Miata Mailing List: October 1998, Message #219

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Although John Freas 10/1/98 covered Cathy Thompson's Robbins cloth top
questions well I have a few things I can mention about my experience
with my Robbins glass window top (but it's not cloth one).

Similar to John, I hardly ever zip my glass window -- I just let it
raise with its sliding straps on each side of the glass.  This makes it
simple to lower the top quickly and is a really nice feature.  Without
being zipped the window does hang down just a bit, but so little that
the appearance is not at all objectionable. 

John mentions that the straps seem to cause the top to wrinkle next to
the upper corners of the window.  This is true for my top too.  
..
  
My top is now 3 years 8 months old and this is getting to be more than
just a minor problem.  The wrinkling occurs when the top is down, but
remains visable when the top is up

At the wrinkle locations the material on my Robbins top is splitting
apart -- it's now small little cracks about 1/4 inch long through the
top material on each side of the glass window at the upper end of the
straps.  

This wrinkling turned to splitting when the top was about 2 1/2 years
old.  I didn't call Robbins about it (warranty) because when the top was
new it had some problems and I never did get a return call from Robbins
when I called and left messages about those problems.  My installer was
no help either, other to say that these things would correct their self
over time -- I'm still waiting.  One of the problems is the top is so
tight that even today it's still almost a two-person job to get the top
latched.  However, like John, I do like the luxury of not having to zip
and unzip.  

Another problem is that my Robbins top wants to spring back up when
there is a wave in the road.  Robbins' instructions say to increase the
amount of bow in the top's side lifting bars -- mine are bowed out as
far as possible and the top still springs up.  This problem appears to
be related to additional top-down spacers that are added to provide
extra space for the glass window -- they prevent the top from folding
down as far as original.  I've looked at more recent Robbins top
installations and see that the height of the additional spacers is only
about half as tall as the ones installed in my 91 Miata.     

My top not folding down as far causes the boot to be near impossible to
get on.  Robbins makes a special boot for their tops, but I've heard
that it's not too good -- I've never looked at one.  

I found a simple solution for the too-tight OEM boot when used with my
glass window Robbins top.  I relocated the side Tenax fasteners up 1
inch and now the boot goes on well.  This results in the boot buckling a
little on the interior sides, but it's hardly noticeable. 

-- 
Jeff Anderson            @   @     @     @   @@@@@   @      
Arlington, VA           @ @ @ @    @    @ @    @    @ @
MCA, Capital Chapter   @   @   @   @   @ @ @   @   @ @ @ 
91B, Silver           @         @  @  @     @  @  @     @
92B, Blue
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