Baby gets a new top!

[seabeelt]

Well despite all of my rantings concerning the poor quality seats from Patriot Upholstery, I have a good news story from this past weekend. A couple of weeks ago I bought a new vinyl top from these guys: http://www.convertibletopguys.com/conve ... t-Spiders- and bought the $249 kit. The old top practically fell off of the car once I started disassembly. My Son was a great help cleaning up the frame and repainting it. The new top was a perfect fit, and I do mean perfect. We had to improvise a little to fish the side cables through the side seams, but a piece of stiff electrical wire did the trick. I cannot highly recommend these guys enough if anyone is looking for a new top.

Some of the finished product.




Sons car in the background - he has a canvas top

[wikkid]

Sweet!
Looks great.
If I were to find myself with An extra $700 or so in my pocket, I might also go for their combo deal, when you buy a top plus a set of leather re-upholstery sets for the seats, and get a combo discount on both.

[seabeelt]

Thanks! My better half loves the top, but her other comment was it makes the paint look shabby. You know where this is going perhaps over the winter........

[wikkid]

I am going to be you do not have to re-paint. A loving detailing would remove the oxidized paint and restore a glassy shine. Besides, you don't want to remove that new top to do a re-paint, right?

More detailing knowledge, help and info than you could ever possibly assimilate:

autogeek forum and online store

autopia.com

For example, have a look at this Autogeek article:
http://tinyurl.com/lzuwbvh

[WYSpider]

Thanks! My better half loves the top, but her other comment was it makes the paint look shabby. You know where this is going perhaps over the winter........

Yep, now you need to spray the car

[seabeelt]

Yup, I will try the detailing route first, for the rest of the season anyway. Re spray is in the future, question is when. I know the rockers definitely need to be replaced with something original. I'm betting there is sill work to do ( haven't wanted to look just yet). A couple of smallish holes in one of the floor pans - an easy fix. The biggest issue so far is the drivers front door post has some rot that I can see looking into the hinge opening. If I can see it there, there is probably more I don't /can't see without digging into it underneath. Ahhh a project for another day....

[timspider]

how does your son like the canvass top on his?
Better or worse than the vinyl?
Thanks, I'm trying to decide which way to go.

[seabeelt]

My Son likes his top just fine. In fact he tried to talk me into one for our car. Now that it has been on a little while he likes the vinyl on our car. He may just be saying that to be kind I can say his is harder to clean because of the texture, but most of the literature says they are supposed to last longer. In the end I think its a personal choice and what you think looks right for your car. The place where we bought our top sells both vinyl and canvas. Great folks to work with!