Plan to hibernate the soft top, any advice?

[evo-r]

I'm planning to install the hardtop in early October and leave it on until end of March, is there anything I should pay attention to while the soft top is in the down position for 6 months?

BTW, mine is an '03 so it's got glass window and I've just applied the 303 protectant last weekend. Crazy water beads picture...

[fatmike]

Hardtop? Hmmmmm....



You need to take extra care of a plastic rear window. That is not your issue.

The only thing you want to avoid are marks left on your soft-top roof by the mechanism. When you open your roof, do you see marks from the rails indented in the top material? If so, then you might want to figure out what it touching what and put some protection in that spot.

I never had an issue, and never did anything special (except for back in early days of the plastic top.

Good luck with it, and post some pictures.



/

[evo-r]

Thanks Mike!

[Mikelove]

I have seen a piece of material layed over the window to protect it for long periods when storing. It was on a forum. Some kind of cotton protector

[dghii]

You could just remove your rag top if you are concerned about it being stowed for six month in the down positon. Three bolts and a couple of screws on each side and the whole frame and top is off. You can do it in less than an hour. It really is that easy.

[black_box]

what he said!

Take it off. Did it a few month ago when prepping my 986 for sale. could do again in <10 min. Use the opportunity to clean it thoroughly, spray on some protectant, then cover in saran wrap for the winter.

[RandallNeighbour]

My top was down for an extended period of time with a PO using a hard top. All the elastic straps that pull the top into place and keep the side pieces from falling outside the track by the windows stretched out and made dropping AND raising the top a pain in the arse.

If there's a way to unhook these straps, you'll be thankful at a later date.

[evo-r]

I'll look into removing the top and once I remove it should I have it folded or extended during the 6 month indoor storage?

[RandallNeighbour]

Extended will keep those straps loose, but its a lot bigger!