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Installing Bestops Supertop - 4-Wheel & Off-Road Magazine

Kevin McNulty Former Editor, Mud Life

The old adage "nothing lasts forever" rings true for anything automotive, but especially a trail rig's soft top. If you own a 4x4 with a soft top then you know they can become brittle over time and tear easily, the fastening snaps can freeze up, and the vinyl windows will yellow and fog up, limiting visibility.

131 1012 Installing Bestops Supertop passenger Side Shot Photo 30665818

Bestop's Supertop is a high-quality replacement soft top that includes everything needed to replace a worn-out top and its rusty, broken hardware. This also makes the Supertop great for newly built vehicles without any top hardware or mounting points. The Supertop is made from heavy denim, is mildew-resistant, and contains UV inhibitors for protection from the sun and adverse weather.

The Supertop replacement setup doesn't include doors and is designed to be used with the factory hard doors or Bestop's two-piece doors (sold separately). The replacement tops are available for Jeeps, Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-40s, and early Ford Broncos and come in original factory colors. We found the Supertop easy to install and were impressed with its quality and fitment.

131 1012 Installing Bestops Supertop components Photo 34692522 The support bows, mounting rails, and windshield rail are powdercoated so they should withstand harsh elements and bad weather for years. The soft top is fitted with tinted windows, which meets U.S. standards. PhotosView Slideshow The Supertop comes with fully detailed instructions and can easily be installed by a beginning or novice enthusiast. Our total work time to install this top was just over an hour. However, we let the top sit in the sun and stretched it out over the top of the Jeep for a few days because it wrinkles during shipping and the material will expand and contract in hot and cold weather. The two-piece windshield retainer rails are screwed directly to the top of the frame. It's important that the top of the windshield frame be 97 3/4 inches to the back lip of the Jeeps tub so that the top fits snuggly and securely, which will help reduce wind noise and leaking. We found that the belt rails holding the lower part of the top to the body fit nicely even on our custom-made tub. The rails are a good design change from the old snaps that would sometimes freeze up and cause soft tops to tear over time. The tailgate bar fits snugly and securely and is designed with a rubber seal that mounts against the inner part of the tailgate. The bar and seal should keep all our gear and the back of the Jeep dry in the rain. The front and rear bows that support the top mount are on a bracket that allows them to fully retract. This keeps them out of the way when you're driving around without a top. The bows are also held in place with clevis pins that can be removed in seconds. We found the large-toothed zippers on the Supertop easy to start and zip up. The zippers were much easier to work with than some factory soft top zippers. The zippers hold the side and rear windows in, which makes it easy to remove them. The soft top has heavy-duty plastic strips/belts along its inner lower edge; the belts fit securely under the belt rail and secure the it to the Jeep. Rather than using snaps, we have found this a better way to attach the top to the Jeep since snaps can rust and freeze with corrosion over time. We were worried that a soft top wouldn't fit over the Jeep's custom rollcage, but the Supertop was tall enough to clear all the bars of the cage from front to rear. The rear window can be unzipped and removed, or can be rolled up and held in place with easy-to-secure straps.

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