Convertible Top, to glass or not to glass

[Perfectlap]

^ that's cool that you guys actually use your insurance.

I pay my insurance in hopes of never having to use my insurance so that if I ever have an accident I will pay out of pocket so that I won't have to use my insurance so I can have a low premium on insurance I will never use.

[kabel]

one very minor consideration with the plastic versus glass window top came from the perspective of one of my mechanics. They prefer the plastic window because is gives them better access to the car in maintenance mode versus a glass wind top.

[Mike_Yi]

Originally Posted by kabel

one very minor consideration with the plastic versus glass window top came from the perspective of one of my mechanics. They prefer the plastic window because is gives them better access to the car in maintenance mode versus a glass wind top.

The opposite side is that an incautiously placed arm can cause a crack in the plastic window when in service mode. Ask me how I know.

[tuanle16]

i agree. looks great. did mine a few months ago. retrospectively, should have asked the insurance company. was debating it, but just assumed they would claim it as wear and tear. still, it is TOTALLY worth the money. top is much better and just makes the car look "new" again. the smaller window definitely takes awhile to get used to, but overall, small price to pay for the huge difference. only other complaint i have about it is that, mine doesn't close automatically as smoothly as original. i have to hand power the last few inches for the latch to catch. hope yours works better sasha, but from what i've heard on this forum, others have the same problem.

[Overdrive]

I have always been in the habit of doing this, tuanle, even when the old top did practically close itself all on motor. I do notice that my pulling on the hand holds is actually accomplishing more movement now and bringing the latch in line with its slot, but you're supposed to do it anyways just to make sure your top is fully closed. It seemed to improve slightly after the material stretched, but I wonder now if the A5 will behave differently if it's thicker.

Congrats, sasha, and let us know how everything else works out.

[Jbocio]

@overdrive and @tuanle what type of material top do you guys have? And from what company?
Every bit of research and Info helps in my search for a top.

[Overdrive]

I have a Robbins top.

ROBBINS AUTO TOP COMPANY | CONVERTIBLE TOPS

I'm not sure if you'll be able to dig around in here and find that info, but the Boxster tops are all the way at the end.

If I had to venture a guess I would say it is Twillfast like what is seen in Autotopsdirect's website. I know mine is not an A5 acoustic version, but I will still say that even at a lesser cost it's a great quality top and it holds up to the weather (rain so far, at least) beautifully.

What they mention in those notes about the top coming out of the channels when opening/closing, that does happen, and still did happen once or twice with my new top. It's simply a known problem with Porsche, and I've just gotten in the habit of checking it, as it always happened on the driver's side. I will say also that the Robbins site is the first time I've seen anything that mentions that there are updated parts that can fix this.

[sasha055]

I'm not sure you need an accoustic version, I noticed very little difference and my old top was ... old.

I got the most expensive one because insurance was paying.. but if I would do it myself.. I would buy a twillfast one

Sasha