Top keeps breaking....

[Pulseguy]

Has this happened to anyone else? My top keeps breaking. Over and over, every few months. What happens is the little plastic jobbies on the struts that move the soft top up and down snap. This causes the moving top to break or bend the pieces that the plastic pieces screw onto.

I have had this repaired about 6 times in the past year and a half.

[Loren]

Model and year of your car please?

[jefla]

I have an 07 S and have had two of the plasitc balls break. Dealer told me to periodically put top up and down during winter storage. Don't really buy that, plus I don't like doing this when vinyl is below 50.

[Rich Sanders]

This may seem way to obvious, but could be worth a mention. I broke these parts once, but it was my own dumb fault. The center latch at the top of the windscreen had NOT QUITE cleared the housing that it locks into. It thought it cleared, but hadn't. The overlap created just enough tension on the acuator linkages to to break them. In the process though, the latch at the windshield DID clear out of the housing. Had I not actually seen the momentary binding at the windscreen latch housing, I would know how this happened. It is for this reason that I never open the the top while the car is moving. I remain concerned that a bump in the road could recreate the same overlap between the windsceen frame housing and the latch. Make sure these parts are clear of each other before lowering the top. I even push up on the top a little to be sure, and to release any tension that may exist between the front edge of the top that the windshield frame.

[ptreth]

There is a guy in Germany who sells metal ball in socket replacements for the factory parts. you can find the reference on Ebay. Be sure you adjust the top properly after replacement.

[1schoir]

Installing the metal ball sockets is a VERY bad idea, IMO.

In the event of a malfunction, your front pushrods with their new metal ball cups may stay intact, but, for example, the small steel balls onto which the ball cups press may tear away from the part of the frame that they are screwed onto.

Cost of a pair of replica plastic ball cups: about $35.

Cost of a pair of OEM front pushrods: about $150

Cost of the part of the frame ("main folding top bow") that would break: about $2500.

Regards, Maurice.

[ctr_ice]

I had the same problem. Took the car to the dealer 8 times over the course of about a year. Very inconvenient, given my closest dealer is 2 hours away. One of the repairs didn't even last through the first time I tried to cycle the top. They ended up replacing the whole top, but I still have had issues. At least all of this happened under warranty.

After the factory warranty expired, the pushrod ends broke once more. I took it to a buddy of mine who is a master mechanic. I purchased a set of the pushrods from Pelican Parts, and it took us about an hour and a half to install them. Most of the time was working to get alignment of the two sides so that the top closed properly. I wonder how much time the dealer actually spent ensuring the top was aligned.

See the attached photo for a few notes on the pushrod assembly.

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