mx5cartalk.com

I discovered something interesting yesterday. Well interesting to me anyway. Over time my hardtop has been getting more and more creaks, groans and pops while going over driveways and hitting bumps etc. A few weeks ago while reversing out of a driveway it let off this almighty bang and the groans got substantially worse ever since.

One of the front latches is worn and many years ago I tried to remove it to fix it up but the screws were locktighted in so tight I almost stripped one of the screw heads trying to get the screws out so gave up on that idea. With all the creaking and groaning in yesterday's heat as a last ditch effort to stop the obnoxious noise I decided to check the screws holding the latches to the hardtop before I threw the hardtop off the nearest cliff.

The heat must have been enough to soften the locktight because I found I could tighten all the screws about 1/2 turn and even managed to undo the screws holding the busted latch, repair it and put it back together. And bingo, no more creaks, groans or pops. Everything is nice and tight again, just like it was when it was new. Bliss!

Just for the new players, if that doesn't solve your creaks have a look under the silver boxes at the rear of the hardtop. There's a phillips screw on the side of the cover, unscrew it and swing the lid out of the way. Under the lid you will find an adjusting shim with a nylon coating on one end that goes under the "Frankenstein" bolts. The nylon coating wears away over time and you end up with noisy metal to metal contact. You should also check that the rubber isolators are still under the silver boxes. The shims and isolators are available from Mazda or you can just flip the worn shims over and get another few years out of them. While the shims are out it's also a good time to adjust the alignment of your hardtop to suit your car if you bought the top after you got your car.

Happy hardtopping

garry, good to hear you got that noise sorted out. it was also driving me crazy eh.
those bolts at the top latches were the worst. they ruined my life. I also threaded a few before i realised they had some bonding compound on it and had to be heated. I bought a mini butane torch and heated it up, and alas! the damn thing turned.. ever so slightly, but were moving at least. heat, turn, reheat, turn, seems to be the way to go about it.
once they were out, suspicions were confirmed, loctite blue on threads (some other have had red).

heres the part i went different though. i knew you could repair the latches so they would stop making noise, but it just took them off completely and went with hardtop brackets (front and side). there are a number of companies out there that make them, i bought mine from jass performance. i put these latches on because i run hardtop 99% of the time.

my observations:
first thing i noticed taking off the oem latches. MAN they are heavy. rough weight measurement puts them at about 3.5-4kg.
i didnt have to remove or cut any std trim to fit these. they bolt directly on the metal of the chassis and the hardtop.
it certainly tightens things up substantially and the stiffness in the top is felt as soon as you go over a bump.
have to be careful not to tighten it up too much, otherwise there will be no flex and the hardtop may crack.
AND
it still makes noises. not as much as before. but once they settled and were retightened it was better.

tldr: tried to fix hardtop noises too. put in brackets. made more noise. but at least the shoebox lid is glued on the shoebox now.

something to ponder for you hardtop crew