Convertible Top Cover (Boot)

How many of you actually use that, when making just a short road trip,
say no more than 2 hrs. say to the coast, as we often do, beach
bumming here in N. Calif????

I have used it for a longer (4 1/2 hr.) or our LONG trip to the Grand
Canyon the month after buying our 2000 Miata in June 2000. But I found
it to be such a pain, that it primarily sits in my garage.

In article
>,
Jazz_Azz > wrote:

> How many of you actually use that, when making just a short road trip

I use the boot for any trip longer than 15 minutes. In fact, it's been
on since May 2007, the last time the top was up. The boot does several
useful things:

- Protects the underside of the fabric from UV rot
- Keeps the top clean
- Keeps the top from bouncing around and rattling

I still have the original 1994 top, BTW.

--
Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

Jazz_Azz > wrote:

> How many of you actually use that

Don't even have one. If the top is down the tonneau cover is on.



--
XS11E, Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project:
http://improve-usenet.org

Never use it. My top isn't down all that often, given our Minneapolis
weather and that I don't like hot sun.

miker

Jazz_Azz wrote:
> How many of you actually use that, when making just a short road trip,
> say no more than 2 hrs. say to the coast, as we often do, beach
> bumming here in N. Calif????
>
> I have used it for a longer (4 1/2 hr.) or our LONG trip to the Grand
> Canyon the month after buying our 2000 Miata in June 2000. But I found
> it to be such a pain, that it primarily sits in my garage.

The boot is too much of a PITA for me to deal with it that often. In
fact, I never use one, I would rather replace the top periodically than
put that chunk of vinyl on every time I drop it.

It does irritate me that it took Mazda 16 years to finally make the top
a better design, where the outer side stays up when the top is down so
that dirt and UV rays on the underside are not an issue.

Toyota had the better top design available for the MR2 in 2000, while
Mazda continued with the same poorly designed top that all 1990-2005
Miatas came standard with for another 6 years until the release of the
2006+ model.

The top, both the ragtop and the PRHT, are the only things on the NC
that I consider an improvement over the previous models.

Pat

Jazz_Azz wrote:
> How many of you actually use that, when making just a short road trip,
> say no more than 2 hrs. say to the coast, as we often do, beach
> bumming here in N. Calif????
>
> I have used it for a longer (4 1/2 hr.) or our LONG trip to the Grand
> Canyon the month after buying our 2000 Miata in June 2000. But I found
> it to be such a pain, that it primarily sits in my garage.

My 2006 does not have one, due to the improved design. But on my 1991 which
had the separate boot cover I don't think I ever used it more that 5 times.
Just too big a PITA. But I dutifully hauled it around and kept it protected
and folded properly and passed it on to the new owner after 15 years. I
also passed along the original top (with replacement zip-in window) in
impressively good condition so I doubt that my failure to use the cover
caused it any serious damage.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

"Jazz_Azz" wrote:
> How many of you actually use that, when making just a short
> road trip,
> say no more than 2 hrs. say to the coast, as we often do, beach
> bumming here in N. Calif????
>
> I have used it for a longer (4 1/2 hr.) or our LONG trip to the
> Grand
> Canyon the month after buying our 2000 Miata in June 2000. But
> I found
> it to be such a pain, that it primarily sits in my garage.

For just running around town when I know I'm going to be parking
somewhere I'd rather not leave the top down, no I don't use it.
However, for longer drives, more than an hour or so, it
definitely goes on.

Yes, it's a PITA but it does look nice and cuts down on rattling.

And I think you cursed me - the right latch on my convertible top
is now rattling and not latching properly!

Iva & Vixen
2004 Classic Red
No more winkin' Miata

Jazz_Azz wrote:
> How many of you actually use that, when making just a short road trip,
> say no more than 2 hrs. say to the coast, as we often do, beach
> bumming here in N. Calif????
>
> I have used it for a longer (4 1/2 hr.) or our LONG trip to the Grand
> Canyon the month after buying our 2000 Miata in June 2000. But I found
> it to be such a pain, that it primarily sits in my garage.

As others have said, it's too much of a pain. The rear window on my '96
suddenly turned brown and brittle last winter. Whether using the boot would
have extended its life, I couldn't say. The top otherwise seems to be in
perfect condition. But I do have to decide whether to find someone to
replace just the window or to get a new top. I'm open to advice.

Frank Berger wrote:

> As others have said, it's too much of a pain. The rear window on my '96
> suddenly turned brown and brittle last winter. Whether using the boot would
> have extended its life, I couldn't say. The top otherwise seems to be in
> perfect condition. But I do have to decide whether to find someone to
> replace just the window or to get a new top. I'm open to advice.


If everything else looks good and you are happy with a plastic window, I
would just have a shop sew in a new piece of plastic.

If you want it to look original inside and out, putting a OEM window in
will be pretty expensive since the window part alone is over $150.00
from the factory.
I received a quote of about $200.00 to have it done with standard
plastic window material such as what is used on a boat.

I have seen others here who were able to have it done this way for about
$100.00.
The lowest quote that I could find in the Central Texas area was a
little over $200.00 total, with some quotes going over $400.00.
This was about 5 or 6 years ago.

I ended up putting a 1999 top on the 1996 frame instead, but have seen
the results of just replacing the window on another Miata and I was
pleased with the work done this way.

Pat

xs11e>>Isn't the tonneau cover the same thing that I am talking about???
Sorry to be so late seeing your post. but I haven't used my MSNTV2 box
since yesterday evening, but am now able to see this grp., cause on my
PC Google Grps, which is how I access this grp. has been pretty much
dead since yesterday. So I have to catch up on this entire thread :-).