new soft top

rossburns · Postby **rossburns** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 8:46 pm

hi all,
well the rebuild of my 1996 na continues, time to start thinking about a new soft top, have been looking at the robbins tops, also the ones advertised on the mania site, want a cloth top with glass and demister, is mohair different to cloth and is it better :NA8:

davekmoore · Postby **davekmoore** » Mon Jan 27, 2014 11:26 pm

Mohair way better than cloth and way more $$$$.

Prestige in Melbourne also do decent pricing on various MX5 tops.

Mr Morlock · Postby **Mr Morlock** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 2:43 pm

not sure what the basis is of "better". Old fashioned blokes like me would stay with a quality vinyl- they look right for the vintage of the car and are extremely forgiving and durable. You never seem to see a stain or a blemish on a vinyl top apart from those that are old or have not been looked after. I looked at an 89 model the other day and it was close to perfect including the rear window!- the owner said it was original. Vinyl can last literally decades. Mazda tested materials at the time of development and opted for a German made material i.e. vinyl appearance)- whether after market ones are as good I don't know. One of the criteria for the folding roof was that it had to have equal strength as a steel structure against snowfall - pretty impressive to meet that. Later model cars seem to have moved away from vinyl but whether that is for fashion or function I do not know.

Mazda also designed a cover in vinyl for the soft top - purpose to provide some protection to the underside and to keep it clean and neat when down. So- option cloth covered by vinyl or no cover and no protection when down. It all depends on how one measures these things and how important it is for function Cost and preference.

meanmx · Postby **meanmx** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 10:41 pm

I had mohair on my old NA and I loved it. Gave a real feeling of luxury without being out of place. More insulative as well.

wun911 · Postby **wun911** » Tue Jan 28, 2014 11:56 pm

I had the mohair from prestige it's sort of fury like felt on a billiard table. In terms of textiles it feels morel like a lightly brushed cloth like the inside lining on a pair of track suit pants.

I thought moe hair was made from the skin of some exotic, rare or, near extinct animal and this really appealed to me because I'm Asian...

Initially I was quite happy to pay the price (considering its three times the price of vinal), however the prestige top was poorly made and moe hair is an acrylic based material.

I have a hard top, been in the car about a year. Lately it's been hot took the hard top off because I don't have air con in my car anymore..... :frown:

The roof has impression marks from being folded away too long. Never had this problem with oem vinal.

Its Sorta like if you put a trophy or a stack of books on a billiard table too long and it leaves an impression, hopefully it comes out, but I think it will take a while...

Y.J.

22Silver · Postby **22Silver** » Wed Jan 29, 2014 2:14 pm

I have a mohair prestige auto top, and I have so far found it to be really good.
Looks a little better (opinion only) than the vinyl one. Easier to take down as it doesn't stick/grab to the bows (mine was very worn and slightly sticky when I took it off) or glass and is supposed to be longer lasting.

Can't comment on leaving it folded down for a long time because I do not have a hardtop.

It looks like it would be a little harder to keep clean, but I just hosed a record sized bird poo off it today and didn't need to brush it or anything, so no real complaints there either.

The only con so far is that dust and leaves don't just fall off, they grab a little (it is sorta fluffy in a strange way) but as soon as I take the car over 40km/h it all blows off.

Also prestige has really looked after me. I said "I'll install it myself thanks" and he said it was rather tricky. I got it on, but wassn't comfortable to glue the front edge up, so the dude basically just said bring it to me ill glue it while you wait for 50 bucks and give it a quick check to make sure you haven't ****ed it or forgotten something.

Stu · Postby **Stu** » Wed Jan 29, 2014 2:18 pm

rossburns wrote:hi all,
well the rebuild of my 1996 na continues, time to start thinking about a new soft top, have been looking at the robbins tops, also the ones advertised on the mania site, want a cloth top with glass and demister, is mohair different to cloth and is it better

I don't think any of the roof skins on the market contain mohair. I investigated this when choosing a new roof and came to the conclusion that the majority of roof skin materials are made by Haartz. You may want to start looking at the Stayfast and Twillfast materials that they make and find a skin that matches your needs and budget. I have just put a Twillfast roof on and don't believe it contains any Mohair but that doesn't stop sellers advertising it as mohair.