You don’t have to confine Morris offroad activities to the summer. You can participate in off-roading during all times of the year, in all types of weather. Furthermore, you do not have to use a hard top if you drive your Jeep in the snow. Contrary to what you may think, the soft top is an option for winter driving. Here are some benefits of hard tops and soft tops to help you decide.
Benefits of Hard Tops
A Jeep hard top can offer some significant advantages in cold winter weather. For example, a hard top provides more insulation. When you have your heater going inside your Jeep, the hard top helps to capture the heat and keep it inside the cabin where it does you the most good. Another benefit of the insulation that a hard top provides is that it helps to muffle noise from your engine, meaning that the interior of the cabin stays quieter while you are driving.
Hard tops are generally more durable, meaning that they do not require as much maintenance and they typically last for a long time. Hard tops are resistant to damage that might destroy a soft top.
If you enjoy winter sports, such as skiing, snowboarding, or tobogganing, a roof rack can provide you with extra cargo space. A soft top cannot support a roof rack, so if you want to take advantage of the extra storage, a hard top is a must.
Benefits of Soft Tops
Generally speaking, a Jeep soft top offers its own advantages over a hard top. They typically cost less than hard tops, so if you’re working with a limited budget, this may be the better option. Soft tops are also easier to remove and put into storage when you are not using them although, during the winter, you probably spend more time with the top on than off. Incidentally, while it is true that a hard top provides better insulation, soft tops provide adequate insulation, and you probably do not have to worry about getting too cold in the cabin of your Jeep as long as the top is installed properly and you keep the heater running and the windows tightly closed when driving.
One advantageous thing about soft tops in winter is that you don’t have to stand around scraping snow or ice off the windows. As a matter of fact, scraping soft top windows is inadvisable because you could scratch or puncture the material.
The way to remove snow and ice from a Jeep soft top is very simple, although it requires some forethought. When you start the vehicle to warm it up, turn on the heater to full. Within five to 10 minutes, the interior of the cabin should heat up enough to melt the snow and the ice from the windows, with no effort on your part. All you have to do is budget enough time to allow the windows to clear before you have to depart.
Of course, you don’t necessarily have to choose between a hard top and a soft top. Another option is to purchase one of each, using the soft top during the summer and switching to the hard top during the winter.