New owner, didn't know about "chop", window seam ripped... - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

tombea · 11-15-2007, 01:41 PM

This is entirely the fault of Porsche. The manual for the cars with plastic windows doesn't mention the first word about manually doing anything to the top when you lower it.

When I purchased my Boxster the owner lowered the top without folding the plastic window. Having owned a Miata for 15 years and a MGB for four years made me a little leery of doing that so when I got home I read the owners manual and didn't find a word about doing this. The first time I lowered the top I saw the way it was folding and knew that even if it made it OK that time that it wouldn't be that long until it creased the window. When I found this forum I found out for sure that you needed to knock out the creases.

I live in Suwanee and I don't know of a shop up here but there was a great shop on Lawrenceville Hwy in Tucker. I can't remember the name of it but it is between Brockett Rd and Idlewood Rd on Lawrencevile Hwy. The shop was owned by a woman and she knew convertible tops. They put a new one on a 1972 Cutlass that I owned many years ago and did a great job for a fair price.

Tom

AUDIOGUY · 11-15-2007, 02:37 PM

Two and a half years and I have yet to "chop". My top folds nicely and no creases or cracks. Of course I dont lower the top unless it is warm. Cold plastic is not pliable and can crack.

Just luck I guess...

rick3000 · 11-15-2007, 02:54 PM

A note on the "chop." I chopped mine the first few times. But since I got a hardtop, and have had the soft top sitting perfectly creased underneath. Whenever I remove the hardtop my soft top folds neatly. So maybe if you leave the soft top down long enough with the correct creasing it will continue to crease without the, "chop," in the future.
Just my theory!

JoshMD · 11-15-2007, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rick3000

A note on the "chop." I chopped mine the first few times. But since I got a hardtop, and have had the soft top sitting perfectly creased underneath. Whenever I remove the hardtop my soft top folds neatly. So maybe if you leave the soft top down long enough with the correct creasing it will continue to crease without the, "chop," in the future.
Just my theory!

that makes sense, the owner said she almost never put the top down, so she probably replaced it and never put it down so it just didn't have a good tendency to fold correctly.