My soft top has started creaking over bumps when it's up in the last few weeks. I've searched and tried a few things - spraying the joints with white lithium grease, putting felt stickies in the places referenced in other posts here - but nothing has worked. The noise is coming from the upper crossbars - if I push up on the one above my head, I can replicate the creaking noise. Are there any other solutions? I know people will say it's an open-top car, it's going to make noise but it frustrates me since it didn't make any noise before in the year I had it.

 

Might be the strikers. I had a tiny squeak over rough surfaces and hardtop strikers definitely helped minimize any noise.

 

It's not the strikers. I push on the bar above my head and it replicates the exact noise. I had some striker rattles but some felt stickies fixed them.

 

any updates? i have same issue.

 

It's not rocket science, find where metal is rubbing use lithium grease, paste, not spray, work it in between metal parts.

 

I recently had the same issue come up with my top. I've tried to alternate which latch I secure first and that has seemed to somewhat quiet the creaking. My top could definitely use another treatment of white lithium but I've been super lazy about getting in there.

 

Update: I've hit every pivot point from both sides with white lithium spray and it still creaks and squeaks like a mother----er, drives me nuts. I've isolated it to the crossbar that's at an angle - if you were to draw a vertical line between the seatbacks and the roll hoops, it's the one between those. If I push up on that bar, the creaks, ticks, and squeaks stop.

Having already hit it desperately with white lithium but to no avail, any tips on how to fix this? Is there something I can tighten, or a different lubricant I can use?

 

OP, try this. It works very well. I wish they would just sticky this or put it in the FAQs. Put your top up like normal but don't put the windows back up. After the top is latched, bump the switch down. The frame will retract a bit and preload all of the pivot points so that the individual pieces can't move, rattle, or squeak against each other. That's all there is to it. I drive my car with the top up way more often than down it's crucial to my sanity to not have a squeaking creaking top!

 

So shortly after posting yesterday, I read this elsewhere on S2ki and on my way home, I tried it and IT WORKED!! Not a single creak or squeak! Thanks a ton!

My only concern is long-term wear. It seems like the top frame just needs to be tightened - is there a way to do this via adjustments rather than this work-around?

 

I had done this method, too, but the leading edge of the top split a month later. Then again the top was 9 years old and in not great shape.