Beware of ARE Caps

Bought an ARE for my Taco 18 mounthe ago. Paid $1,700. The windoors (side opening windows) are falling out. Poor deisgn on the hinge. Glass is also coming out of rubber gasket. ARE's response "sucks to be you". Poorly engineered product and ARE does not stand behind their caps. Avoid doing bussiness with them at all cost.

 

Thanks for the tip and i am casually shopping for a topper and are was one I was looking into.

 

Wow thats news to me, I going on my 3rd ARE product. 2 caps and one lid. I never had a problem with them, getting parts or any kind of warranty repair work.

 

The warranty was over @ 1 year. So as far as their concerned I'm screwed. They actually wanted to pawn me off to the manufacturer that built the window. Like I said, I bought a cap from ARE not a window from someone else. They have clips that are suppose to hold the window hinge together, obviously I am not the first one with this problem. As of yet the clips have not shown up. But since the window is dangling in the frame, just one corner of the hinge is holding plus the locks, the glass is moving and coming out of the gasket. At first I was satisfied to go the clip route but then when the glass started to seperate from the gasket i called ARE myself. Thats when they it's off warrenty, call the window manufacturer.

To top this off they did not put enough rivets in the weather stripping on the back window so it's flopping around. I'll have to put another screw in. So 18 months after paying $1,700 for a cap it's literrally falling apart and ARE has blown me off. I'll be looking at another brand next time for sure.

 

Sorry to hear about your issue/s. I have had the ARE "Z" series and could not be happier so far with how it is holding up. No issues.

You are right, Its a concern when manufacturers don't stand behind there product/s when quaility falls short.

I don't blame you for looking at another brand.

GL

 

I've had the ARE Z Series on mine since '05 and 70000 miles. I've had no issues at all and like it so much I'm thinking of having it repainted and placed on my new Tacoma when it comes in. No leaks, rattles or problems with the crank out windows. My dog loves it back there!

 

Still waiting for the clips that are suppose to hold the hinge together. Nothing yet. This has been going on for weeks. Don't think the clips are ever going to show. They are just totally blowing me off. Tomorrow I'm going to drill and screw the back window weather strip tight. The left side is coming off. Glad other folks have had better luck with ARE, but the reality is, mine is a piece of junk. I thought I had a nice cap for my Taco that would last as long as I had the vehicle. Now I guess I'm going to have to find a new windoor @ $200. Which will not solve the poorly designed hinge problem. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. Buy a replacement window I know is flawed? Get rid of the cap? I spent the extra money for side opening windows and now I wonder if it's going to fall out of the truck as I'm going down the road. Really really sucks for the money I paid.

 

should of bought snugtop.

 

I have not seen Snug Tops in upstate NY. Very nice looking cap though. Being very rural and having a bottomed out economy up state doesn't provide for a lot of options when it comes to purchsing.

But the saga with ARE continues. Finally called the dealer about the "clips" they were suppose to get to hold the hinge together. Well the "clips were nothing more than shims. I don't know hwy they didn't just say to shim the hinge? So the dealer placed the shims in the back of the hihge and proceeded top get the window wedged half in and half out of the hinge. So now my window is in the hinge all the way on one end and stuck halfway in on the other end. No really the fix I was looking for. So now the window is skewed at an angle inside the frame. The end towards the tailgate sags below the front. they did re-attach the weather stripping that was falliung off the back window. All in all, ARE continues to totally suck. What kind of a solution is having my window wedged half in the frame and half out. How long is that going to last? Is the window going to fall out going down the road? ARE is a total loser of a company.

 

Can u show us pics of these problems?

 

Wow man I really hope I don't have the same luck. I had an ARE MX series on my old chevy for two years and 60k.....Never had a problem. I just puchased a CX series for the Taco with the windoor. The windoor would bind about half way up so I took it right back. They're going to put in a new one next week. I didn;t know if they would honor the warranty since I immediately drilled 6 holes in the top for a roof rack but they didnt care. Hopefully not a sign of things to come...I dropped 1200 on mine...ouch!

 

x2

 

i bought an ARE Z cap last spring. 3 hours having it i the rear glass exploded..i immeditaly called aRE and the where very helpful. They said they do no manufacture their glass, its out sourced.. They overnighed the glass to the dealer that installed the cap. All problems where fixed and ARE send me a $100 mastercard gift card. Sorry you had a bad experience.

 

I am in the process of looking at caps..From all the data I've gathered every MFR...Snugtop, LEER, ARE etc have their issues..Seems like a roll of the dice what you'll get

 

snugtop is hands down, and un-deniably the best. as far as quality, body lines, color match etc.. SnugTop cannot be beat

 

I agree with you, I love my Snugtop. Its very stable and looks to be well manufactured. I have not had any problems with it