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Premium Quadratop vs Bestop Supertop NX

10K views 29 replies 14 participants last post by  MontelG 
#1 ·
Thoughts? Pics of either?
 
#3 ·
There's a good review of the standard and premium OEM tops versus the Trektop on page one of the Soft Top HELP!!! thread. Maybe that can help you learn more about the tops so you can decide. :)

Haven't heard too many people running the Quadratec tops.
 
#6 ·
The rest of my QuadraTop Premium arrives today. I can post some pics and opinion once I get it installed, hopefully this week. I don' have anything apart from the hard top to compare against though.

The QuadraTop was on back order but I was willing to wait. If you want something quick you might want to check before ordering.
 
#8 ·
Finally got my QuadraTop Premium top installed (it turned cold here the day I received the last package from Quadratec?

Here are some pictures. I will post some comments separately.
 

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#9 ·
Packaging

The top arrived in two packages. The soft top fabric arrived in a QuadraTop Premium box and the hardware arrived in a Bestop box. Make what you will of that! Both arrived in good repair. As I mentioned previously they were on back order when I ordered them but I was prepared to wait. Once they shipped they arrived very quickly (from across the country too!).

Overall impression

Both the soft top fabric and the hardware seem to be high quality. The fabric is quite thick and a deep black colour. The windows are nice and clear (the view out of the rear is better that with the hard top on). All the parts were included and were in good order.

Install

There were two sets of overlapping and somewhat confusing instructions. In the end I followed the Bestop instructions to install the hardware (ignoring where they covered installing the fabric) and the Quadratec instructions for installing the fabric. The only thing to watch out for is to make sure to install the edge protector on the Upper Header. The install was a bit fiddly and there are definitely a few places where you need two people to stretch something or pull something down or hold something in place while you tighten it up.

The install went pretty smoothly even though the temperature was between 50 and 60 degrees. It did take about 3 hours total in two shifts! The only thing I had issues with was zipping the rear window in. It looked like the vinyl of the window had shrunk a lot - there was a lot of the zipper bunched up around the edge. Here is what I ended up doing:

1. Installed everything except the rear window. The side windows went in just fine even at the low temperatures I was working in.

2. I drove Bella around *without* the back window for a few days. The fabric seemed to relax a lot during this time. She was parked in the sunshine from time to time and the top seemed to heat up nicely!

3. After a few days I took her out for a spin to heat the engine up, parked her in the driveway, cranked the heat and fan up to full and zipped the back window in as far as I could (about half way across the top). After about five minutes the top and rear window was heating up nicely. Then I released the latches that secure the header, released the rear corners and was able to zip the rear window the rest of the way.

My guess if you install in a temperature higher than 72 degrees as they recommend you won't need to do this!!

Impression so far

Even driving without the rear window in the top did not seen particularly noisy - of course you could hear the outside noise from behind. Having the rear window out was actually quite a nice way to get some open air even in the cooler temps because everyone is out of the wind. The view is definitely improved over the hard top (no rear wiper in the way). I haven't driven it with the rear window in except at low speed around town. I would say there isn't a very noticeable difference between this top and the hard top for this type of driving.

We are taking a road trip to Arizona soon and planning to take Bella. If I remember I will report back on how that went.
 
#10 ·
Update on noise level

I was driving around town today in traffic and I did notice that the traffic noise seemed louder than with the hard top. Seems weird that the road and wind noise doesn't seem any worse - must be my ancient hearing tuning out the white noise of the road and the wind but not the Mustang with broken muffler and thumping bass....
 
#12 ·
I am looking to get a soft top for my 2015 Wrangler and trying to find out which one is best for the money. I want to take hard top off for the summer so i can put a soft top on but dont want to have to drill any holes or anything. I just want soft type so it is easy to put up and down during spring/summer with ease for one person. Do the soft tops slide all the way back? I did a live chat with someone on Quadratec and he told me i had to buy the $1200 premium top if i wanted to fold all the way back/down. I just dont know enough and do not really want/need a "Premium Soft Top" because i just want to use for summer and more for ease than anything else. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#15 ·
Sounds like the slight differences between the Quadratop and Bestop may just be mostly branding cause I thought I read somewhere that bestop made the tops for Quadratec. I also believe the Bestop fabric is a little thicker, 30oz vs. Quadratops 28oz. Whatever the case may be I'm just searching for the best deal on the Bestop
 
#16 ·
Just a quick post on the QuadraTop Premium. Bella did not make the road trip to Arizona because she failed the leak test and the forecast for Southern Idaho and Northern Nevada was very wet.

I'm not sure what causes the leaks right now (could be inexperienced installer) so I will post more details when I figure it out.

The leaks were on both sides right behind the doors at the end of the channel on the door posts (top right of the driver door and top left of the passenger door).
 
#18 ·
It covers the whole Jeep, just like the OEM top or the Bestop. The hardware is the same as the Bestop (and supposedly the OEM top).

I have not had a chance to track down the leaks yet. I have been looking at other peoples soft tops to see if I did something dumb.

Apart from the leaks I am very happy with my soft top. It is easy to get up and down, and the sunrider feature coupled with taking the back and side windows out provides lots of options for open top motoring without being completely unprotected.

There are some pics earlier in this thread of the top so you can see what it is like. Mine is covered in dust at the moment after a hiking trip into the Owyhee mountains.
 
#20 ·
Leak update

It has been raining here on and off for a few days including some heavy showers. I have not noticed any leaks driving or parking in the rain yet.

Seems like my leak test could have been a little over enthusiastic - although my intent was to simulate an Arizona monsoon. Will be heading there again in August sometime. :)
 
#21 ·
ExPatWillys: Now that you've owned the Quadratop for a year, are you generally satisfied with its quality? We're considering the Premium Quadratop for our JKU. We would only use it in the summer and switch back to the hard top for winter. Our Jeep lives in a garage and is used mostly for fun or the occasional 5 mile trip into town. It's one year old and has just 3k miles on it. Although we have a hoist to easily remove the hard top, I like the idea of folding down a soft top and having it with us if the weather turns damp when away from home.
 
#24 ·
I'm happy with mine after a year of use. I will be putting it back on soon (I too have a hardtop for winter). Last summer the soft top spent most of its time folded down - has it up mainly for road trips, dusty tails and the occasional Arizona monsoon.
 
#22 ·
If you have a chance, also ask Rick from Quadratec (send him a PM).

He said the major benefit to the non Quadratec brands is that the windows and back can be bought separately. The Quadratops don't sell individual parts. At least that's what he told me about a year ago
 
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