This video is gold to me! New top coming early spring and mine (14yrs old) is ripped in all the typical places and this will help a ton in maintaining my new one👍🏻 Thanks!
The top is being pulled back by elastic straps. Only when those straps lose their elasticity does the softop material begin to get stressed by having to do the straps jobs. Replace those straps as a maintenance item and you will extend the life of your top. There are other flaws that cause premature failure of the top as well but ensuring your elastic straps are not worn out is the absolute best thing you can do for your top. Assisting it with your hands is a band-aid for the real issue.
F1_DNA my elastic straps are perfect, the top on this car is rather new. Even with new straps the top will still snap back like that and not be a smooth motion. I've seen it act the same on all s2000s
That doesn't mean it is an issue. What I am telling you is that the straps are doing their job and snapping it back is perfectly fine. As long as your straps are good, it's a non issue. Now, if you want to take it further, you could ensure that all of the parts of the frame that come in contact with the top are free of burs, add some padding, etc and it will prolong the life of the top even more. Eventually, they will all fail. That is the nature of a soft top. But, just because you don't think that is how it should work, doesn't mean it is an issue. Have you ever replaced the soft top in an s2000?
F1_DNA you don’t have to worry about any of that with a hardtop but I like the convenience of being able to put the top down.. too bad nothing lasts forever.. those bands pricey?
Although a top’s material has is mostly likely within it’s elastic limits I’m sure overtime, the fatigue stress will yield in rips. I think this video points out well the stresses acting on the top when in operation
According to the guy who put mine in, the tears come from rubbing on the frame when it is down. When you lower the top, put it down all the way and then put it back up just a touch so there are no contact points.
Just bought an s2k this summer. I thought it was bucking like that because of the old elastic but then i replaced the elastic and couldn’t figure out how to stop it from doing this. Thanks!
yeah definitely, you're the first one I've seen addressing this issue specifically. I only see people saying to push that one bar down, but with the straps, they do it for you
Helder Nunes do you mean the straps that is on the robins top? I dont think my robins top squishes in the way the guy that instructed to push the bar does
It's because your elastic straps are no functioning correctly. Replace them for some Velcro ones that you can adjust the tension on, and it will negate the need to do this. Cost about £3 off eBay.
I bought mine new in 2002 and have always done this and my top is still perfect. It doesn’t hurt that it has always been garaged and only has 7000 miles on it....
I will start doing this on my fairly new robins top on my ap2. There is another video about moving the bar when you are putting the top down but i didnt understand that video at all cause i dont think my top does what that guy says
(1) Get a top cleaner (303 tonneau cleaner, raggtop or renovo) and a brush (2) wet the top (3) spray + brush and foam it up (4) rinse it off (5) air cannon and/or a big drying towel to dry it most of the way (6) once dry use a spray protectant from the same companies I named to protect it from moisture and UV
I'm thinking of solving this buy removing the motors and just making it manual up and down with my hands. Saves like 10 pounds and not snapping of anything if I do it myself carefully. I'm used to doing it in my miata and I miss oding it myself lol
They literally make an insert for your hand in the roof to guide it open and closed... if Honda had no intention of any assistance in raising or lowering the roof I don’t know why they would put a slot for your hand in the roof, it doesn’t make sense.
Good tip but I've only seen AP2 roofs that tear in those areas due to the rough arm beneath the roof. Not sure why Honda did it that way on the AP2's but you won't see that issue on AP1's like ours. I do need to replace my straps as they're worn out now. Also need to do new strikers for more tension on the roof when closed, eliminating wind noise almost completely.
***** Oh okay, I've only seen AP2 roofs tear in the same spot. Apparently the arm/bar on an AP2 has a rough edge that over time tears the vinyl of your roof.
@@zakash613 Yeah I realised later on that the tears happen around that area regardless of AP1 or 2. Best you can do is reinforce your roof in those spots from the inside with a piece of similar vinyl. Stick it on there.
What about the other direction, when the top is closing back up? I often feel it takes a good tug when the top part you're talking about falls down and tenses up.
yes the front section of the soft top does flop down from its own weight when putting it up, however it's not nearly putting the amount of stress on it vs taking it down
Off topic as hell but do you know if the PF01 17x8+50 requires a fender modification? I’m dropped an inch. If so I’m gonna get the square set up like yours so I don’t have to worry about my fenders. My liners already have a hole burned in em from ap2v1 wheels.
I am on 17x9 +60 square now with a 255. If you put a 255 on the 17x8 + 50 it will stick out further than the 17x9 +60 because of the bulge being on an undersized rim. I recently sold my 17x8 + 50 wheels for this reason. If you put no wider than like a 225 or 235 on it you’ll be able to be inside the oem fender because there will be no bulge
NAUS ok awesome thanks for the response, I know this was a pretty random video to leave this comment on so I thank you. Just curious how much lowered from factory are you? Trying to get my set up close to yours as possible lol
Probably have a little over 5k in the car, supercharger itself I bought used so that saved a lot, I did all the work myself, only had Honda rebuild the internals on my transmission
+NAUS Hey What up man? How is the S2K, I really wouldn't mind owning one, but my budget can afford an ap1. Do you know of things to look for before purchasing the vehicle?
Check for TCT rattle at ldle, oil level of car your looking at (to see if owner kept up on it), and how smooth the transmission is. I would of course get one that is all original as well. I picked mine up 100% OEM never messed with
Is the NSX better than S2K? And I know guys, what is "better?" It's relative, right? But I mean like what's the horsepower difference, how much lighter is the NSX? Someone break it down for me. I know you motorheads know your numbers.
The s2000 is lighter than the nsx, both are not very fast straight line cars though (excluding the new NSX). The NSX would beat it in a straight line though
