Top down driving without "boot"
 

Occasionally I'll drop the cab top for short drives without bothering to put the tonneau or boot on the car. Like driving home from work on a gorgeous day when I know that the top will be going right back up when I get to the house.

Is this another no-no to add to that long list?

I know it's not a problem in a miata, I don't think it's a problem in a 911 or a bug either.

Over a time period the headliner may rip or seperate.

David

If your headliner is original, it's probably pretty brittle and will rip due to the wind buffeting.

Though it's a pain, try to put the cover on. Our you'll end up cutting the headliner out (like I did) and then it won't matter whether or not you have the cover on :confused:

Yes, mine is rip by PO not using the boot. When the top is up, strings lands on my head. It feels like car full of bugs

I've never put the boot on to my car in over two years, this includes track driving and LOTS of motorway miles above 100mph.
I've had no problems so far.
This isnt due to lazyness its just the boot doesnt seem secure at high speeds.

You need to be just as cautious about the boot too. When I bought my cab it had a new headliner/top. I immediately purchased a boot to protect the headliner from the wind buffeting. However it seems that my elastic straps that hook to the rear seat back rings were not taunt enough and so the boot slowly wore holes in the headliner. This is after 18k miles of top down motoring in the past two years. Looks like I'll be getting to know my top intimately in the next few months as the headliner holes really look shabby:(

I don't think it's too big of a problem. Just don't make a habit of it and you should be OK. I usually keep mine on but have made the ocasional trip w/o it.

Just a side note:

You should also unzip the rear window as well (if you don't already) to prevent creases/premature wear. If you want to be real anal, you can put a towel down over the unzipped window to prevent the canvas from scratching it. ;)

Mine is minus headlining, presumably partly as a result of bootless top down driving - came to me like that. Not a big deal as am mostly roof down when out in the car, but when the roof is up I don't mind the slight increase in noise caused by a few less layers. I am thinking of maybe having the top redone sometime next year as part of the 'rolling improvement programme' (lol) :)

I think they look better when topless with the boot on and it stops that centre roofbar lifting up in the wind at speed. Even with it on, it's quick and easy to get the top up on in a shower, so generally always throw it on when I drop the roof and it pretty much lives hanging over the rear seats when the top is up.

those straps are useless. I keep the rear seat back up to hold the boot down.

Umm.. shouldn't the center roofbar be tucked away in the folds of the top? In fact the roofbar is supposed to push the fabric away from the top frame and prevent the material from being creased or worse, punctured, by the metal skeleton.

As to the original question, I was always told to use the tonneau when driving at high speeds for fear of tearing the headliner. But like many I find the Tennex snaps are crappy for keeping the tonneau tightly attached.

And yes, I'm anal enough to use a towel to protect my rear window. Bad enough to replace the headliner - that piece of plastic looks expensive!

They are very easy to replace. Go to a fabric store and find their industrial grade elastic and sew in some new ones. In Florida you can DE with a rollbar and the top down. I put the boot cover on and secure with a set of zip ties. I can honestly say the boot cover is good up to 135mph indicated.

you need a Targa....

Your not the only one! I throw a towel over it before I put the boot on now.

hi BlkBird, just went out to the garage to check and that's not the way this one works. If you leave the centre bar in the folds of the hood, it pulls the hood material over the hinges and stops the roof from folding down properly. Those pins on the tops of the 'b' posts will not sit into the folded top rails unless the centre bar is out of the way.

On mine I can't see how the top is at any risk from the hood frame/skeleton as long as the centre bar is not left in the hood folds when it is dropped. As the roof drops, the material folds back away from the frame and the centre bar on mine stays away from the hood material & goes on top of it's own volition - I would otherwise have to push it into the hood as it is folding down.

Apart from unzipping the window and tucking it down behind the seats before dropping the roof, I confess to not being that delicate with it, once the doors are open and the windscreen clips are unlocked it usually just gets a good shove from the front and then it's down. Though as I said I usually put the boot over it, I never use those retaining straps either, the seat backs keep it tight up to 130 and that's as fast as I have gone in it with the top down (so far).

I have the factory workshop manual supplement for the SC Cabrios somewhere, must dig it out and see whether it says anything about this.

Cheers!

fold the center bar down inside the top. this will protect the headliner from flopping around in the wind.

just checked the factory manual and all the shots of the roof down show the centre bar on top and not in the folds, will continue doing it that way but each to his own