Due to worldwide materials shortages, and due to factories following government-recommended COVID safety precautions, items made-to-order are taking longer than normal to manufacture. Helpful Tips. Read More. Distributor for:. Continue Shopping. Customers only: A different shipping address will be considered only if: A- Billing address of the credit card is a P. Box address. Once free and loose, cover the rear of the vehicle in blankets and get your assistant to help lift out the trim stick to the rear of the vehicle.
You may have to compress the trim stick a little squeeze the ends together to get it to come out. Lift the trim stick up and over the top and let it set on the top as shown. You may find it helpful to cut the old top off of what's attached to the trim stick, but leave enough on to grip the old top in the next step.
The top is held to the trim stick by a thick edge on the top that fits into a channel in the aluminum trim stick. Begin working the old top back and forth sideways to slide it out of this channel. It may be crusted up and take a bit of effort to get it out, but it's not glued in, in spite of how difficult it is to move. The rear area is probably filled with dirt and dust, take a minute to clean up the inner body area and clean off the trim stick before putting it back in.
We're ready to start putting things back together. Required for this step: pop rivets, vinyl glue provided in kit hold down cables provided in kit pop rivet gun small hammer screw gun utility knife Helper Like most auto manuals say, "installation is the reverse of removal. They will be threaded through the headliner, usually through guide tubes.
Follow your manual's instructions and replace the hold-down cables before proceeding. Slide the new top into the channel of the rear trim stick, and make sure it's centered. Lower the trim stick into the body, and have your assistant help hold it in place while you bolt it back in. Pull the top up over the front, and attach the front trim stick first. Before putting any glue on, attach the front trim stick with a couple screws, then open and close the top to make sure everything lines up and it's not off center to one side, causing cross-wrinkles.
Put a layer of vinyl glue along the front strip, then attach the front trim. Working your way from back to front, glue the vinyl into their respective locations, and trim off the excess vinyl. Cut out little square holes where the screw fasteners go back into the frame. If you do this right, the very edge of the fasteners will overlap the vinyl where you cut it and help hold it in place. Re-attach the side-flaps, and rivet in the top where it attaches to the frame at the middle bows.
Replace all the trim sticks. When complete, you should be able to raise and lower the top with very few wrinkles. Almost done! Required for this step: Staples from kit Staple gun or pneumatic staple gun Hole punch Utility knife hammer needle nose pliers Windshield seal kit Helper This procedure should be performed with the top completely "up" and in the locked position.
Cut out the center of the window with a utility knife and leave at least a two inch margin all around the window. Beginning at the middle top, bottom, and sides, drive a single staple into the side of the window frame, just where the old ones were. DO NOT pull the vinyl tight, just snug. It will tighten up as you go around the window. If you're using a pneumatic staple gun, this should be a single shot. If you couldn't find one to rent, the staples will be left hanging out a bit.
Although this makes it a more tedious job, use a flat nosed hole punch to tap the staples all the way in. Position the punch over each "shoulder" of the staple, like pounding in a fine nail, so you have to tap in both sides of the staple.
If you bend them, use pliers to take them out, these need to be all the way in and flush with the window frame. Now repeat the process with all four corners, making sure you're not pulling any wrinkles into the top as you add staples. Add staples on either side of these so that the corners are firmly stapled in. Next pick four more locations between the corners and center points, all around.
Yes, that's a LOT of staples and is a total pain, I wish I could have found a pneumatic staple gun too, but wasn't going to buy one for a single job. Apply a thin bead of windshield seal as shown in the illustration, "mostly" on the bottom of the frame edge but slightly touching the side. Press it neatly into the ledge so it doesn't interfere with the window re-installation, it will flatten out and seal perfectly, and won't make it too difficult to remove for the next top install tops generally last years, if properly cared for.
Get your assistant to hold the window in place and set the window back in the hole. From the inside of the vehicle, twist up the rope tight in the same way you did to remove it - it shouldn't need to be as tight as it was for removal. Use a screwdriver to run around the edge of the seal from the inside to insure it's going inside the edge of the window frame before your helper applies any pressure.
You might try to work one corner and side at a time, eventually it will start to press in. Once you can see the window is "mostly" in the frame, cooperate with your helper to agree on what's going in first.
That is, "I'm pulling the rope out at the center bottom and we're going to work toward the driver's side. Your helper should then push on the bottom, and move his or her pushes to the bottom on the driver's side and so on, applying pressure where you're pulling the rope out. The trim should slip up over the frame beautifully, and once the rope is removed, you should have a perfect seal, inside and out, with just a few more gentle bumps. I'll tell you right off, the rubber trims are not likely to be an easy task.
Some of them you can get to go right in if you spray them with silicone spray on the surfaces meant to slide into the top frame. Others you'll have to work in with a screwdriver or plastic tool, lifting an edge here or there. For the Cabrio, the rear frame trims just wouldn't go from any side - I had to slide them in from the end and tap the rubber, driving it in like a stake.
Whatever you do, don't lose patience and start hammering away. Additional parts not included that may be required:. General Preparations:. Pre-Installation Preparations:. Before you begin, please take into consideration that the installation process will take approximately 5 hours!
Over the years, different terminologies have been used for the same parts.
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