Bestop eTop Power Retractable Convertible Soft Top ... review

[Z because X was taken]

So sorry to hear about your difficulties and the tough times you're going thru. While looking into the purchase I did come across your thread and a bunch of other reviews, both negative and positive. I have a Wildtrak soft top and I purchased the Etop because my wife loves going topless when the weather cooperates. She did not have a difficult time dropping it half way, it was the removing the windows that was a pain for her and I wasn't always around to do it for her. So I purchase it thru a local authorized dealer about a year and a half ago and boy was it a game changer for her. The install went beautifully. It looks great and works as advertised. We have had zero issues with it and she and I are very pleased with the purchase. I guess I just wanted to get the other side out there. Good luck to you OP. I hope it all works out for you.

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[BigGarnet]

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.

That's brutal. I have heard lots of good stories about these and I love the design...but I think I'm going to hold off for 6 months or so and let this thing settle down and resolve itself...or not.

 

[DewarT]

My top showed up at the installer today... pretty quick considering I ordered it August 15th (at the Bronco Stampede in TN). I ordered the Champagne color, I think it will accent the Hot Pepper red- just hope it isn't hard to keep clean. Install Monday the 31st.

The people in the Bestop booth addressed some of the concerns about pinion gear and motor issues. They didn't 'blame' anyone directly, instead said they have redesigned the pinion gear and used a different material. They also said they moved on from Bosch motors as they weren't as reliable as they needed.

The Raptor they had at the show is the blue one from their videos and some ads and they had a up/down counter on the mechanism. I saw it go up and down a dozen+ times while at the show, I am sure it was 100+ over the weekend. Seemed smooth.

I hope we can add ourselves to the 'everything works great' side of this conversation...

 

[DewarT]

One other note- I saw a recent video where an owner showed how to pull the mechanism covers and pull the motor off the mechanism to get the top back on manually in case of a failure and bad weather.

Anyone done this?

 

[Black Bronco Convertible]

One other note- I saw a recent video where an owner showed how to pull the mechanism covers and pull the motor off the mechanism to get the top back on manually in case of a failure and bad weather.

Anyone done this?

I have the original mytop and that's what I did years ago when the gears broke. I just open and close it by hand nowadays.

 

[DewarT]

I have the original mytop and that's what I did years ago when the gears broke. I just open and close it by hand nowadays.

That's alarming. Of course Bestop acquired the Mytop brand and design and did say they reworked this.

Are the gears/motors not availabe from Bestop to replace them?
How challenging is the top to up/down manually? two person job?

 

[sgmjohn68]

New Etop

 

[heathw101]

My top showed up at the installer today... pretty quick considering I ordered it August 15th (at the Bronco Stampede in TN). I ordered the Champagne color, I think it will accent the Hot Pepper red- just hope it isn't hard to keep clean. Install Monday the 31st.

The people in the Bestop booth addressed some of the concerns about pinion gear and motor issues. They didn't 'blame' anyone directly, instead said they have redesigned the pinion gear and used a different material. They also said they moved on from Bosch motors as they weren't as reliable as they needed.

The Raptor they had at the show is the blue one from their videos and some ads and they had a up/down counter on the mechanism. I saw it go up and down a dozen+ times while at the show, I am sure it was 100+ over the weekend. Seemed smooth.

I hope we can add ourselves to the 'everything works great' side of this conversation...

I really hope this is not the case. I started this thread and one of my main concerns was the whole “Prototype” feeling. If it’s true that pinion gears are failing and they have moved different motors due to failures then we have a problem Houston.

Again, early adopters will pay the price and be left holding the bag after the warranty period is over.

 

[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.

Providing an update since it’s been about a week since I first posted about my issues with the eTop. The first response to my email to the team was a request for more pictures. Laughable if you read my first post. My installer had already sent pictures and videos. Again.

I called the number for eTop Customer Service and spoke to a gentleman who said that someone from management would call me back soon. Got a call from someone else who said my installer had sent videos of the top functioning and assumed all is well. How infuriating to assume if it is functioning then everything else is cosmetic.

I told him the following issues persist:

The driver and passenger sides are still not tracking in line with each other after the binding issue and failed motor. The motor on the driver’s side is the one off the original failed top, which does not give me much comfort. The frock tape which assumedly caused the original binding issue on the second top is still torn up and the frame of the top is very scarred on both sides, assuming from the binding and failure to open on one side. While my installer was able to get it functioning again enough to get me home, the passenger side is not latching without two people pushing it forward. And there are still noticeable gaps above the driver’s front door window and the side window on the passenger side where it meets the quarter panel. Nor do the rear window gaskets engage the body of the Bronco at all to make a seal. Again I suspect some torque to the frame of the top when the motor failed, and still find it concerning they would attempt to cure the issue without fitting new windows.. old wineskins new wine?

I reiterated that I just wanted to be made whole and have the top taken off my vehicle. I was told that since I purchased it from the installer that they can do nothing in the way of a refund. That seems really strange to me since it’s not really the installer’s fault that they’re installing a product that is not functioning correctly by Uniform Commercial Code implied warranty of merchantability. Why not just say someone will make me whole and work out the rest with the installer who is just doing the mechanical and didn’t make the thing? Not to mention, my installer is a local small business and told me that they would not be able to stand behind it unless I purchased it from them. He has now told me it is in the hands of @Bestop_Team for cure and ironically mentioned something about this forum. Sad that one has to squeak online for a situation to get any grease, eh?

I ultimately agreed to let them schedule a tech to come out. He said he would like to send the tech to my installer so both of them can be on the same page. I asked if he felt they needed to bring another top and windows with them because of how bad the binding initially was, and he said the tech would make that decision when he arrived. So.. I guess if he agrees it’s toast I’ll have to wait all over again.

The conversation ended with him assuring me they wanted me to be happy with the top, they have installed roughly 2000 of them with only a handful of issues, so they believe in their product. He did at least apologize for my being stranded on vacation and their representative not doing more to get me with a shop out west and said he would have conversations about that.

That was all on Tuesday, so more to come. I’ve never experienced a situation like this with such a large purchase. Honestly, I would love it if the top would function as advertised long-term, but as I’ve stated, I will always have my hesitations.

I do appreciate everyone’s kind replies and sincerely wish all the best to those for whom it has worked out. I’m not much of an online guy because of how nasty some keyboard warriors can be, but I just felt it important to keep the community updated. So thank you, Bronco community for the support.

 

[Black Bronco Convertible]

That's alarming. Of course Bestop acquired the Mytop brand and design and did say they reworked this.

Are the gears/motors not availabe from Bestop to replace them?
How challenging is the top to up/down manually? two person job?

I don't mind. I had many years of smiles per gallon with the top and I'm already out of warranty. Opening and closing by hand is just as fast if not faster than pushing the button.

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