cbeal

Hey Bay Area owners,

Anyone taken their S for soft top repairs? I have a 2002 with the usual wear for that year. I am the second owner and have only had the car a couple of years. I'm guessing the previous owner rarely put the top down since there were no obvious wear marks when I bought the car, but now it's worn so much that I have a rip right through the top on the driver's side. Too bad I didn't spend time on the forums or I might have been forewarned, but that ship has sailed.

I saw that many owners of the 2000-2002 vintage got their tops replaced by Honda and had a TSB service done to fix some sort of rough spot on the top skeleton, but I am assuming that I am unfortunately way out of coverage for this. At this point, my apartment has no covered parking, so I'm not all that interested in spending the money for a new top. Unless it is not feasible or too expensive, I'd rather patch the top and save the cash for a new top when I have a garage to put the car in and take care of it like it deserves.

If you have any info, I'm curious where you've taken your car, what condition your top was in, and how much they charged for the repair. Recommendations and warnings for shops both welcome!

Thanks

lman

just DIY it. sew it up and use vinyl repair from auto part stores.

cbeal

I assume you're talking about a kit like this:

http://www.permatex.com/products/automotiv..._Repair_Kit.htm

I saw a few other posts on the message boards (and amazon.com) saying that this stuff was challenging to use and really hard to get the color to match.

lman

yeah, even if u can match the color, there will be a dull bump like that will be easy to notice.

also just saw a brand new oem suzuka blue top for sale on craigslist.

dirtykoala

i just went to these guys for some top protectant http://www.premierupholstery.com/
the shop seems good. dunno about prices as i havnt had any top repair done, but some nice cars were there getting work done. good yelp reviews.

azn201

I went to Vals auto upholstery in sf. They are a little pricey though about 60 a patch.

cbeal

Ended up going to Cooks Upholstery in Redwood City (www.cooksupholstery.com). Cost me $120 for a patch, stitch, and glue on the side that was ripped through plus a patch to reinforce the other side. The owner (Craig) warned me ahead of time that the stitching would show (obviously). It does up close, but from any distance, the repair job is invisible. The only other shop willing to do the repair wanted $295, but did include a 3 year warrantee. Haven't had time to evaluate the longevity of the repair. Will post an update at some point.

BeachBumS2K

in San Jose Costa Custom Covers, 50 for patch work, 65 for vinyl repair color matched, about 1400 for new glass top installed. I havn't had it done yet, i'll probably get mine patched in a month or so.

edit: woops didn't see that you had your repaired already. post some pics : )

dagle

In my experience with tears in tops (3 out of 3 s2k's with torn tops thus far) repairs on the top are apparent on whichever side it's made on. I used donor fabric + hondabond (silicone) and it held up 100%. haven't found time to do that for the current S but will do soon. I think for the money it'd be better spent put towards a new top. just my .02