Anyone here with hardtops?

I got a 2002 silver s2k with hardtop, but I don't think the hardtop is sitting on the car quite right. There are wind noises coming from the lower rear corner of the side windows at freeway speeds. I think the top is simply not sitting as tight as it should be on the car...

However, my dealer told me that they can only adjust the forward latches, not the ones in the rear. How bogus is that? Basically the dealer is now telling me it's a design flaw!?!?!?

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else who has a hardtop. Any wind noises?

 

When i first got it put on i had creaking noises on the passenger side roof, took the top off and put it back on & they went away. Try taking the top off and putting it back on to see if the wind noises go away.

 

You can do some adjustments in the back of the hardtop.... you'll need to take off the side panels, which will expose the bolts that hold the rear guide-pins in place. I adjusted my hardtop on my '01 Silver this way. I think there was some temperature dependence though, because when the weather turned colder, I started getting a squeaky rubbing sound in the back, although the wind noise was still a lot better.

 

If anything the back latches has the most amount of adjustable travel. Your dealer is just uninformed or are too lazy. What needs to happen is the roof must be adjusted such that the side seals need to be "pushed" out more toward the window glass. This can be accomplished by loosening the rear latch bolts (do one side at a time so when you do the opposite side the first side stays put). The latch assembly can be moved vertically and from side to side relative to the "B" pillar of the roof. Since I did my own install, I know how they work but it's very hard to describe it in words so you can visualize it.

The "squeek" you sometimes hear is the roof's weather seal rubbing on the car's matching plastic trim piece that the roof seal sits on. The squeaking is temperature dependent and also car movement dependent. This too, can be adjusted to some extent with the rear latch assembly by making them pull the top down onto the car harder.

My HT squeeks when it's very cold (like below -10*C). I know it's nothing serious so I don't worry about it. I also get a "tiny" bit of wind noise at speed from the lower rear driver's side window but again, the car is already very noisy so I don't worry about it. You'd simply go insane if you try to make the thing completely quiet.

 

The rear is very adjustable, but there is also a flaw in the top. The driver side doesn't line up as tight as the passenger side. You can see visibly that the water gutter triangular shaped thing leaves about a 2mm gap on the driver's side which it doesn't on the passenger side. Because of this (and some other wind entry point), you will hear a small amount of wind noise right at the point where the top meets the driver's side door. The top cannot possibly go any further forward though no matter what you do.

I too had a squeaking sound even in warm weather. If you apply shin-etsu grease to the black trim where the rear part sits and also the weatherstrip, you can get it to go away. I'm not sure how that would work in really cold weather though since it doesn't snow here.

David

 

this must be your first convertable because every convertable makes the same noise. I use to work for a GM dealer and the convertible corvettes made the same noise. I went to check out the new bmw m3 convertible and it did the same thing.

 

i get a little bit of wind noise on by the driverside window.. no biggie though, actually sounds kinda good hehe

 

i don't have any squeeking, but i do have wind noise on the driver's side window, and as of recently, wind noise on top where the hard top meets the front windshield has developed on speeds over 80, which sucks, cause it makes the hardtop louder than the soft top

 

Also get a little wind noise on by the driverside window...

 

Yep, this is indeed my first convertible!

Anyway, my dealer managed to fit the hardtop better than before. However, there's still wind noise coming from the driver side window. Dealer said Honda admitted this as a design flaw... claiming that it's impossible to fix without a complete redesign... maybe this is why they had a sale...

Had I known the hardtop is going to be noisier than the soft top, I probably wouldn't have gotten it. However, it is nice to have a hardtop for car washes... and I guess it should extend the life of my soft top better too.

I think I'm just gonna get some weather strippings and try to fix the problem myself. I refuse to live with wind noises like that. If I came up with a good and easy fix, I'll be sure to share with all.

Thanks guys!