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Well, thought I'd share my experiences with the Prestige Autotrim roof.

Picked it up a few weeks ago - ebay buy it now..
arrived in 6 days (Wow! )

excellently packaged and even came with quite good instructions ! (I ended up using these ones from Miata.net http://www.miata.net/garage/MiataTop2/index.html )

original top came off in under 1 hour, not bad, but I was under pressure - the clouds were mounting on the horizon!
found a snapped tensioning cable - tried Mazda (they never even had a listing for it!) - ended up driving to MX5 Mania - an hour from me, but worth the trip - even though they didnt have Na ones in Stock, they tried an Nb one (too short...) - but they remembered a box of second handers - found a great pair for me at a very reasonable price !

so, back home again and back into it....

the roof fitment went totally smooth, every hole was in exactly the right spot and well cut - the hard plastic was still joined on all the holes, but a simple pull with the fingers had it off ...
the only sticky part was the B-Pillar retaining plates - the above tutorial shows very different ones to mine and the holes werent cut on the roof - but a few minutes looking sorted it all out

Although i have still to put the seat back in and attach the carpets, it looks fantastic and really lifts the rest of the car amazingly !

When Prestige say Seamless, they mean it, this roof is totally smooth, only seams are at the back, but looks great !

total front yard fitment time - 4.5 hours

Score
8/10

Losing points only for minor stuff - the rivets in the packageing are close to useless - i ended up using proper alloy pop-rivets (big ones ) and the uncut holes for the B-Pillar retaining plates.

Highly reccommended for anyone who can swing a few tools and has a spare day

I'd reckon, that two people could knock this off in an afternoon if the had an idea of what they were doing - a whole day if they didnt

Hope this helps someone decide which roof to buy.

J

PS - Pics tomorrow when its had a wash ..... i promise

Nice write up Kazjim! I was also looking at one of these ST's. Can't wait to see the pics.

Good to know. Cheers

Ok, so I havnt gotten around to washing it yet (Give me a chance, i rebuilt a clutch slave cylinder this morning ), so forgive the filthy state - its spent the last three weeks sitting at airport carparks ....
always good for the finish of your paint (Faded as it is ...)

Anyway, pics as promised






Still hasa little bit of 'settling' to do and i havnt run it under the hose yet (I think the universe might provide that for me this afternoon!)

The other difficult task i found was lining up the seals properly ... I think i may have them too far out at the moment, but we'll see what time does to them ....
On the bright side, i think the previous owner knew about the 'stuff the seals with foam' trick - all the seals had slits in them and pieces of black foam stuffed in

Cheers all
J

looks good. gee not much water restrictions there. green front gardens along the neighbourhood.

he hehe, nahh, we are on level 3 (no watering at all) but we get great morning dew and its been pi$$ing down here for months

(thus, the urgent need for a new roof!)

Central Coast, nice weather, nice people, a f**k of a long drive to work ....

J

nice top, grass is very green around your area....

nice top

i noticed your top has those rain gutters

they work alright?

Ok, after living with the roof for a few days, some comments

My Bum is dry - so the roof doesnt leak - 10/10 so far.
Roof is still settling - the little ripples and variations are just about gone 9/10
there is a nasty, nasty jingling noise from the zipper tab - I'm going wrap some tape around it, its that annoying ...

Rain gutters seem to work very well, only get a drop or two on the seat when opening the door after a rain shower.

I'm really happy with this roof, quiet (apart from the jingles...), dry and not at all smelly - i was expecting a chemical / vinyl smell for weeks, but so far nothing..... (Yea, who sniffs their roof, hey ?)

So all up, all good

J

AZNTieN wrote:nice top

i noticed your top has those rain gutters

they work alright?

Has anyone else seen or know of a soft top with these "rain gutters"?

I replaced my soft-top today with one of these from Prestige Autotrim. I got the fixed rear window version since it was the cheapest and I rarely bother unzipping the window anyway. Cost was £210 for the top, plus £58.16 for shipping, which came to $443 total. I had pretty much the same experience with fitting. It all went fairly smoothly, although I spent the whole day on it and had to remove and reinstall the BD rollbar too. Just like kazjim, I found the supplied rivets were next to useless (I used regular pop rivets instead), and the B pillar retaining plates had holes in the wrong places (drilled new ones). After installation, I tested for leaks and found I was getting a few drips coming through at the rain rail behind the driver's seat. I had reused the old rain rail and the hard plastic bit was a bit brittle and cracked in a few places - repaired it with tape but obviously not perfectly. Looks like I'll have to spend a bit more time on it before it's completely leakproof. I also found that the sides of the roof are a little loose - probably need to replace the side tensioning cables. Otherwise, the new roof is tight as a drum and looks great. Very happy with this product!

Hi Kazjim,
Just bought a 90 MX5 and I am thinking of getting a Prestige soft top.
Is your soft top fabric the vinyl type - or is it what Prestige refer to as Mohair?
Thanks!

Hi mate, I just fitted a Prestige top last weekend, it's the second one I've bought off them. The first one was Mohair Plus with a Glass Window, blue on a silver NA with white wheels, and the one on the weekend was Mohair with Plastic Window, black on red NA.

The one in the Pic's above is Vinyl, but i'll wholehartedly recommend Mohair. Mohair Plus is a bit more plush, but Mohair is just fine. It feels better insulated than vinyl so it gives the air con/heater a more of a fighting chance against the weather.

They're easy enough to fit provided you find better instructions on the interwebs and BYO rivets. I wouldn't buy an MX5 roof from anyone else.

mx5jag wrote:Hi Kazjim,
Just bought a 90 MX5 and I am thinking of getting a Prestige soft top.
Is your soft top fabric the vinyl type - or is it what Prestige refer to as Mohair?
Thanks!

From memory Kazjim's sold his MX5, so might not see your question, however it appears to be the vinyl type that he bought.

maybe so but vinyl is a very durable very strong and proven product- can easily last 20 years if looked after and looks like the classic top- I would have no hesitation in replacing vinyl with vinyl. Besides an MX5 looks better with it down anyway.