mcbru

My S2000 was sold to me with a Robbins cloth top and oval reinforcement patches in the normal tear spot behind, above, and to the side of your head. The soft top is not torn.

These reinforcement patches have lost their adhesion and the soft top bar now slides under them, making them ineffective.

Is there a glue recommended for flexibility and adhesion in this spot? My soft top is not damaged, I am needing to re-glue the reinforcement patch. I read that an adhesive called E6000 could work but I'm wondering if you guys know anything. Searching found me plenty data on adhesives for the OEM canvas top, but couldn't find advice for cloth.

SheDrivesIt

Why not ask Robbins?

Langelo DeMysterioso

E6000

ragtophardtop

Topsonline and a top rated convertible top replacement specialist nearby recommended Weldwood Contact cement. They both said apply one coat to each side, let it dry, then put another coat on top of each side, wait 15 minutes, then stick them together.

Haven't tried myself yet but was going to use it for reinforcement patches on the new cloth top.

This E6100 also looks good for overhead applications that require flexibility, may try it too...

E6100 Industrial Adhesive - E6000 - Products | In The Home & On The Job Products

mcbru

Thanks all for the responses. Tried the E6000 a few days ago. Applied a mild coating in the middle and a very thin coating closer to the edge. This proved to be too much as it wanted to ooze out of the edges of the patch. I applied hand pressure, wiped away any excess, then used cardboard pieces to hold the patch against the top, since it did not want to naturally hold itself to the top. Left it for about 20 hours before lowering the top for autox. For good measure, others should leave it longer than I did.

So far so good. I can tell there is a mild stiffness with this area, maybe because I put too much adhesive. The bar now slides over top the patch correctly. My suggestion to anyone else trying this would be use very thin coating (enough to turn the fabric dark, that's it) and add more if it pulls away again.

@ragtophardtop interesting find on weldwood and the overhead formula. The weldwood looks equally as promising as the E6000. I don't think the 6100 is necessary, had no problems with it dripping or running.

ragtophardtop

Would you mind posting a photo from the inside of the patch locations? I'm considering doing a big patch on a new top not yet installed but would like to see what someone else's looks like first.

The weldwood can drip if you're not careful. The brush that comes with the lid fell off on me twice. Fortunately on the vynal top the glue, when dry, rubs off like really strong rubber cement (doesn't work with cloth). The 15 min trick worked great for instant bonding, I wonder if the E6000 works in the same way? I also needed to apply 2 coats to the cloth patch I used, the first one sunk in too much to be effective.

[EDIT: I also sanded the plastic ears. The cuts that formed them created very sharp edges, my OEM top feels the same way. This is an excellent idea and should be included in the installation guide. It's so easy to see how the sharp 90 degree cuts in the plastic tears through the stock tops, sanding is a great, quick way to solve this problem.]