the felt tape they use on the pivot brackets had melted some glue and fused together. The following week, I tried operating it again and it would not go up at all. Took it back to the authorized installer yesterday, and he is confident there is no mechanical binding, however, this time the driver side motor was burned out, presumably from the unexplained passenger side binding. He used the motor off my old top to get me going again, and has sent pictures to the besttop team of all the issues.

As others are saying, my rear windows, specifically on the passenger side, have a terribly unsightly gap, and the rubber seal they referenced is worthless because you can see daylight at the seal when you are in the interior cargo area. Additionally, there is roughly half an inch gap on the driver side above the front driver’s window, whereas there is a bit of a dip on the passenger side. My installer made a few adjustments which improved it a little bit, but I agree with the comments on here regarding it being a cosmetic tolerance issue is ridiculous for a $6500 installed product.

I emailed bestop a couple nights ago with all of these details, and my installer has also tried to communicate with them. Same story as with the initial communication on the original complaint, no empathy or motivation back to me the owner, just request for more pictures and more pictures and more pictures. Throughout the entire experience, I’ve never once been able to get the name of anyone I’m talking to much less being offered a mobile technician like others have mentioned they provided.

Our family has been through a rough several years with medical issues so we purchased the Bronco and then the top to have some fun. It’s been anything but that since the top purchase. My ultimate request to the besttop team is to authorize my installer to remove the top, reinstall my hardtop brackets, refund my money, and let me go on my merry way with my hardtop. From this thread, I am pessimistic that will be their solution, but I am done. I have suspicions that whatever the most recent binding issue has caused the top to torque and permanently misalign, causing all the unsightly gaps all around. But even if they agreed to another perfectly new one with newly fitted windows, I would always suspect the possibility of failure when I push that button for it to go back up. Not a great feeling when you live in Missouri where storms can pop up with zero chance of rain for days and a couple kiddos in the back.

I was admittedly skeptical of purchasing a soft top at all, much less such a newly designed product, so if anyone out there is feeling spontaneous like I was, I would recommend holding off until they get their design right.

I will try to update this post with any further resolutions they offer, which will hopefully be to be done as I mentioned, but I am not holding my breath on when I will hear from them given past experience. I understand they are a busy company, but you would think that someone selling structural components for a vehicle would be more timely and understanding with their responses.

 

[Deadpool392]

I wanted to continue this thread and share my own experience with the E top, because all the discussion about it seemingly being a prototype for the Bronco is in my opinion very much the case.

I sprung for the E top because our family had scheduled a trip to Colorado and I didn’t want to have to deal with hardtop panels 900 miles away. Unfortunately, on day three of the trip, I undid the latches to the top, pushed the open button, and about 3 inches into travel it popped the pinion gear shaft on the passenger side motor. There was an authorized E top installer just 10 miles up the road in Frisco, so I filed a claim asking if that shop could take a look and get us back on the road for the rest of the trip and the drive home. The initial conversation was like dealing with the DMV. I understand the legalities of wanting pictures and documentation, but they didn’t offer any support from the local installer and only asked if I could remove the motor covers and get more pictures as well as proof of purchase. That was quite contradictory to their instructions to not DIY anything with this top so I once again asked about support from the authorized installer closest to me. My initial installer called me the next day and long story short it was not fixed for the rest of the trip or the drive home and I had to wait a couple weeks on the part once we arrived back home.

@Bestop_Team explanation for the failure was a sourced lot of subpar materials. When I questioned their solution of only providing a replacement pinion gear for the passenger side if the top was supposedly manufactured from subpar materials, they agreed to swap for a new top and shift the warrantable date to the installation date of the new top. I had to argue about the warrantable date, which was infuriating since I really had no time to enjoy it before it broke, and I was inoperable for roughly 3 weeks.

The new top was installed roughly a week after the warranty conversation, but the OEM did not fit new windows. That will come in to play later. When the tops were switched, the drivers side pinion shaft was found to be snapped too.

Understandably a little unnerved to operate the top after the equipment failure so far from home, I only operated the it a couple times over the next couple weeks. The second time, the passenger side once again seemed to bind up. I took it back to my installer and he was able to free it up and suspected the felt tape they use on the pivot brackets had melted some glue and fused together. The following week, I tried operating it again and it would not go up at all. Took it back to the authorized installer yesterday, and he is confident there is no mechanical binding, however, this time the driver side motor was burned out, presumably from the unexplained passenger side binding. He used the motor off my old top to get me going again, and has sent pictures to the besttop team of all the issues.

As others are saying, my rear windows, specifically on the passenger side, have a terribly unsightly gap, and the rubber seal they referenced is worthless because you can see daylight at the seal when you are in the interior cargo area. Additionally, there is roughly half an inch gap on the driver side above the front driver’s window, whereas there is a bit of a dip on the passenger side. My installer made a few adjustments which improved it a little bit, but I agree with the comments on here regarding it being a cosmetic tolerance issue is ridiculous for a $6500 installed product.

I emailed bestop a couple nights ago with all of these details, and my installer has also tried to communicate with them. Same story as with the initial communication on the original complaint, no empathy or motivation back to me the owner, just request for more pictures and more pictures and more pictures. Throughout the entire experience, I’ve never once been able to get the name of anyone I’m talking to much less being offered a mobile technician like others have mentioned they provided.

Our family has been through a rough several years with medical issues so we purchased the Bronco and then the top to have some fun. It’s been anything but that since the top purchase. My ultimate request to the besttop team is to authorize my installer to remove the top, reinstall my hardtop brackets, refund my money, and let me go on my merry way with my hardtop. From this thread, I am pessimistic that will be their solution, but I am done. I have suspicions that whatever the most recent binding issue has caused the top to torque and permanently misalign, causing all the unsightly gaps all around. But even if they agreed to another perfectly new one with newly fitted windows, I would always suspect the possibility of failure when I push that button for it to go back up. Not a great feeling when you live in Missouri where storms can pop up with zero chance of rain for days and a couple kiddos in the back.

I was admittedly skeptical of purchasing a soft top at all, much less such a newly designed product, so if anyone out there is feeling spontaneous like I was, I would recommend holding off until they get their design right.

I will try to update this post with any further resolutions they offer, which will hopefully be to be done as I mentioned, but I am not holding my breath on when I will hear from them given past experience. I understand they are a busy company, but you would think that someone selling structural components for a vehicle would be more timely and understanding with their responses.

This sucks to hear, I was excited to get the e-top until I saw this thread, and the responses have only confirmed my decision to skip it. I bought a soft top for $400 and love it, for over 10x less I am ok with having to manually open and close the top.

 

[jmichael83]

This sucks to hear, I was excited to get the e-top until I saw this thread, and the responses have only confirmed my decision to skip it. I bought a soft top for $400 and love it, for over 10x less I am ok with having to manually open and close the top.

The idea is great for the convenience factor. They just rolled out a product before they had enough testing and a robust enough support network IMO. I originally asked my local Ford dealer about price for install, and they didn’t even know what an eTop was much less have any trained installers. I suppose that should have been my first and last red flag

 

[tock13]

I wanted to continue this thread and share my own experience with the E top, because all the discussion about it seemingly being a prototype for the Bronco is in my opinion very much the case.

I sprung for the E top because our family had scheduled a trip to Colorado and I didn’t want to have to deal with hardtop panels 900 miles away. Unfortunately, on day three of the trip, I undid the latches to the top, pushed the open button, and about 3 inches into travel it popped the pinion gear shaft on the passenger side motor. There was an authorized E top installer just 10 miles up the road in Frisco, so I filed a claim asking if that shop could take a look and get us back on the road for the rest of the trip and the drive home. The initial conversation was like dealing with the DMV. I understand the legalities of wanting pictures and documentation, but they didn’t offer any support from the local installer and only asked if I could remove the motor covers and get more pictures as well as proof of purchase. That was quite contradictory to their instructions to not DIY anything with this top so I once again asked about support from the authorized installer closest to me. My initial installer called me the next day and long story short it was not fixed for the rest of the trip or the drive home and I had to wait a couple weeks on the part once we arrived back home.

@Bestop_Team explanation for the failure was a sourced lot of subpar materials. When I questioned their solution of only providing a replacement pinion gear for the passenger side if the top was supposedly manufactured from subpar materials, they agreed to swap for a new top and shift the warrantable date to the installation date of the new top. I had to argue about the warrantable date, which was infuriating since I really had no time to enjoy it before it broke, and I was inoperable for roughly 3 weeks.

The new top was installed roughly a week after the warranty conversation, but the OEM did not fit new windows. That will come in to play later. When the tops were switched, the drivers side pinion shaft was found to be snapped too.

Understandably a little unnerved to operate the top after the equipment failure so far from home, I only operated the it a couple times over the next couple weeks. The second time, the passenger side once again seemed to bind up. I took it back to my installer and he was able to free it up and suspected the felt tape they use on the pivot brackets had melted some glue and fused together. The following week, I tried operating it again and it would not go up at all. Took it back to the authorized installer yesterday, and he is confident there is no mechanical binding, however, this time the driver side motor was burned out, presumably from the unexplained passenger side binding. He used the motor off my old top to get me going again, and has sent pictures to the besttop team of all the issues.

As others are saying, my rear windows, specifically on the passenger side, have a terribly unsightly gap, and the rubber seal they referenced is worthless because you can see daylight at the seal when you are in the interior cargo area. Additionally, there is roughly half an inch gap on the driver side above the front driver’s window, whereas there is a bit of a dip on the passenger side. My installer made a few adjustments which improved it a little bit, but I agree with the comments on here regarding it being a cosmetic tolerance issue is ridiculous for a $6500 installed product.

I emailed bestop a couple nights ago with all of these details, and my installer has also tried to communicate with them. Same story as with the initial communication on the original complaint, no empathy or motivation back to me the owner, just request for more pictures and more pictures and more pictures. Throughout the entire experience, I’ve never once been able to get the name of anyone I’m talking to much less being offered a mobile technician like others have mentioned they provided.

Our family has been through a rough several years with medical issues so we purchased the Bronco and then the top to have some fun. It’s been anything but that since the top purchase. My ultimate request to the besttop team is to authorize my installer to remove the top, reinstall my hardtop brackets, refund my money, and let me go on my merry way with my hardtop. From this thread, I am pessimistic that will be their solution, but I am done. I have suspicions that whatever the most recent binding issue has caused the top to torque and permanently misalign, causing all the unsightly gaps all around. But even if they agreed to another perfectly new one with newly fitted windows, I would always suspect the possibility of failure when I push that button for it to go back up. Not a great feeling when you live in Missouri where storms can pop up with zero chance of rain for days and a couple kiddos in the back.

I was admittedly skeptical of purchasing a soft top at all, much less such a newly designed product, so if anyone out there is feeling spontaneous like I was, I would recommend holding off until they get their design right.

I will try to update this post with any further resolutions they offer, which will hopefully be to be done as I mentioned, but I am not holding my breath on when I will hear from them given past experience. I understand they are a busy company, but you would think that someone selling structural components for a vehicle would be more timely and understanding with their responses.

Man, what a horror story. Really sorry all this happened to you guys. I hope they refund you fully.

A friend and I were both looking at these for our broncos but reading about the pathetic support you got for a $6500 item I will never drop a dime on another bestop product again.

Good luck on your fight with them

 

[Valhalla]

Thanks for keeping the community informed and sorry you are having to deal with this.. @besttop c'mon this is utter horse shit.

 

[23OBX2.7]

IMO whenever a MFG blames their supply chain for quality problems BS taking ownership for own procurement and QA failures it's a massive red flag.

I recently had a Bronco bimini mfg blame their supply chain for tha huge delay in shipping when they were selling max 5 day shipping.

A least when buying an e top from Ford you can be reasonably assured they will back it up though I also am of the thought I can manually handle the top and since these are designed to get wet inside to some extent not worried about a few rain drops.

 

[VirginiaHeritage]

Hey @Bestop_Team, I’m putting these AI-altered pics here to inspire you to hurry and take my money.

Don’t want:

WANT:

If you don’t know what fabric to use, consider that there are a lot of white bimini tops in the boating industry and start there.

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