A.R.E., Leer & SnugTop Truck Cap Comparison

hey everybody it's Kevin from back of Valley truck and I've been meaning to do this video here for a long time um I'm often asked by customers well what about a snug top what about a Lear what about are what about this so I want to take a few minutes walk around a couple different models of shells the first one on the right side of that that is a snug top Super Sport the one in the center is an a-r-e-z as in zebra series and the one on the end is a Lear 100xl so people often ask me well what makes this one better than that one well it comes down to all shells are made out of fiberglass they all have 31 tinted safety glass on them they're all painted with a base coat clear coat paint so the construction is pretty much very similar what it comes down to is models options there's several different models of shells that everybody builds that are all comparable to each other these particular ones are the higher end they have the all glass rear door they have the All Glass side windows so it gives you that high-end kind of that SUV look it's for the person that buys the shell and says man I want the nicest looking shell I can have on my truck well these are the ones so these are all 2016 Ford F-150 SuperCrew um with the extra short bed they're all painted the same color but I want to do is walk around each one individually and just kind of talk about them so uh let's start with the snug top snug top great name they've been around for a long time uh there's some things that I personally don't like about snug top their parts are very expensive to replace um if you look this kind of bothers me the angle of the window the radius doesn't really follow the side of the shell very well so when you stand back and look it doesn't blend in and give that nice shape another thing on The Snug top if you look it's got buttons knobs things like that on the back it also has buttons and knobs on the side windows well you're buying an all glass look for a reason because you want that clean look it does have a similar latch to most of them which is the center latch it twists and it opens this particular one is carpet lined all shelves will come with a fixed front window and then your options are usually a slider a drop picture window that tilts inside the cab or the drop front slider so I'm gonna go ahead and point out the are if you notice no buttons no knobs nothing on the back side window no buttons or knobs it's got a palm lash similar operation to the are this is their Z series uh we added a slider to the front of this it does come with carpeted interior the next one we're going to look at is going to be the Lear 100xl once again brackets and knobs on the back nothing on the sides not a bad shaped window on the side so let me go ahead and open this one this one doesn't have carbon I'm not sure if carpet is an option on this particular shell or not but it kind of looks kind of ugly if you're going to spend the money you want something nice and clean unless you've got a dog or you want to you know hose it out once in a while so um let's talk about rear doors All Glass they all have a trim piece on the bottom that's made to fit around the factory tailgate cap um one thing I point out to a lot of customers one of the most used parts on a camper shell the rear door so let's look at the hinges these are the snug top hinges not the best looking hinge in town not the strongest piece and when this door is open and closed on a regular basis you're going to find that's going to be a weak point the are it's a bonded piece of glass so the glass is actually bonded to the frame that is a steel hinge that is heavy duty and I've never seen one fail the next one we're going to look at is going to be the Leer Lear once again a small kind of chintzy hinge on the back I uh I've been in the business for 30 years I've sold hundreds of shells um I use are because their warranty is great their customer service is great um if you need a part you get them with serial numbers they can get you apart they're a nationwide company Lear is also a nationwide company snugtop's more of a West Coast company their parts are kind of Preparatory that you can't just order apart you've got to get a snug top part because it's a little bit different than everybody else's and they're kind of expensive so we want to point out the hinges I mean the hinges on the back door are a big factor to me there's your snug top there's your are and there's your Lear like I said your front options are always going to be the same these all have a tip out window Lear uses a different type of a knob they do have a clamping on the inside so it's a fairly clean window but it doesn't have the angle like the are does the are actually has a window that follows the line of the shell this is my 2008 GMC here so um it follows the lines when are you going to spend that money you want a window that looks like it belongs on the shell they're all going to have a lifetime warranty on the paint and structure are has one year on all your doors windows latches Five Years on your gas props on the rear door those do go out it's not super common but they do have it does happen so um you know everybody builds a shell and they all build comparable models to each other so this just happens to be the high-end ones um the middle of the road are all very very similar so you've got to look at Cost you've got to look at availability of molds and you have to look at service after the fact we're close to Travis Air Force Base and I get a lot of guys come in that are doing a permanent change of station or PCS and I'm comfortable selling an are because I know that if they end up in Mississippi Delaware Montana there's going to be an are dealer in their area so once again I'm an are dealer I could sell all the shells but I've been doing this for 30 years and I just have really really good luck with are the shell world is not perfect most problems I see at complaints are going to be more tied to an installation issue than it is to manufacturer so if you're interested in anything like this you can always give us a call 707-447-9905 or email us at vacavalleytruck.com I invite you to go to our website vacavalleytruck.com there's a products button kick on that and then there's a bunch of videos on the different shelves built by are you can look around and check out the different models and options and stuff that's available so once again I appreciate your time very much I didn't want to take a bunch of it but I thought it was time to take to kind of explained and this kind of helps you if you're starting out looking at shelves hopefully this video helps you out and once again if you have any questions please feel free to contact us 707-447-9905 or email us at vacavalleytruck.com thanks and I appreciate your time have a great day

Channel: vacavalleytruck

Views: 500,774

Keywords: cap, caps, truck cap, trucks, fiberglass, pickup truck, truck accessories, accessories, comparison, ARE, A.R.E., Leer, SnugTop, Shells, camper shell, protection, bed cover, cargo, gear, outfit, canopies, bed, topper, bed topper, Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Toyota

Id: e3HR4Yz6LdY

Length: 7min 2sec (422 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 30 2016