Top up, Top Down Debate

[MakSmack]

What's better:

1) Always putting the top back up when you're done with it, meaning added work and wear for the electric motor. However, the top is in it's in closed and properly stretched position.

2) Leaving the top down, folded up and wrinkled for possibly days on end. However, you're using the motor less, meaning extended motor life.

Also, is it hard on the top to be crunched up in the trunk? Do you think that's what eventually causes the wear marks and tears in the top?

[StickMon]

I doubt leaving it down would cause any long term creasing, as long as it's dry.
I can't leave mine down because I'm in semi-desert.
Car's in the sun all the time and it's always dusty.
Where I work is downwind of a horse arena.
I used to leave the T-tops off my MR2 for weeks at a time. It was so dirty inside it could have grown grass.

[Vanne]

Originally Posted by StickMon

It was so dirty inside it could have grown grass.

Lol!! that's AWESOME :-D

[NewZee]

I leave my top down for days (or weeks) at a time, I never store it down when wet, and I admit I keep the car in a garage with the door closed so blowing dirt, or rain is not an issue. my car is a 2008 with original top and it still looks brand new, no damage from wrinkles or creases that don't disappear a few hours after putting the top back up. My top motor has never given me trouble.

at the end of the day the answer depends on if you have secure, undercover parking?

[MakSmack]

Yes, I park mine in the garage as well.

I notice on my top that there seem to be some wear marks. I'm guessing they are caused by any rubbing that takes place during the up and down travel of the top.

[waltern]

This was gleaned from my nephew who is a BMW Service Tech. He has replace a bunch of the electric motors that power the top on Z4's.

He says that the up/down doesn't wear out the motor. They almost always have to be replaced because of water getting in and burning them out. Apparently, there are drain holes in the floor that allow the water that runs down the side of the conv top to drain out. If they get clogged, or get overwhelmed by too much water, the motor will be submersed.

Net/net: Park your car in the garage and if you hear any water sloshing around. Check the drains. Instructions here - http://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63033

[SD ///M4]

I had an S2000 for 13 years and I bought it new. In San Diego, the top was down most of the time and I never put the top up in the garage when I got home.

After about 8 years the top developed tears and holes along the crease marks and for 2 years I patched it with black duct tape, which only lasts so long and leaves behind a very gummy, sticky, residue but it's better than holes in the top in the winter when we get rain.

At it's 10 year anniversary I had a new top installed. The auto upholstery shop that put on the new top told me that you should always leave a convertible top up when you're not driving it because a convertible top is designed to stretch over the frame. If you leave it down for a long time it tends to shrink and then when you put it up it it has to stretch out even more and it can tear and get holes in it.

So I always put the top up in my Z4 M Roadster when it's in the garage or in the sun.

[elerner61]

The top on my '07 (I bought it in 2011) has permanent marks on it that do seem to be from being stored down. I used to keep the top down at night (home garage) but as of two years ago I put it up at the top of the day. It seems that doing this has kept the permanent/crease marks from getting worse.

[omglukewtf]

My top doesn't seem to work...

[DEG]

What SD Z4MR said. A person with knowledge in convertible tops told me the same thing.

[Huz-Z]

I'll leave the top down overnight in my garage, but when I park the car outside, like at work or when parked somewhere else, I'll always put the top up. That avoids the sun beating down on the leather during the day, dust and dirt, bird poop and the occasional idiot who might toss a cigarette butt or some other garbage inside.

And if the car won't be used for a few days, the top goes up too.

[psygnosis]

The top on my car is down from October to May when I have the hardtop on it. I have't noticed any kind of excessive wear that I would attribute to being stored for months on end.

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by psygnosis

The top on my car is down from October to May when I have the hardtop on it. I haven't noticed any kind of excessive wear that I would attribute to being stored for months on end.

The previous owner of my car (Ron888 on this forum) lived in the Bay Area and had a hardtop on the car, although I'm not sure how long he left it on, whether it was just in the winter, year-round, or what. He bought the car new from a dealer in 2007 (2006 model) and owned it for five years. I have faint white marks where the folds in the top are and I can only assume that it is/was some kind of mildew. It's possible that the top was put down and the hardtop put on while it was still wet. I've tried scrubbing it with a brush and convertible top cleaner and it hasn't come out. I'm thinking of maybe having the top died. Also, the area forward of the trunk where the hardtop contacts the body had to be buffed out because it left a ring around the back edge of the cockpit.

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by Huz-Z

I'll leave the top down overnight in my garage, but when I park the car outside, like at work or when parked somewhere else, I'll always put the top up. That avoids the sun beating down on the leather during the day, dust and dirt, bird poop and the occasional idiot who might toss a cigarette butt or some other garbage inside.

I made a quick stop at the grocery store one evening so I left the top down. While I was in the store for no more than 10 minutes some douchebag walked by and tossed a small takeout container of tzatski sauce from a fast food place on the passenger seat. It opened and splashed all over the seat, console, dash, and carpet. #whywecanthavenicethings

Two years owning this car and 13 years owning an S2000 before this and that's the only time something like that has ever happened.

When I had my S2000 I used to leave the top down whenever I parked in a parking structure because it was protected from the sun. That's until I heard about someone with a convertible who parked in a parking structure and one of the overhead water pipes burst and flooded his car.