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Check your Roadster top, Reads this and do it today!

Started by 76eldo, November 13, 2008, 11:21:44 AM

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76eldo

One of my Cadillacs is a 2000 Eldorado.  The car came with a Roadster top installed on the car.  Some people call these Sim-Con tops, vinyl tops, whatever.  The point is, They are a fabric covering, installed on a fiberglass shell with some simulated ribs molded in to give it a somewhat convertible top roofline.

These tops are all installed the same way, with a row of screws or rivets across the front of the roof, and tons of globs of silicone sealer as a way to glue the rest of the top to the roof.

The other week, I was traveling on the PA turnpike, on a 4 hour trip.  About halfway, doing about 75 mph, the wind got under the front edge of the top, pulled it away from the fasteners, and the entire center section of the roadster top was blown off of the car, ruining the top, and exposing a row of rusted, now oversized holes, where the top was originally riveted to the roof.

The car sounded like a flute with the wind blowing open the holes until I could stop and get some duct tape.  So I pulled up to my appointment with a torn off top, duct tape on the roof of the car, and large dollops of black silicone sealer all over the half exposed roof.  Not a pretty sight.

So.....

If you have a car with a roadster top, periodically check the front edge to make sure that the top is still being held tightly down at the front.

Had the original installer taken the time to prime or paint the holes, or fill them with sealer, this would not have happened.  I will post some photos later of the mess.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado

Dennis DiNorcia

Same thing happened to me with a 1995 Sedan DeVille with the roadster top but this was after coming out of the car wash. Apparently the dryer blowers loosened the top and as I was driving i started to hear a flapping sound on top of the roof. When I pulled over it was too late. The roof was pulled back half way and ripped a portion of the left side over the rear door. no way to salvage it. It had to be removed and replaced.

Dave Shepherd

All good reasons not to put that type top on any car, that has been a problem with sim-cons for years.

76eldo

I bought the car with the top already on it, and once it's had one, you can't go back to paint without a lot of effort.

Now I know what to look for, and how to keep the top tightly fastened.

If I knew this was eminent, I could have simply added a row of screws or rivite across the front, and added a fake tack strip on top.  That's on there now, as well as a different type of adhesive.

We will see.

Brian
Brian Rachlin
Huntingdon Valley, Pa
I prefer email's not PM's rachlin@comcast.net

1960 62 Series Conv with Factory Tri Power
1970 DeVille Conv
1970 Eldo
1970 Caribu (?) "The Cadmino"
1973 Eldorado Conv Pace Car
1976 Eldorado Conv
1980 Eldorado H & E Conv
1993 Allante with Hardtop (X2)
2008 DTS
2012 CTS Coupe
2017 XT
1956 Thunderbird
1966 Olds Toronado