Soft Top owners

I love it! I've had it for just over two months and have gotten up to over 80 on the hwy, of course it is a little noiser than a regular car, I have a car with a sun roof and I'd say its about the same. I have not driven in a hardtop one so can't compare that. I can say that I love the ease of being able to open it up whenever I want without having to worry about storing panels. Case in point, we went to an off-road meet this weekend and the one in front of me was trying to take of their two panels, it looked easy, yes, but it was a two door and they had a stroller in the back, they couldn't fit even one panel back there, at least not with ease, I was stressing for them watching them trying to shove it back there. So, if you like the top open or plan to take advantage of that option as much as possible, I'd consider the soft-top. My husband likes the look of the hardtop better, ya, it might be a bit slicker, but I still wouldn't go back and change it to a hard-top.

I have both... the ease of use with the soft top is gonna be way easier than my new hardtop. But I think both have their own set of issues. So I don't think you can go wrong either way..

I switched from a mod top to a MIC hard top to a soft (when I switched from a 2 door to 4). I don’t love the look of it (saggy and wrinkly), or the durability (friction wear problems already), but, the noise is a nothing burger. Honestly, if it’s dry and over 50, the top is down anyway.

Huh? Can’t hear you, top is down! (Points to ears and shakes hands)

The convenience of being able to pop open the top when it’s nice out is spectacular.
I think I will add a hard to for winters (someday), but, for summer, I have come around and think the saggy softy is a great choice, that I was (sort of ) backed into…

Love my soft top. Not noisy at all (but that’s subjective). Only notice noise when I’m on highway going 80 mph or more. The convenience of dropping the top whenever I want can’t be beat. I also love the sound of rain on the roof…reminds me of camping.

I had a soft top now a hard top. I prefered the soft. But I need the hardtop for my rooftop tent and other accessories. For some reason the hardtop with sound dampening seems to be louder then the soft.

Love the soft top. I think the color matches the trim so much better than the MIC top.
I also have a garage and live in a fairly moderate climate.
Super easy take down.
The only issue s I have had is making sure the top is square when putting up and down. This prevents squeaks and C Pillar rash!

You really may want both. I recommend getting the hard top because:

1. Realistically you have a much better chance of finding a soft top for sale than you do a hard top
2. If you buy a hard top later off someone; it won’t be warrantied, but fewer people have any problems with their soft top
3. Hard tops are $695 when built with it, but $7-8,000 to buy aftermarket or from another Bronco owner
4. There are plenty of aftermarket soft tops or partial soft tops if you decide you want something else.

I have both factory tops. My hard top is quieter than the soft top. I’m much happier having a hard top during a torrential downpour or a snowstorm. It feels safer and you’re more protected. I love the soft top for the summer. Hella fun. It’s that simple. Get both.

This is my first "convertible" and I'm looking forward to warmer weather to take it down. I haven't noticed any noise issue. I blast my music anyways and i never go above 60 on my daily drive (all surface streets and a canyon road). I don't like not having roof rack bars. I didn't anticipate that i may have to shell out $2000 for a roof rack system. When i had my jeep commander, the cross bars we like $200 and with a Thule soft bag we called it a day.

We were on a beach run this past weekend with 19 other Broncos. I have the Hardtop (Glades) and I had a severe case of Soft top envy. The Soft top folks were able to go from top on to fully top off in just a minute or two. they could go total top off faster than I could take off one front roof panel, it is a real PITA with the roof rack. It can be done but it ain't easy.
the one FE that was there when top off but he had to leave his top at home about 45 minutes away. it was a cool morning and he was freezing on the trip to the beach.
That said these things are so much fun that I would opt for no top at all if I could get it sooner. in fact I did change my build to remove the HT before I switched it to the Everglades.

The only time I've had issue was the night I drove it home. Wind gusts out of the south at 45+ mph and me driving into it at 70+ mph made for quite a noisy ride home. Couldn't hear the radio or anything my kids were saying in the back seat. I never thought upgrading a stereo system would be near the top of my list of upgrades, but JEEZUS do these speakers SUCK!

BroncoBT

Those of you with a soft top do you like it? What are the pros/cons? I have a black diamond with a hardtop ordered and I am toying with the idea of switching to a soft top in order to get it in this lifetime. I’m afraid I won’t like the hardtop because of noise level. But I also see people posting issues/problems with their hardtop too.

Hello!
I too have a soft-top and my number one issue, or complaint is attaching my side panels. If you aren't in warm weather, you may be in trouble getting these back on right away. Rumors of hairdryers and heat lamps just to stretch the fabric is crazy. Rubbing knuckles raw and burning thumbs aren't what I was looking forward to when it comes to talking this soft-top apart. I am buying my time to purchasing the hard-top, so I hope I get better at reinstalling these panels or I just reframe from cinching the soft-top down all the way.

tbadillo

Hello!
I too have a soft-top and my number one issue, or complaint is attaching my side panels. If you aren't in warm weather, you may be in trouble getting these back on right away. Rumors of hairdryers and heat lamps just to stretch the fabric is crazy. Rubbing knuckles raw and burning thumbs aren't what I was looking forward to when it comes to talking this soft-top apart. I am buying my time to purchasing the hard-top, so I hope I get better at reinstalling these panels or I just reframe from cinching the soft-top down all the way.

The next time you slide out your windows, before you slide them back in apply graphite lube or something similar to the male rail of the window that slides in the female track of the actual top.
This will change your view of the window.
Graphite lube, it is not just for Pinewood Derby!!

many of us were in the same situation and had to make the same decision. I reserved my build with a hard top on 7/20/20, and finally around March of 2022, I got to the point you're at and came here and another forum asking the same thing you are - I wanted feedback from people who 'settled' and got the soft top to see if they had any regrets.. The resounding answer was that everyone was glad they did it. So I switched my order to a soft top, and in June, I was assigned a build date of August. I took delivery on 10/12/22, and I can absolutely say I love having the soft top. I've already put close to 7k miles on my Bronco, taking it through a desert rain storm in Johnson Valley, crazy winds out in the middle of the desert, some crazy snow up in the mountains, and have NO regrets. When the wind is coming sideways at you as you're driving down the highway, yeah, it's a little louder.. but so far I've only dealt with that when I was in the middle of the desert. I love how easy it is to flip the front part of the top back at a stop light - no worrying about taking panels off or anything ... it's just EASY. And to be honest, I thought the wavy back windows would bug me - but I don't even notice them.

Calgecko

many of us were in the same situation and had to make the same decision. I reserved my build with a hard top on 7/20/20, and finally around March of 2022, I got to the point you're at and came here and another forum asking the same thing you are - I wanted feedback from people who 'settled' and got the soft top to see if they had any regrets.. The resounding answer was that everyone was glad they did it. So I switched my order to a soft top, and in June, I was assigned a build date of August. I took delivery on 10/12/22, and I can absolutely say I love having the soft top. I've already put close to 7k miles on my Bronco, taking it through a desert rain storm in Johnson Valley, crazy winds out in the middle of the desert, some crazy snow up in the mountains, and have NO regrets. When the wind is coming sideways at you as you're driving down the highway, yeah, it's a little louder.. but so far I've only dealt with that when I was in the middle of the desert. I love how easy it is to flip the front part of the top back at a stop light - no worrying about taking panels off or anything ... it's just EASY. And to be honest, I thought the wavy back windows would bug me - but I don't even notice them.

This ☝️