Hi all - I have a question on the soft top when storing in winter, but actively working on the car. My garage is unheated (when unoccupied), and my S2000 has asleep since November. It sits on flat spot preventers, it's winterized (all the standards, like in reverse, parking brake off, top up but latched, windows cracked, etc.) and covered with an OEM S2000 cover.

However, I'm doing things over the winter - maintenance, stereo upgrades, cleaning, etc. I have a heater that I use to get the garage up to temp (65 deg+) when working on it, and when doing any interior stuff, I'll drop the top (once it reaches a good temperature). Once I wrap up for the day, I'll put everything back - top up (but unlatched), windows cracked, cover back on. I do this because I'm neurotic, and I don't want to damage the top while it gets really cold when I'm not out there, I have this strange desire to just put it all back like it was before I started.

My question is this - can I just leave the top down for the time being while I'm working on the interior? Maybe for a few weeks, without putting it back up every day in between? Or is it best to get the top back up when it gets really cold?

Thanks - this may be a silly question, and I suspect it's fine to leave the top down for a little while but want to be sure. BTW, I have a Robbins fabric top, not the vinyl OEM top... less fragile in the winter. Thoughts?

 

Car interior will stay cleaner with the roof closed or otherwise covered.

-- Chuck

 

This is a good question. My worry is that the folded up top might develop cracking/creases or maybe mildew in the extreme cold. Its probably not a concern - but, why not just keep it up and avoid any problems?

 

I leave my top down for months in the summer. Granted it is warm but the wrinkles go away. They seem to stick around more having the top up and down in the winter but the winter in California is really spring weather anywhere else.

 

We leave our top down all year, we only put it up when it rains on our drives. Still have the original top with no cracks but we do have a couple of wear marks on the top. We put a small piece of stick on velcro(soft side) on the wear marks and that stopped the wearing of the top. We have put 150k miles on our S so its no garage Queen and I have no idea how long our top will last but keeping the top in the down position doesn't concern me.

Rod

 

I just wonder if the climate the car is stored in might make a difference. My car is stored below freezing, and oftentimes well below 0 Degrees F, for months and months in the winter.

 

Most winters since 2002 mine has been in an unheated garage with the hardtop on, softtop down, and car cover on.....no issues, still have softop that came with the car. The temps here are very close to what rpg51 described.
Levi

 

my softtop was down for years as I ran a hardtop most of the time, it never suffered from being down, and any wrinkles disappear once up, so you can do whatever you like with yours. The top is not the issue in cold weather it is the plastic window on early ap1's that can suffer damage in cold weather. If your top has a plastic window I would not move it in winter, if you have a glass window do as you like. The softop material is not adversely affected by cold temps.

 

Thanks. I'm only taking for a few weeks while I'm doing interior stuff. I'll leave it down for the couple of weeks but then put it back up for the rest of the winter. Thanks for the advice, guys. Should be fine for a couple of weeks

This winter is lasting forever!
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My top

- during summer stays down basically all summer, goes up once a week for washing
- winter its down for months with the hardtop on

My top is fine, and it lives down 99.9% of the time