Need some convertible guru's!

FivepointSlow · Mar 31, 2014

Well this isn't exactly a SN95 question but I figured all convertibles are basically the same as far as the process of replacing them goes, and I'd rather hear your guys thoughts as oppose to another forum I'm not familiar with...

So my mom has a 2005 V6 Convertible with around 76,xxx miles on it. It's driven all town miles, she drives 2 miles to work and back everyday and thats what it's seen the majority of its life...

This winter the weather stripping started to leak, allowing enough moisture to enter to ice up the inside of the windows and cause hell for her when warming up the car...

We got ALOT of rain last night, and it quickly changed to snow this morning when I went to school. My parents went up to Vermont to stay over night so I have her car while they're gone... I went to go start the car to head over to my grandmothers with my sister and I found this lovely surprise....

About an inch of water just chilling in the floor... It goes all the way to infront of the front seat...

After sucking it all up with the shop vac and getting the carpet pretty dry I went off to my grandmothers... The guy infront of me stopped pretty hard out of nowhere causing me to hit my brakes harder than I'd normally hit them... And all I heard was the sound of a faucet turning on in a bathtub... My sister looks behind me and sees water pouring out from underneath the rear seat onto the floor I just cleaned up. HOW DOES WATER EVEN GET THERE???

So I threw a tarp over her car to keep anymore water from coming in... Closed the door on it and put 2 tires ontop to hold it down... Tomorrow its going to be 50's and sunny so I'll put the top down to dry it out and if I have time I'll take the backseats out and see how much standing water is back there...

My question are

Where is the best place to buy a convertible top with all weather stripping from?

How hard are they to install? I heard you can do it by yourself in a day, could me and my father tackle that with no previous experience?

The top has no holes in it. But in the top layer of the top material you can see it is like chipping. Layers below the top layer are showing etc. It's fading and just really needs to be replaced. The weather stripping is ripped in some areas and just warn down in others. The car was garaged for 2 years during the winter and then we couldn't afford our 3rd car so my mom has been dailying it 24/7/365 for 3 years now. (we bought it used in 2009)

I mentioned previously that moisture got into the car several times in the winter... Well one day it iced up the shifter... It's an automatic... And well when my mom put the car into reverse the shifter did this...

What is this called and where do you buy a replacement?

Win · Mar 31, 2014

Sounds like it's not sealing where the windows meet together. Or possibly the top isn't sealing tightly. Check the j hooks for the top where it latches. If it closes easily then it's not sealing well enough. It should have a little bit of resistance there.

FivepointSlow · Mar 31, 2014

Win said:
Sounds like it's not sealing where the windows meet together. Or possibly the top isn't sealing tightly. Check the j hooks for the top where it latches. If it closes easily then it's not sealing well enough. It should have a little bit of resistance there.

The top hasn't been put down since like early December I think... When I put it down tomorrow to dry it out I'll check that. But regardless it's still time for a new top. It looks really bad and last time I put the top down I had to get out halfway through it retracting to help it fold correctly because it would bunch up all wrong and not fold correctly and not go down all the way.

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

TanTop94 · Apr 1, 2014

Verts are awful. They leak, I've been attempting to fix a front leak on mine for awhile. Then I believe the water that gets below the reR seat is probably coming from the spit right behind the quarter windows. This cars are poorly designed verts.

Steve-Oh · Apr 1, 2014

Does your top do this?! It's rather annoying: http://youtu.be/jP-H5gvbeUo

Sent from Space

FivepointSlow · Apr 1, 2014

[MENTION=8243]Steve-Oh[/MENTION] no it doesn't do that. Last time we used it it went up and down smoothly but on the second fold the top folded out towards the trunk instead of in... So you have to get out and push it in to fold it right and the continue putting it down... I'll have to take a video of it its wierd.

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Steve-Oh · Apr 1, 2014

I know exactly what you mean, it's a pain.

Sent from Space

Win · Apr 1, 2014

FivepointSlow said:
The top hasn't been put down since like early December I think... When I put it down tomorrow to dry it out I'll check that. But regardless it's still time for a new top. It looks really bad and last time I put the top down I had to get out halfway through it retracting to help it fold correctly because it would bunch up all wrong and not fold correctly and not go down all the way.

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

How ow old is the top? Is the rear window sealant gone?

TanTop94 said:
Verts are awful. They leak, I've been attempting to fix a front leak on mine for awhile. Then I believe the water that gets below the reR seat is probably coming from the spit right behind the quarter windows. This cars are poorly designed verts.

The front leak is probably it isn't adjusted right on the closing latches. Check your rear windows to see if there going all the way up. That's a big spot for the water to get in. I had my rear pass motor go out. I couldn't get it up all the way. Once I replaced that motor it went all the way up and fixed my water issue.

FivepointSlow · Apr 1, 2014

There's a little chunk of weather stripping that's ripped on the corner of the window but when everything's closed up I can't see enough water getting in there to cause 1"+ of standing water. We had no rain last night AND I had a tarp over the top and more water appeared overnight. I'm at a loss.

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DeepList · Apr 1, 2014

A gremlin is apparently dumping buckets of water into the car when you're not paying attention.

DropTopPony · Apr 1, 2014

There was probably water in the rear behind the seat. The top forms a well that actually holds a shit ton of water. When you hit the brakes the water came forward through the rear seat. When my old top was leaking it was coming in around the back window glass and the liner filled up and I didn't even know until I heard it sloshing around.

FivepointSlow · Apr 1, 2014

DeepList said:
A gremlin is apparently dumping buckets of water into the car when you're not paying attention.

Well I guess I'll be setting up outside with the shotgun tonight! Those bastards!

DropTopPony said:
There was probably water in the rear behind the seat. The top forms a well that actually holds a shit ton of water. When you hit the brakes the water came forward through the rear seat. When my old top was leaking it was coming in around the back window glass and the liner filled up and I didn't even know until I heard it sloshing around.

Any idea how the rear seats in a 2005 come out? I'd bet there's still water in there...

Also I drove with the too down, too went down fine, had to get out and persuade the top to fold correctly but that's it. Went to go out the top up and latch it and it comes short to the windshield a good 1.5"... Usually the motors will bring the top far enough to barely touch the weather stripping. Had to use all my weight to latch it. My sister was with me and she couldn't latch her side because she doesn't weigh as much as me.

I guess I know where one of the problems is LOL.

Crapatalkin' on the iPhone 5.0

Steve-Oh · Apr 1, 2014

[MENTION=18995]FivepointSlow[/MENTION]... It comes out real easy.

Push

Push

Pull bottom out

Unbolt

Lift straight up to unlatch this part and pull out.

Sent from Space

FivepointSlow · Apr 1, 2014

[MENTION=8243]Steve-Oh[/MENTION] thanks! I wasn't sure how to do it and I'm down at my grandmas at the moment. I just went out and looked at it. THERES YOUR PROBLEM!!!

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Win · Apr 1, 2014

Yep there ya go.

Steve-Oh · Apr 1, 2014

Yup, you're welcome.

Sent from Space

04GTChris · Apr 1, 2014

I had mine professionally replaced by a local guy. $1400 later and a new top and latch hardware was installed.

To me, a convertible top was not something i felt comfortable doing.

That price is not outrageous either. I shopped around before I had it done. If you're in the Northern IL area Bruce at Top Line is your man.