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I have a mate who requires figment of new Prestige soft top. Just wondering which is the best way to go about it i.e. remove the frame as well or just the top?

trader wrote:I have a mate who requires figment of new Prestige soft top. Just wondering which is the best way to go about it i.e. remove the frame as well or just the top?

I have a new prestige top which I am yet to fit. Will let you know my thoughts once I do. Obviously the prestige guys think you need to remove the frame to do a proper job.

Chuppa


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Thanks chuppa let me know how you go!

I' ve fitted 3 soft tops over the years. First time I left the frame on the first time.
I removed the frame the other two times.

Based on my experience I would recommend removing it.

Ensuring you have a decent sized flat surface to work on is a must. Give yourself plenty of time.

While fitting the soft top to the frame can be done by one person I strongly recommend that two people remove and refit the roof to the car. This will reduce the chance of damage to the car. Ask me how I know (:

You don't need rivit the rain rail to the soft top. If doing this make sure to patch the rivit holes with something like a good quality cloth backed tape. You can also use tape to patch any cracks/splits if reusing the original rain rail.

Make sure you fit the rain rail so that it sandwiches the bottom edge of the soft top. The easiest way is to look at how it is fitted before removing the soft top from the frame. This is another good reason for removing the whole roof from the car first.

Hope it goes well.

Ps there are some good resources on the big forum garage site.
https://www.miata.net/garage/garagetops.html

Some good hints there especially with the rain rail...

it's been a few weeks to get the time but I have finally finished the job (it took about 6 hrs all up). As I did it myself I looked at all the short cuts. In the end I decided to take the frame and roof out of the car. Quite easy to do it that way and then mounted it all on a couple of pieces of 4x2 about half a metre long. This made it easy to work on.
I found that you only need to remove the bottom rivet on the tension wire, just slide it out of and then into the roof slot from the top.
When putting it back in the car I used the rivetless method to mount the roof into the rain rail.
There were a few problems with the prestige hood but basically in the end I was satisfied with the fit.

trader wrote:it's been a few weeks to get the time but I have finally finished the job (it took about 6 hrs all up). As I did it myself I looked at all the short cuts. In the end I decided to take the frame and roof out of the car. Quite easy to do it that way and then mounted it all on a couple of pieces of 4x2 about half a metre long. This made it easy to work on.
I found that you only need to remove the bottom rivet on the tension wire, just slide it out of and then into the roof slot from the top.
When putting it back in the car I used the rivetless method to mount the roof into the rain rail.
There were a few problems with the prestige hood but basically in the end I was satisfied with the fit.

Thanks for the update, I managed to get mine installed on the weekend. Bit of an issue getting the top to stretch so I could latch it. 48 hours of 30kg of weights on the top (and 30°days) helped but I finally resorted to this:



I found there were a few rivet holes that weren't pre-punched as expected but overall the prestige top (the model with the zip vinyl window) was fine to work with.





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That’s strange Chuppa - others have found that also. Mine fitted neatly with the locks backed off as far as they could go. The only thing I can think of is that I closed the top before I had tensioned up the rain rail nuts. That may have given it more slack.
If I had to do it again I would wait for a second hand NB top with frame and glass top. Not as cheap but much easier to install and so much more convenient!I

Chuppa seemed to be describing something that was not well made - would anyone recommend something like that?

Mr Morlock wrote:Chuppa seemed to be describing something that was not well made - would anyone recommend something like that?

Bear in mind that the tops do tend to have to be made a little small so that once fitted, and warmed up, they dont sag in places, or just have odd fold marks.

My factory top, if left folded on a cold night, would often be very stiff to close the next morning, as the fabric/vinyl would shrink slightly in the cold.

trader wrote:That’s strange Chuppa - others have found that also. Mine fitted neatly with the locks backed off as far as they could go. The only thing I can think of is that I closed the top before I had tensioned up the rain rail nuts. That may have given it more slack.
If I had to do it again I would wait for a second hand NB top with frame and glass top. Not as cheap but much easier to install and so much more convenient!I

The rain rail nuts may well be the difference. I did tighten mine prior to attempting to latch the top. I subsequently loosened them off but even this didn't get the top completely closed.

After ratcheting the top down (Miata.net reports that others have done the same with different brands) and leaving it under tension during the night it seems to be fitting better.



I will say that none of the numerous guides and YouTube vids I read/viewed covered every single step of the changeover. Some went close.

The guide from prestige wasn't up to scratch either in my view.




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Here’s mine from a similar angle

I tweaked it a bit tighter this morning after some heat in the day.
I found a UK site home.freeuk.com gave the best instructions.