Truckin

iTrader: (4)

So, had the topper for about a month now.. ARE Z series.
Upon delivery - I noticed the side window is toast. The rear pop out window was bowed out 3/8 of an inch difference from top to bottom and it did not shut all the way. My dealer tells me that its normal and it will settle in.
They agreed to order me a new window.
2 weeks go by, I hand wash the top, and noticed about 2 dozen spots in the paint where dust was painted over and it dimpled out on the sides, and a estimate of about 50 more on the top! Most were tiny, but about 10 of them were 1/4" to 3/8" round
I go to the dealer today for the window, and asked what they could do with about the paint. I told them flat out I would not be happy with a repaint and I wanted a new top.
They proceeded to tell me that it is industry standard that if there are less than 5 imperfections within 1 square inch that its acceptable - Sorry but it does not meet my standards! ARE advertises front page that they use high quality paint... maybe they left out aplied like crap! --- Longer story short, they agreed to take it back and full refund except for the tax, because they already paid it? So, because there acceptable industry standard for a crappy paint job is OK, it cost me ~200 bucks for the tax. Sorry I feel violated. They justified it with another line of Bull, by saying theres supposed to be a 45% restocking fee.

I highly recommend anyone buying a top, to inspect it under bright lights before they install it on your truck! Had I known I would have told them to keep it, or get me another...Before I drove it home.
Maybe some people don't care about flaws in paint, but I do... I admit I'm **** about my vehicles looks... I've traded cars in because of bad door dings that required repainting to make it right... last time I did, it never looked right.
So - anybody have similar issues with toppers?.. hows leer, or snug top...any better quality ?.... Did I just get a bum topper from ARE... I do like look it has.

bluej58

Sorry to hear of your troubles, I'm looking for a cap for the new truck and ARE was one on the list, I'll take your words of advise seriously.

JD

snobdds

I have had a topper on my trucks for the past 20 or so years. I will tell you one thing, every single one of them has some imperfections. Some have windows that leak, some have the fiberglass not molded perfectly, some would no clamp right, all had paint imperfections...point being, they are not a highly precise pieces of machinery. Hell, they chipped my last one on install, I told them I would fix it my self and $4 dollars later with no gorilla glue...can't tell unless your looking. I have learned a few tricks over the years to deal with the short comings. Use locktite on the clamps, put extra silicone on the window seams, use spacers on the latches to take up the slack, etc.

For the price of a topper, usually $2500, a person's expectations can not be that high. There cheap for what they are. I do buy only Leer now, they seem to have the best quality of the bunch...

Blackpony

I have an are cover on my '13 and it is pretty much perfect. One little chip at the latch from a key but otherwise real nice quality. Personally I am not a fan of 1 piece bed covers as it limits your abilities to haul stuff. Id like to sell mine it is for a 6.5 bed in oxford white if anyone is interested.

terraformer

I'm continually amazed at what, generally, people "should expect" with various items they buy. If there's something wrong with the truck, they'll say, "it's a truck, what do you expect?" Or if it's pretty much anything, we're to expect that there will be a flaw or flaws of some sort.

Are we so accepting of shoddy workmanship that it's become the norm? Same with service, it's just something we have to deal with?

I didn't used to be this way. Used to be there was some level of pride in workmanship and the accompanying expectation of it. But now, we're just supposed to spend hard earned money and get whatever they give us.

Take the Germans, for example. Most folks would agree that they are generally viewed as perfectionists, as worshippers of "quality." They often have issues with some of their offerings, but typically they're still at the epitome of quality. Why can't we be like that anymore? Why is it that we should just accept poor quality and the excuses for it? Just ranting...

snobdds

To achieve the type of quality your looking for, the price of a topper would need to substantially raise.

They're made to a pretty high quality now, at least LEER's are. However, it's not like a CNC machine is forming the topper out of a solid block of fiberglass. At the end of the day, it's a molded piece of fiberglass done by a worker probably making less than $18/hr.

Let's keep things in context here...

Truckin

iTrader: (4)

He was...2300 for poor workmanship is unacceptable in my book. Maybe you have disposable cash and don't care about quality? Sorry I care ..High school shop paints cars better than this.
ARE claims best paint. false advertising.

Truckin

iTrader: (4)

Sorry, now you got me going. Here's an idea.. ARE should advertise on the website-
" Our standard is acceptable if there no more than 5 paint imperfections within 1 square inch"
If they did that..how long do you think they would be in business?
I would have no business complaining about the crap paint they had on my topper if they had full disclosure.
Would you go back to a restaurant that gave you bad food and told you its ok..meets our standards!
Have you ever returned something that was not right..or do you suck it up and keep quiet and be happy with it
Ok..off soapbox. .

mattgw86

I have an ARE v series on my truck and the paint quality is pretty good. Almost a perfect match on my Kodiak Brown too. My only complaint was the shop that put the cap on apparently wiped all the dust off it with shop rags and put lots of swirls in it. I also noticed the rear glass scratches pretty easy.