top/body structural damage

[j.fro]

Last night I visited a shop that's prepping Boxsters for spec racing, and the owner shared a very disturbing bit of info. On a car that had been stripped bare, he pointed out the spot where the convertible top "boomerangs" mount to the body. On one side, there were cracks in the metal running from bolt hole to bolt hole. The weight/force of the top was literally ripping the body apart. On the other side of the car, he showed me the beginnings of the situation: the spot welds holding an inner and outer body panel together were pulling through towards the outside of the car. The body does not look structurally sound enough to withstand the repeated forces of the top opening and closing. He told me he had seen the same pattern on more than 20 Boxsters. Ouch!