Looking for a new Top

[CJ_Boxster]

bagwell- I picked it up since i noticed the seller has afew negative feedback remarks about shipping time. His location is in Tarzana and he allows pick ups without paying shipping.


I installed the Top myself on saturday. It was alittle touch cause you need steam to stretch the new top to get it to stretch since it comes very tight. It was a cold saturday also so that didnt help. As for the 2 metal brackets that the front corners of the top are wraped/glued around, I didnt have any glue or double sided tape to hold the top to them so I pre-drilled the screws into the canvas through the metal brackets in the correct spots that they are suppose to be in, then took the screws out and pulled the canvas as hard as i can and pressed it down on to the skeleton and got one screw started. Everything went well except, in the top front corners of the convertible top where the top meets the corners of the windowsheild.... alittle bit of fabric wants to slide out, But thats only cause i didnt use any double-sided tape to hold the fold of the canvas on to the front edge of the skeleton.

Im taking it to a shop tomorrow to get this fixed... cost me only 20 bucks, They said they will steam the top for me also to get it to loosen up cause it was very very hard to get the top latched on, canvas was really really tight! but other than that little bit of canvas that came up, it looks really really good, It looks like my rear end of my car is much cleaner and my GF was waiting for me to show up after installing the top and she seen me drive by before parking and she said that she thought it was me until i got close and she automatically assumed that it was a 2004 boxster, not my dirty old 1997 boxster, All in All... the top makes a big difference!.

[Peter Serbanica]

I have replaced many boxster tops.... you don't need steam, and hardly any glue. They are very tight, they stretch.....

[CJ_Boxster]

Well i did, I installed the top without steam or glue and i couldnt quite get the canvas to fold under the front of the skeleton under the rubber seal without it lifting at the front passenger and driver side corners abit. I took it to a Upholstery shop 2 weeksago and paid 60 bucks, they applied alittle glue underneath the edges of the canvas and folded them back in and reinstalled the seal and the metal braket that holds the folded canvas inplace.

I left the top up for about 3 days before going to the upholstery shop to allow it to stretch cause it was super super tight. That stretched it out enough for the shop guy to get the corners folded under nice and neat.

Could be that my top was just cut 4 milimeters too short.

[TimAustinW]

I don't want to beat a dead horse or anything. I've seen posts about replacing the soft top with the plastic window but couldn't quite gather all the info I wanted.

For a couple of months I've been getting a bad fold in the plastic window on my top. Today it finally gave and I have a small crack that I'm sure within a few weeks will grow in size. I'm looking at a couple of months before I have to replace it. I refuse to duct tape it. I'm not interested in sewing in new plastic or replacing the whole top with another plastic window top only to have it last another year or so. My box is a daily driver and I put the top down nearly every day I can.

So best top for the price? So far I've found some on Ebay for around $695 that include the defroster kits from topsonline.com
Is this the best deal around? Is it a good top? Anyone have one installed that can vouche?

And last, does anyone know of a place they would trust in Austin to get it installed. I've read enough posts to see that it looks like a difficult install. Beyond my skills (and toolset) anyhow. Any idea what kinda cash I'm looking at for labor?