Top up or down when garaged?

[boxstershorts]

Two things:

Material outgassing, aging, drying out: This happens are a different rate depending on humidity, temperature etc. Materials shrink when this happens although hardly noticeable over the course of a few weeks. Better to shrink with top up than down.

Flow: Materials tend to relax to relieve stress over time. If in compression, in tension, in bending, they will permanently deform and lose their elasticity in local areas. This will permanently deform your top. Better for it to happen when the top is up than down.

I recommend to store your car with top up (fully stretched) for the top to last longer.

[Franco]

Hi, Top Up and i second what Boxstershorts said

[zackwatt]

Up, keep out the dust and varmints.

[Perfectlap]

up always. rinse it with high pressure (avoid the weather strips), never wash it with car wash soap and don't lower it if the temps fall below 60 without warming up the cockpit first.

[mightysquirrel]

Saving up and down wear is absurd. The top mechanicals are really good in these cars. So good that in the new boxster you can run the operation while to car is moving up to 30mph.

Any good top installer will tell you the best thing you can do for a top is keep it under tension. There are a variety of materials in the top that all respond to the environment differently and if you leave it down your top will deform in time.

The only time you should leave the top down is when you're driving or when you have the hard top on for winter. This will also keep dust and debris from building up in every crack and crevice in the interior when the car is not in use.

I don't care how clean you garage is, there's dust, just like in your house. Keep the top up.

M

[djomlas]

Originally Posted by mightysquirrel

Saving up and down wear is absurd. The top mechanicals are really good in these cars. So good that in the new boxster you can run the operation while to car is moving up to 30mph.

M

there is a whole forum on renntech about the top, and top problems, so saying that its really good is kinda weird, as most of us have had some problems with them.

[Topless]

When the weather is nice I may leave the top down in the garage for a week or two and just pull a car cover over it to keep the dust out. In two years of doing this I have not noticed any problems. I am not a clean fanatic though.