Soft top pinch point and repair?

Old Dude · Postby **Old Dude** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:51 pm

Hi guys, I have noticed a pin hole in my soft top

On further investigation it appears that when the softop is folded down if your not extremely careful, some of the fabric ends up between the little stop and the pad mounted on the cargo shelf just behind the seat belt tower. :cry:

Anyway anyone know of a product (silastic etc) that I could use just to seal up this tiny hole. Or is it worth glueing a small piece of vinyl on the inside to give it a bit more strength incase it happens again :?:

Thanks for your help guys
Cheers
Old Dude

MX5CHIC · Postby **MX5CHIC** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 6:11 pm

SIKAFLEX 229 (or 221) it is a marine grade with high tear resistance. I used it to repair a tear in my old vinyl soft top, it lasted at least 2 years until I got a cloth top.

de Bounce · Postby **de Bounce** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 7:10 pm

There is some info here
And a US Technical Service Bulletin here

Was thinking of buying and fitting the plates before mine develops the holes.

TieNN89 · Postby **TieNN89** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:42 pm

any idea what exactly the difference is with the plates? and how much it cost?

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 10:50 pm

Mazda replaced one roof on my car under warranty because of that issue. According to the part numbers my car already has the revised setplates so they didn't help in my case. The new roof only lasted a few months until it started showing signs of wear in the same place.

This time Mazda decided to try to solve the problem rather than just replace the roof. They glued another piece of roof material onto the inside of the "C-pillar" on each side of the car. Several years later and I haven't had a re-occurance. Having a double thickness of roof material in that area changes the fold of the vinyl and makes it too thick to get caught in places where it shouldn't.

Old Dude · Postby **Old Dude** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:09 pm

Garry wrote:Mazda replaced one roof on my car under warranty because of that issue. According to the part numbers my car already has the revised setplates so they didn't help in my case. The new roof only lasted a few months until it started showing signs of wear in the same place.

This time Mazda decided to try to solve the problem rather than just replace the roof. They glued another piece of roof material onto the inside of the "C-pillar" on each side of the car. Several years later and I haven't had a re-occurance. Having a double thickness of roof material in that area changes the fold of the vinyl and makes it too thick to get caught in places where it shouldn't.

That sounds interesting Garry,
How big was the piece that they glued onto the inside of the "C- pillar".

Any thing has go to be better than just letting it get worse, although now I know where it is, I try to make sure I remove it from the nip place when I put the roof down.
Cheers
Old Dude

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:18 pm

They virtually covered the whole C-pillar. They did a good job too, it looks like the pieces were cut from an old MX5 roof because the fabric looks the same as the original so it looks like it's supposed to be there.

Old Dude · Postby **Old Dude** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 10:40 am

Thats a decent bit of area to cover, and the roof folds down OK?
Any pictures?
Cheers
Old Dude

Caffeine · Postby **Caffeine** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:55 pm

I had 2 tops replaced on my car (2001 NB8B)

The 3rd top has now lasted 130000km without incident. I have two nylon straps riveted to the frames of the top that I don't know are present on other cars (I never noticed them before the 3rd roof, if they were there.

Old Dude · Postby **Old Dude** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 12:57 pm

I noticed these small holes on other soft tops when I was looking to buy my car,
but thought it was because the top was getting caught in the frame! so I made sure my top wasn't getting caught in the frame when I put the top down, I didn't realise it was the top stops

And as most of my driving is with the top down, I have accelerated the problem with out knowing it.

Garry · Postby **Garry** » Sat Sep 26, 2009 11:16 pm

Sorry OD no pics at this stage. The roof folds just as easily as it did before, the only difference is that it doesn't get caught in the mechanism or underneath the stoppers. Quite a few NB8B's had roof problems. I know of one owner that had quite a few replaced under warranty.

hks_kansei · Postby **hks_kansei** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 1:13 pm

hmm, odd.

my roof folds very close to the stoppers, but the actual bump on the stopper (where it contacts the flat plastic bit) does not actually hit the fabric, the bump creates a bit of a gap where the roof fabric can sit.

Caffeine, I have the same Nylon straps on my roof (well, I presume they are the same ones you are referring too) I think they are normal, I'm pretty sure mine's the original roof (Aug '99 build from memory), there is no record of a new roof in any of the service records.

edit: just realised, this sounds like an NB8B issue? seems odd that Mazda would create an issue in the newer model?

Old Dude · Postby **Old Dude** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 9:39 pm

yeah I have the same gap on my stopper but I guess at some time it must have got caught further in.
I guess some top may just fol in a bdifferent position and some get caught.

But Im really interested in Garry's solution, if nothing else you have thicker fabric to protect that area even if it did get caught.

Chers
Old Dude