I was talking to a guy at the trim shop the other day and he said my top was in excellent condition. But he said something I really didnt understand the "why's" to..

He said dont leave the top down on the car overnite or for an extended period of time. Is this true? Will it actually hurt it, if I put it down in the morning, cruise around all day, go to work etc, and then park it in the garage with the top down to go back out in the sun the next day?

Also what do you guys use to clean the top?

THANKS

 

I do this all the time without problems. Did he say why it was bad?Mothers make a product specifically for convertible tops which is supposed to be excellent. I just wash it with the rest of the car, Mothers Car Wash.

 

If you leave the top down for long periods of time it will get creases in it. Especially if you put it down when it is burning hot outside and leave it down overnight when it cools. On the last RX-7 convertible I had I left the top down in the garage for a couple of weeks with a car cover thrown over it and when I put it back up it was all wrinkled on the sides. The wrinkles never really went away. With the current convertible I make sure that I keep the top up when it is parked for more than a day.

For cleaning....I just use regular car wash soap and a stiff bristled nylon scrub brush. There is some convertible top cleaners that you can buy, but I used some once and it streaked the finish on the body where it ran off the top. The streaks came out with waxing, but it seemed too harsh to me. I then use a sponge and some of that Turtle Wax brand Tire Wax on it. It is a thick (gel-like) protectant for tires, but works great on the top. It makes it shine good and doesn't wash right off either.

 

He said its not good to leave it in its 'folded' position

I could understand if it was 70 in the day and then 40 at nite, and you pulled it outta the cold garage and then put it up when it was stiff, but in the summer why would it matter?

Ok thanks for the tip on car wash... But mines getting a little dingy colored, can you use something to shine it? I hate armor all or finish 2001 but anything else that will make it shine a little w/o breaking down the material?

 

Thanks that exactly what I needed to know, ok ill take his advice and yours... I wasnt planing on leaving it down for days or weeks at a time, just maybe a 2 day maximum period ...

 

The ONLY time my hood goes up is to wash the car.

There are some small creases on the sides, but they come out by the time I've finished washing.

I use Armorall on the top.

 

It is also important not to raise or lower the top if the temp is below 50F as the vinyl gets brittle and leads to the infamous rip just beind the drivers/passengers door windows.

And Mike I used Permatex No Touch Spray on Tire Finish to really restore the targa section. I replaced the rear section of the roof and the targa section just looked really bad next to it.

Spraying that stuff on and letting it sit for a couple of days, then wiping any excess off made the targa section look new and as great as the new rear top.

 

This may be off subject, but are any of you vert owner out there have cloth top instead of the vinyl? I'm in need of switching my top soon and want to know if is worth the extra $$$ to go with cloth and how hard is it to clean compare to the vinyl?

 

I've seen a convertible with a black cloth top and it is really rich looking - definitely brings the car up to date! I may have mine done in stayfast cloth sometime soon.

 

here ya go:

 

bumpity

 

Vaughnc, you have more pictures of the cloth top? and what's with the patch job on the top?

 

I don't think it's a patch. I believe it is a zoom up of the stitching....

 

yeah I zoomed in on the stiching to show the quality of work.

That's the only pics I have right now. I'm not sure about UV protection / fade prevention on the tops. Her top is pretty dark out of the sunlight. I'll probably take some pics later on of her car again.

-- vaughnc

 

My top is in perfect condition except for that infamous lil rip behind the drivers side door. Since I do not drive it in the rain or snow, it really doesn't bother me but when I wash it I have to avoid sraying alot of water in the area. I'm thinking about stiching it up. The manual also says not to move the top when it is wet.

 

I leave mine down for weeks and weeks at a time. There are some wrinkles when I put it up (occasional rain or for car washing), but nothing to worry about. The top has been replaced once on mine (about 4 yrs ago), the targa original.

 

Anybody fixed that tear behind the door? Just wondering how much trouble's involved.

 

Well I have a tear at the stitching on my top and I just slap on some clear adhesive stuff from AutoZone and it has worked great for the last year and a half. That's pretty damn good, considering I live in Phoenix AZ and it gets up to 110 in the summer. When I first notice the tear, I went to a couple of shops in town to get some quotes. Quess what, all of them told me that it was not repairable, because the tear is at the stitching and that the tear will slowly expand and I have about 6 months at most. Well, it has been 18 months and the tear hasn't expanded a bit. So, before you go replacing you top, look around and experiment a bit first and you might find a cheap alternative fix.

 

Aloha, my 91 (new one week) has a new cloth top with the drip seam on the sides. My 89 has the origional top.
I just noticed the defrost element in the new top is not connected. The wires are there coming out of the interior, but there are no connections from the element to plug in.

Any body had this problem?

Where the heck did all the boots go??