Miata Mailing List: November 1998, Message #341

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Previously on soft top, Thompson, Cathy <CThompson@LibertyCorp.com>
said...

> I'm going to replace my soft top with a Robbins cloth top with glass
window.
> Is it smarter to wait until Feb. when I take the hardtop off for the
season?
> Will there be any ill affects on the new top from sitting on the shelf
all
> winter?  Was also wondering if I should wait so I can test out the soft
top
> and make sure the people that do it install the rain rail and it doesn't
> leak, gets put up and down a few times to test fit, etc.  What do you
all
> think?  Should I wait until Spring? (yeah, Spring comes early in the
south).
> May lose the insurance money for the window if I wait until Spring, but
hey
> we may still be working out other bugs in the car by then...

If the insurance money is in question I'd buy the top now and let it sit
until spring.  It shouldn't be a problem, I imagine that they sit for
longer than that in warehouses, etc.  Folks say that you need to stretch
the top in, but I don't know if that's true.  The vinyl tops seem to need
this, but my cloth top did not.  It closes about as well now as it did
when I first got it (a bit tight, but not bad), and it really doesn't seem
to loosen up with time.  Maybe it's just a different material.  I wouldn't
just put the top on and leave it folded for months though.  I think it
would probably be better to break it in with normal use first, and that
gives you the opportunity to test the seals and the rain rail at the same
time.

So, my advice is cash in the insurance and just hold onto the top until
you are ready to take off the hardtop.

	-John

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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."
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