I would love some feedback from my fellow JK owners on living with the soft top. This is my first Jeep...08 Rubi Umlimited. My wife and I are having fun with it for sure. I ordered the dual top group and I'm getting ready to cut over to the soft top for the summer...but I am having second thoughts. We live in the Midwest (Chicago) so we have a limited season to have "top down" fun.

So here's my dilema...after living with the freedom tops, why would I intall the soft top? The freedom tops pop off so easy...and the rest of the top is a few bolts and an unplug of the wiring harness. My son and I had the whole thing off this weekend in 10 minutes. It just seems to me that the soft top...to use with all the side windows and rear windows with zippers and all...is no easier than just removing the hard top. Plus there is the use-ability of the soft top vs. hard top on an every day basis...I could go on...help me decide, thanks.

 

An advantage of having the soft top on in the summer is that you have it with you, so if starts to rail put the top up instead of driving home to get your hard top. I'm sure there are lots of pros and cons, this is just one pro ... IMO.

 

to me the hard top only has a couple advantages over soft tops. 1) looks 2) it don't flop in the wind 3) wiper/defog rear window.
as far as everything else goes i prefer the soft top. i can take mine off and have it back up in about 5-8 minutes with no problems. a huge benefit to this is if you get caught in a thunderstorm without ur hardtop....

 

soft top doesn't scratch like the hard top when off road...ask me how I know

 

someone beat me to it...
just practice putting it up and down a couple times and you'll never wanna go back to a hard top.

 

ask me how i know he knows!!

my wife said... OH HE JUST HIT THAT TREE!!

 

X2

I got my soft top because i'd like to take a trip 2 hours or more away out of the city and enjoy the ride with the top down or off.... but if im that far away and weather changes, im screwed.... And if i want to take a ride to the shore for a couple of days i cant put that monster of a hard top anywhere. I just put mine on and drove with it for the 1st time today IN THE RAIN! it's not that much of a PIA, i had to load some equipment on the back , just unzip the sides of the rear window and roll up, less than a minute IN THE RAIN! but went well.... once u get the hang of it , it isnt a hard process.... Hope this was somewhat healpful...

 

I am aware of the the conveinience of having the top with you...when it rains, etc. Plus you bring up a good point...I guess once you live with it for a while you get more proficiant with the opperation. I am a Jeep newbie...after watching the Jeep video...it seems to be...well...a PIA to use. Plus with the panels off you get a great sensation of the great wide open. The other issue I was thinking about was the use of the tail gate with the soft top. Getting grocieries in and out or golf clubs would be more difficult too. You have the bar that goes accross the back so your access is cut down too. Maybe I'm just over analyzing this???

 

I'm pretty much a newbie too (my first real jeep), and I got both tops plus the bikini and duster combo. I just pretty much wanted to try a little of everything to decide what I liked.

As far as the soft top goes, down and up gets pretty quick after a few weeks. (5 minutes or less). I have the flexitrunk, so everything I put in the back goes through the tailgate anyway, but I don't have any problem with the soft top and loading the back up. I assume if you were putting piles of stuff back there that go over the window it might present a little more of a challenge, but for a trip to the grocery store or something it really isn't that much of a problem.

While you don't mention this, I will say that the soft top is actually quicker to put up than a bikini with the windjammer. The windjammer is really kind of a PITA to put on, and it doesn't really provide that much benefit. With the four door they don't currently make a wrap-around, but I've seen what a few folds on here did and I'm hoping to get either a commercially viable one or I'll make my own later this year to give it a whirl.

Go with the soft top... It really isn't the full jeep experience until you have the top down and the doors off.

 

I dont think your over analyzing anything.
There are so many reasons why I cant stand the soft top, that I couldnt count them on one hand, here are just some of my reasons why I dont like it...
The windows are a PITA to remove and install, especially the back window
The big 4 door top is a PITA to fold back properly, especially when the Jeep is lifted
The wind noise is worse
There is no rear defogger or wiper
The back window is a PITA to simply load/remove cargo in the Jeep
The door frames look ugly when the top is down, unless you remove them also, which takes even more time.

So...the only reason why I havent sold the soft top yet is because I use it for off roading about once or twice a month, and thats it. Im still thinking I want to sell it and buy a safari top and duster cover instead though.

I use the hard top all year round and like it much better. I have an electric hoist system in my garage that I made for around $120... That makes taking off the complete hard top a 3 minute job at the most, and I only take it off on days when I know its not going to rain, then for the days where there is a chance of rain, I just run with the panels out and bring them with me.