I'm looking at a 2003 s2000 this weekend that has two rips in the soft top. It looks like it's at the "bottom" of the soft top, next to the driver's/passenger's side door/windows (attached pics of the locations). So my questions are...
1. What causes these rips that I should look into? And can the issue be fixed? Or is it just simply that I need to replace the top and that's it.
2. What problems could these rips have caused? I'm guessing water leaks somewhere. I just don't know where exactly to look at to see if there were any water leaks due to these rips.

 

My buddy's 2002 car has those same holes (only worse). I'm guessing the fabric shrinks with age and those are strain points. It may be related to the roof elastics being stretched out (they ALL stretch out and need to be replaced). You can see them with the roof up and the roof doesn't fold completely when down.

New roof is about $1000 (lots of labor). Consider this if you're buying this car.

-- Chuck

 

thanks chuck.
Did your buddy have any water leak issues because of this? If so, where exactly should I be looking for signs of water leak?

 

Hi I wanted to jump in here - I have similar stress points forming. My car is currently in winter storage in my garage. Is it better to store with roof down or up to prevent these types of damages?

 

I heard that it's best to store with the roof unlatched but up.
I'm guessing though if you store it in a heated garage the roof should not shrink due to cold as it would if stored in a garage that will get freezing in the winter. Mine is stored in a heated and moisture controlled environment.
If I stored it in a cold garage I'd for sure unlatch the roof.