This sucks, ive had my hardtop on for about 2 months straight. Havnt removed it 1 single time since the dealer installed it, and look what i found when i removed it.





But thats not it. I ecnountered the following problems:

1. The scratches on the paint
2. The softtop latches are VERY hard to attach to the new strikers, almost like if they were to short. And theres a gap at the front because of the top not really reaching im not sure if that gap was there from before though.
3- Ive also noticed som wear to the plasticlist that is above the scratch mark in the paint (the list that follows the car around). Any solution that wear?

Im very disapointed, Im not sure this will be covered under warranty. Any ideas at all on how to fix this and/or how it will be covered or not?

And i might add that it wasnt done when removing it, the hardtop has a noticeable wear on the plastic list as well, so this has been going on for a long time.

 

it really does look like the dealer didn't exercise care when installing it. take it up with them.

 

It appears as though whoever installed the HT hardware had the top adjusted so that it pulls down way too hard at the rear. Did you actually see the back edge of the HT touching the rear trunk deck area when it was mounted?
Also, with regard to the soft top being hard to latch and the gap. How big of a gap? You can experience a gap of up to an inch or more and have to pull down on the top quite firmly to just be able to make the hooks reach the striker. This is not abnormal. When the gap is large like this, the latch can be quite tight in closing.

 

The gap is not big at all. It could be the strikers not being adjusted, are they moveable back and forth and to the sides or are they without play as well?

What caused this was the latch on the right side of the hardtop, it was wrongly adjusted, so i adjusted it and now it the list doesnt touch the paint anymore. But the damage is already done, ive sent the dealer an email with pictures about this. Well see what happends.

 

The striker plates on the windshield is not adjustable. The latch assembly is. They can be shimmed to a certain degree.

I think you have a good case to make a claim with the dealer who did the hardtop installation. That rear catch assembly was most definately pulling down on the HT far too tightly. They must have had a 300 pound baboon sitting on the top when they torqued the latch bolts down.

 

leave the top on! that should fix it...

 

Thats why we should do the install by ourselves!

 

Aoooouuuuutssss !!!! oh no
dealer

 

Hi again, this problem still hasnt been solved. So I need your help.

Only way for me to solve this is to remove the black list that follows the softtop around the car. Ive looked at it this morning, and Ive found 2 bolts on each side of the car (se picture), i screwed those out and the list was moveable but only at the front so my guess is that there are more screwes along the list but they arent seeable.




So does anyone know how to remove this list, the reason for the removal is because the scratched area still needs a paint job and according to the painter i talked to he needs the list removed for him to do a good job. I wish you could do a good paint job without having to remove the list...

 

its going to take AT LEAST 5 hours or more to remove that black trim. first you will have to remove all the plastic trim in the back (glove, panels, etc...), then the soft top, and then all the bolts that hold that trim down. And then put it all back together. IMHO, its not worth it if you are doing it yourself or paying for it.