Would it be a bad idea?

I mean, most people usually drive with the top up anyway, and I'm sure this method will save weight for the performance-oriented people. I'm not sure if the effort to do this is worthwhile because I'm unaware how much the soft top + motor actually weigh, but I'm sure it is much heavier than say, a full carbon fiber hard top, no?

Besides, you can still go for the occasional top-down drives by simply removing the hardtop. Granted, you can't really park anywhere in public without having to worry about your car, but you can still go for those nice long drives by the beach.

Anyone else like this idea? How much weight do you actually save by removing the softtop + motor anyway?

 

I believe people have done this. The softtop, frame, and motors are pretty heavy. I don't remember for sure but I think its something like 80lbs.

 

I think AJ PwR has done this, along with DC_AP1.

 

63 lbs +- for the softtop + motors etc.

43 lbs +- for the hardtop.

Net savings 20 lbs +-

Posting & you.

 

I have no softtop either. I took it out while installing the Spoon 4-point rollbar. I have my Mugen top on for 99 percent of the time.

RYan

 

Say what.....????

To quote another board member, "if the top is up the storm outside better have a name!"

 

I believe that most people that use their S as their daily driver put the top down A LOT, as in on a regular basis... I mean the car was made as a convertible for a reason.

People that don't use the car on a daily basis can be further divided into 2 groups. One group is the people that use their S as a weekend car for reasons other than track racing. And the other group being the people that use their S strictly as a race car for the track.

Now the people who use it as a weekend car for cruising would probably still want to have a convertible top they can put up and and down for when they go to some public place and park.

However, the people that use it as strictly a race car can probably, and would probably want to get the benefit of weight reduction. These people would probably be the ones that are most interested in completely removing the soft top and putting on a CF HT.

So my point is, if you're going to be doing ANY driving that involves you using it as a means of transportation, you would probably want to keep the soft top so you can enjoy ANYTIME you go out and drive; top up if weather doesn't permit, top down if it does...

Also just want to say that this is just my logic... I'm not sure if the people mentioned above that did this use their S only for track use or not.

 

i agree. i think MOST owners drive top down when they can. i've never heard of someone buying this car and then driving with the top up all the time..... ??

also, the convertible top motor itself is only 13 pounds.

 

WTF?

 

I've read of folks on the forum that have done this. I would think that, relatively speaking, removing the soft top and all it's mechanisms might not be too bad. The part I'd be curious about is what doing this would do to the value of the car at trade-in or selling time if the soft top isn't there? And how much trouble it would be to reinstall the soft top?

Unless you're "really" anal about extracting every last ounce of performance from the car, I can't see that a 20 lb (As Ludedude suggests) savings in weight is going to make that much difference.

To each their own!

Drive Safe,
Steve R.