Soft top didn't close properly after being under hard top for several months, with solution.
 

Hey guys,

I just wanna share my story here because I would have found this really helpful when I was freaking out last week.

I joined this forum to buy a hardtop, and I did. I've been enjoying it since early May.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ck8eJA6VEAAqpRS.jpg:large

But, with summer here and 100+ degree temperatures closing in, I took the hardtop off last weekend to enjoy some top-down driving.

Unfortunately, my softop was in BAD shape after not being used in three months. Symptoms included

*softop not closing all the way
*needing to force the latches shut in order to close them on hardtop strikers
*ridiculous windnoise coming from the spot where the top of the windshield meets the softtop, even at very low (40mph) speeds

The good news is that everything has basically gone away on its own.
*I think the softop wasn't closing all the way because it was simply too tight. That probably sounds crazy, but after forcing it shut once, and leaving it locked in place overnight, it now lines up perfectly and closes all the way with no extra effort. I regularly use an aerospace protectant on the softop and I wonder if that caused it to shrink a little (temporarily) while the hardtop was compressing it. In any case, everything seems to have stretched back into place nicely.
*To fix the latches, I just had to open and close them several times. It was tight at first, but it doesn't take much additional force over stock at this point. Apparently, this is typical when you pair the soft top with hardtop strikers.
*The wind noise has gone away completely. This is either related to the top stretching back, or perhaps the seals atop the windshield were extra-compressed underneath the hardtop, and they needed some time to re-inflate to accommodate the soft top. Obviously I have no idea.

So if your soft top is a bit wonky after a long period of being compressed under a hardtop, here is what I did to get things back to normal:

1) Force the softop shut if it doesn't reach. Maybe you will need to pull down on the center handle from the inside while latching the sides. You (probably) won't hurt anything by being rough with this. I didn't.

2) Force the latches shut even though they are very tight. They will loosen with multiple latchings. They now latch perfeclty.

3) Leave the thing locked up overnight, or longer. Holding the soft top in place will cause it to stretch back out and eventually, everything should re-seal as mine did. Wind noise is gone.

I'll definitely be putting the hardtop back on after the summer, but I'm glad there was no permanent damage to my soft top. Hoping this helps someone! (Mods, if this is the wrong forum, please feel free to move.)

John

I believe this is the proper way to latch the roof as described in the manual, so don't worry about damaging anything. Thanks for the post. Good FYI https://www.s2ki.com/s2000/public/st...t/thumbsup.gif

If its been a lot longer than it was for you, I would be worried about forcing things shut with the latches.

My advice would be to close the top as much as you can without forcing things, then let it sit out in the sun all day. Then see how much you can close it once heat has loosend up the fabric.

I think you want some tension in the fabric while it sits, so its encouraged to stretch. Just not so much it tears anything. I think the older the top fabric is, the more concern there is for tearing.

Sent from my SM-G920P using IB AutoGroup

You can also leave it in the hot sun in the latched position to help it stretch a bit.

Keep using the aerospace product it won't cause the softop to shrink, Raggtop is an even better product if you want to use it in the future. I rarely use my softop but I like to keep it treated so it doesn't get brittle.

I've had mine under the hardtop for 1-2 years and it still closes well when I try to use it on the odd occasion. I've started to operate the softop during the winter storage months this year just to keep it in a different position once and a while.