[demoe]

My car is currently at the dealer for a roof malfunction....

I was wondering, those of you who have a Spyder, when your roof is closing, does the roof slam down on the front windsheild area? ...I noticed from the time I got the car, I would have to put my hand on the downswing of the roof and catch it on its downswing or else it would come crashing down and make a loud impact/noise hitting the latch area above the windsheild......
I even noticed some of the frame had broke since it had occurred when in the hands of the prior owner....

 

[MVP]

My top would come down very smooth. I was showing a friend of mine the car and the top really seemed to interest him. He had me take it up and down at least 4 times. The mechanics of my Spyder were rather impressive if it helps my car was an 02.

 

[thebimbo]

No, my Spyder didn't sit, sleep or run.

 

[MikeA]

Yes, my top slams down pretty hard. I have started using my hand to stop it as well. The windshield around the mating hole in the driver's side of the windshield is pretty banged up, and slightly cracked, as a result. The dealer didn't think it necessary to repair, but I wonder....
I also have had problems with my roof not wanting to open. The rear of the roof (the part with the rear window) raises, then there is a hydraulic noise, but the rear deck doesn't rise. I can then close the top, but can't open it further. The dealer replaced the j-hook (not sure which one, or if there are more than one...), but once or twice a year it still happens. I open and close the top a lot in the warm weather, which is 8 months or so a year around here. I have found that by fiddling with the manual open/close procedure I can get the top working again, but it's a bit of a pain. Still, as I often say, no worse than my previous XK8 which had a similar problem, and that was a Ford!
Still, love this car. Next steps are to upgrade the airfilter and lower it.
Next track day - 1/2/06 at Laguna Seca!!!!
Mike

 

[demoe]

Mike A

that is EXACTLY what occured to my car and is why my car is in the shop now. I too have the damage to the mating hole.

I was stopped on level ground in the middle of summer on a windless day, the rear window came up, stopped there, the lid would not open and the whole assembly was stuck in the middle of the process.....I didn't realize it was stuck and continued to hold the Roof Button, the roof then got caught on my passenger side roll bar-hoop, damaged the leather on the side of the rollbar, snapped off a piece of metal on the right side, the roof was slanted to the right and stuck against the roll bar.

I am hoping it is just an issue of replacing the J-hook, (something snapped).......

but the whole roof slamming hard enough to crack the mating hole area does not sit with me well.....there are times I have been distracted and the assembly slams which could not be good for the car....there has to be something programed which slows down the closure when it gets to the angle right before it meets the mating hole.

thanks for those who have replied so far....I wonder if it is just Mike A and I....

 

[haha]

No problem on mine. It slows down right before it gets to the frame.

 

[Steeldream]

No slamming or damage on mine, but it's in the shop while they try to figure out why it won't close.

I'd noticed that on occasion it would "hang" about 1/3 way through the opening process, usually it was enough to hit the "close" switch then resume opening.

Last week the spouse had the car out with #2 son and the top completely froze - they had to go throught the manual close and latch procedure.

Unfortunately whatever's wrong doesn't give the dealer any codes to diagnose so they're going through trial and error to come up with a fix.

LOVE Italian cars!

 

[demoe]

wow, this really sounds like a Northern California problem...out of the 3 issues we all appear to live in the Bay Area...

Steeldream and Mike A, you guys seem to have been on the lucky side of this issue....mine was a total disaster

 

[Steeldream]

You guys with the slamming roof problems have 03 or later models it looks like. You've got the glass rear window. My 02 has the plastic. Wonder if that's part of the problem?

On the plus side FMSV should be getting plenty of experience in sorting roof problems!

 

[MikeA]

Like Steeldream says - at least our dealer should get pretty good at figuring out how to fix these tops (I am still using FOSF, but may change to FOSV - sort of depends on who can get me a new F430 in a couple of years to replace my maser)
Oops - just read Steeldream's other post. I guess I'll stay with FOSF for the time being, since I bought my car new there. That way I may avoid the 'debris in the mechanism' malarkey.
Mike