Roof Fit

[TKing]

What’s your experience with the soft top installed and driving at 65 – 70 mph?

I had both the old vinyl style and the newer cloth. The cloth fit much better (tighter less air leakage), but I still had a problem at the front corners where the roof met the windshield and side window. The flap which overhangs the side window caught a lot of air. At speed the flap would pull outward and open a gap at the window corner and cause even more drag and acted like an air scoop (air funneled into the car). I was afraid the drag would break something or pull the roof off the car.

I sold my SPF a couple of years ago, but I’m considering another purchase. If I do purchase another, I want to drive occasionally even in cold weather, so I must have a functional roof. I don’t like the hard top. I realize the old design has limitations and I’m not expecting to stay dry when it rains, but I don’t want to loose a top while driving or worry about breaking a windshield because the extra drag caused by the roof.

Maybe I had a poor fitting roof or the roof shaped changed over the SPF build years and putting a new style roof on an old model wasn’t a good idea. I did measure from the top tip of the windshield to the door corner and it was the correct length.

What are your experiences?

Thanks,
Tom