As many of you know, I had my convertible top replaced under warranty earlier this year. Last week I noticed a little bit of rubber hanging down at the top of the window on both sides. It turned out to come from torn seals on both sides. I had it to the dealer this week for brakes, and had them look at this. They had to order parts, so all that was done right now was to cut off the dangling bits. Here are some pictures I took after I got it back, you can see where the rubber was removed. It came away at the front edge and tore towards the back of the car. I went two years with the old top with no such issues, and now two months into this new top this happens. Very strange!

Anyone else see this?


PS: I wonder how long it will take for this thread to get moved to "stock issues" where few Roadster people will see it, just like this one...

 

I do remember at least one other R59 owner posting about this issue. I'll see if I can find it...

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Edit: Found it -

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...p-tearing.html

 

Well remembered! I poked around a bit before posting but didn't see anything. At least this thread is now linked back to the old one.

It would be good if kbirdsong from the original thread could chime in here and let us know if the problem recurred.

 

Looks like Part # 1 in the diagram. I know this has not been in issues for the similar piece on the R52 and R57 but there rubber is a little more rubberized.

 

I think you're right. Looks like part numbers are 54342759397 for the left and 54342759398 for the right. The dealer said they were having to get them from Germany...

 

It begs the question if they indeed have not made much of a change to the top geometry but rather in adjusting the top itself. Perhaps now that it clears better the rear seal when open it forces the gasket to be push more forward and thus rubbing during opening and closing procedure . . . ?


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So I went to get the seals changed this week. Turned out they had the wrong parts, so I'm waiting again...

 

Darn , well let us know how it goes and the fix.

 

how'd it go? i'm a little nervous about my replacement top, it's in progress right now.

 

Parts are in, but I couldn't get an appointment until next week. I'll let you know.

 

Thanks for the update. Let us know if they are foam rubber or rubber on the new ones.

 

Why does the rubber lip rubbing the top when it is down in two points cause wear (movement?) but the same rubber lip in intimate contact with the top when it is up over a broad area does not?

 

Vibration (or rubbing) concentrated over a small area is focused and could caused possible fabric wear from the friction. The same vibration /rubbing spread over a large area would not contain sufficient (concentrated) energy to cause the same level of wear over the larger surface area.

As another example, if you rubbed a point of a knife against a fabric, it would likely cause noticeable abrasion, while rubbing the entire blade of the knife sideways would not.

 

Thanks!