was wondering if anyone who has either had their top recovered or bought a replacement has done away with the rain pockets? i assume they are there to stop water from running down the door seal? was just wondering if this was possible and maybe avoid the tears that will eventually happen there again without creating a waterfall inside or something.

also if recovering the targa will not having the gutters be an issue?

 

Nope. The rain cup has to stay. I had to replace the driver side to fix a waterfall type leak. Tried after market seal. That dog don't hunt.
Mazda P/N FB67-68-912C-02 (I think) $37.30

Oops. Off topic. This is the cup @ top of A-post. All apologies...

 

If you look carefully, I think you'll see that the "rain cups / pockets" are actually there to allow the top to fold at that the two stress points.

JP

 

They are less likely to tear if you armorall them after each carwash The Vynal wont Dry OUT

 

no, they will wear alot faster if you use armoral, don't use armoral on your top. It has alcohol in it and over a period of time, all your seams WILL split. It happen to my amigo that I had, I used armoral on the top ever time I washed my truck and it fell apart, it was a 97' so it wasn't the age that did it.

 

I've had mine for two years putting armorall on it and it's been fine :O

You sure it was the armorall that did it?

 

Armorall is the sperm of Satan- it shoud be used nowhere near vinyl tops.

I plan to replace mine once the port side corner finishes splitting itself open, with a german cloth style. The armorall reacts with the "off gassing" that all vinyl has as it ages and accellerates the process. Not to get all chemistry on your **** or anything. Then the seams begin to fail prematurely, and voila, your *** gets wet after a rainstorm. Just wash the vinyl as you would the rest of the car (nice mild detergent) and if it gets real nasty, use vinyl cleaner available at most automotive retailers (aka autozone, discount auto, etc.)

 

The "is Armorall bad" argument is almost as big like the synth vs dino oil one.

Regular Armorall is silcone in water, no alcohol. Some people think silcone is bad for vinyl and rubber.

All vinyl and rubber will fall apart eventually, so you have to weight the good and bad effects of any product you use.

All I can say is try to find a vinyl protectant that does not contain silcone.