I just had my drivers side convertible top latch replaced (under Warranty).
The new latch take about double the force to close as the old latch & as the passenger side latch. The car is fairly new & the latches have hardly been used.
Should the force required to close the latches be the same on the left & right side? I'm a little concerned that maybe the pressure on the seal is now different from side to side?
If the tension should be adjusted, how do I do it?
Thanks

 

Just curious, what was the reason the one needed replaced under warranty?

Mine is MY04 and my latches and strikers have never been replaced. I can tell they take much less pressure to latch now than when it was new.

Did the dealership also replace the striker on that latch?

 

The drivers side latch would rattle every time I'd hit a bump. I tried doing a fix I found by putting some EPT sealant inbetween the latch & plastic housing. I ended up cracking the plastic. That's why I brought it in. Of course I didnt tell them I broke it.

 

How much would that latch change cost? (if you didn't have it changed under warranty?

 

Mine does the same exact thing, every little bump in the road and my drivers side latch squeeks. Its driving me insane. I would also like to know what kind of job this would be if I wanted to change my latches.

To the OP: Im just guessing that since its new its still a little stiff and you gotta give it a couple days for the spring to loosen up.

 

just shim your old one and save the money for something else, you can get rid of the rattle by putting a heat shrink tubing around the hook(and heat treat it with a lighter).

if the left and right are not even, there's an adjustment knob near the motor you can adj, one for each side.

 

I had the driver side one rattling a lot and also would not pull the top closed well so would have lots of wind noise. I installed some hardtop strikers and now it seals perfect with no wind noise and no rattle either. Must have just been rattling since it was so loose I guess.

 

My driver's side latch was looser than the passenger side on my hard top. It would make noise over certain types of bumps so I inserted a small piece of rolled up paper to increase the tension. Ghetto but it fixed everything. No more rattles.

 

I know this is an old thread but it seems the closest to what I was searching for. Above it mentions using heat shrink tubing on the latch hook. On my MY03 both hooks already have a rubber boot that fits over all but the end. My issue is that one has torn...dropped right into the front seat. I had been wondering if they are on all MY03s and further if anyone had theirs replaced or bought replacements......

--Bob