berb
Well-Known Member
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- #1
I had posted a thread asking about mirrors to go with the Bestop Soft Doors and a few members asked for a review, so I decided to start a new thread for anyone else that may be curious. This review is for the more expensive Twill Material. I chose the Twill because my wife's Wrangler has a Twill soft top and I have been very happy with the material. I figured buy what I know, rather than a new material I am not familiar with.
I purchased only the front doors because of the high cost of investment. I figured if I did not like them, then I'm only out $800 and if I do like them I can purchase the rear doors for next summer. I installed them this past weekend and have been riding around with the soft doors for about 4 days now.
I watched a few videos before putting the doors together, but it was pretty simple. FYI, the install video from Bestop needs improvement. It skipped some steps in regards to the latch. I had to watch other people for a complete install example. I would rate my handy skills as poor, so anyone on this forum can install the doors themselves.
FYI, it has not rained here since the doors have gone on. Once we have a rain storm I will update my review.
The doors mostly fit tight to the door frame and hold well driving under 60 mph. Once I get into the 60s there is a little flapping, but nothing that I was concerned with. Once I hit 70 there was a lot of flapping going on. Bestop recommends putting your knee into the center bar and then pulling the top of the door towards you. This will bend the pins for the top portion of the door so the door sits more snugly against the door jam. I will do that this weekend and update on the door flap after a few days of commuting next week. Overall I was impressed with the fit compared to some of the reviews I have read online. I expected the doors to be flapping a lot more. In the front of the door by the bottom hinge there is an adjustment bracket. This adjustment made it possible to line the door up with the upper part of the door jam.
Below in the front corners of the doors, there is a small gap that if it were raining, I think water will come up inside the jeep. Even though the doors have an adjustment bracket I do not see how I can close the gap here. Once I drive it in wet road conditions I will update the tread on how much water comes into the jeep.
You can see the daylight showing through, but that is the only area. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, so we will see what happens. The gaps are right where the lower hinge pin is, so I do not see how I can close this gap, but then again I did say my handy skills were poor.
I do find the doors to be loud when the jeep is closed up. I find it louder than if the doors were off. Disclaimer, my hearing has been heading south and has been weird so, it may just be me.
Now for the reason why I bought the doors. In 2 minutes I can have the doors off and they sit very well in the back of the truck bed. (I do have a bed cover) Before these doors, I had to ride to work in the early morning and freeze. Also, I would ride to work with the doors off only when there was 0% chance of rain. Now, It doesn't matter if it is supposed to rain. I can take the doors off as long as it is not going to rain on my way home. When storing these doors in the bed of your truck be aware of the door latches. You do not want to rest the plastic windows or the fabric on the door latches. Also, you want the latches to be facing up so you do not scratch the truck bed OR if you have a spray in bed liner, you do not want to scrape up your latches.
To sum things up, after 4 days, I am happy with the doors. They are doing exactly what I wanted them to do. We will see if my opinion stays the same after some rain. My commute to work is about 20 miles, 15 on a highway. If I were going on a long road trip I would put my hard doors back on, but that would be because of speed. I do not know how comfortable I would be with the door flap at 80 mph for a long distance, but then again that may change once I try and bend the top part of the door.
If you like taking your doors off on a regular basis, I would recommend buying these doors.
I will post updates to this tread as conditions change.
I purchased only the front doors because of the high cost of investment. I figured if I did not like them, then I'm only out $800 and if I do like them I can purchase the rear doors for next summer. I installed them this past weekend and have been riding around with the soft doors for about 4 days now.
I watched a few videos before putting the doors together, but it was pretty simple. FYI, the install video from Bestop needs improvement. It skipped some steps in regards to the latch. I had to watch other people for a complete install example. I would rate my handy skills as poor, so anyone on this forum can install the doors themselves.
FYI, it has not rained here since the doors have gone on. Once we have a rain storm I will update my review.
The doors mostly fit tight to the door frame and hold well driving under 60 mph. Once I get into the 60s there is a little flapping, but nothing that I was concerned with. Once I hit 70 there was a lot of flapping going on. Bestop recommends putting your knee into the center bar and then pulling the top of the door towards you. This will bend the pins for the top portion of the door so the door sits more snugly against the door jam. I will do that this weekend and update on the door flap after a few days of commuting next week. Overall I was impressed with the fit compared to some of the reviews I have read online. I expected the doors to be flapping a lot more. In the front of the door by the bottom hinge there is an adjustment bracket. This adjustment made it possible to line the door up with the upper part of the door jam.
Below in the front corners of the doors, there is a small gap that if it were raining, I think water will come up inside the jeep. Even though the doors have an adjustment bracket I do not see how I can close the gap here. Once I drive it in wet road conditions I will update the tread on how much water comes into the jeep.
You can see the daylight showing through, but that is the only area. It is supposed to rain tomorrow, so we will see what happens. The gaps are right where the lower hinge pin is, so I do not see how I can close this gap, but then again I did say my handy skills were poor.
I do find the doors to be loud when the jeep is closed up. I find it louder than if the doors were off. Disclaimer, my hearing has been heading south and has been weird so, it may just be me.
Now for the reason why I bought the doors. In 2 minutes I can have the doors off and they sit very well in the back of the truck bed. (I do have a bed cover) Before these doors, I had to ride to work in the early morning and freeze. Also, I would ride to work with the doors off only when there was 0% chance of rain. Now, It doesn't matter if it is supposed to rain. I can take the doors off as long as it is not going to rain on my way home. When storing these doors in the bed of your truck be aware of the door latches. You do not want to rest the plastic windows or the fabric on the door latches. Also, you want the latches to be facing up so you do not scratch the truck bed OR if you have a spray in bed liner, you do not want to scrape up your latches.
To sum things up, after 4 days, I am happy with the doors. They are doing exactly what I wanted them to do. We will see if my opinion stays the same after some rain. My commute to work is about 20 miles, 15 on a highway. If I were going on a long road trip I would put my hard doors back on, but that would be because of speed. I do not know how comfortable I would be with the door flap at 80 mph for a long distance, but then again that may change once I try and bend the top part of the door.
If you like taking your doors off on a regular basis, I would recommend buying these doors.
I will post updates to this tread as conditions change.
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