Miata Mailing List: October 1998, Message #240

sponsored by

Previously on Robbins, Jeff Anderson <janderso@erols.com> said...

> 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)...
 
> 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

Same here.

> 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 has not happened to me yet.  I'm hoping the cloth top will be
different.  I'll be sure to watch for it and call Robbins at the first
sign of trouble.

> 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.

After adjusting the helper arms my top sits down pretty well.  I didn't
adjust them as far as I could and if you go over a bump on the road it
will lift about an inch if the boot isn't on, but otherwise it sits down
fine.  With another adjustment it should stay put.

Jeff is not a big Robbins fan, and understandably so after some trouble he
had with his top and their response.  I'd like to think that this is an
exception rather than the rule, but I don't know.  The other thing to
consider is that Jeff got a very early glass window top, right after they
came out with them.  Obviously there were some engineering changes between
then and now.  Also obvious is that the lift-track induced wrinkles have
not been engineered out and are something to watch carefully, especially
on the vinyl tops.

	-John

------------------------------------------------
John Freas (jfreas@earthlink.net)
Red '90 Base-ish #7690
Birmingham, AL
Team LS1, SP, the Gap...
Team dlralt, PBC, Roebuck, Voodoo...
"I have no idea what those dimple things on the windshield frame are for."
------------------------------------------------