The current service bulletin from Mazda involves stripping out all the trim then moving the entire cross member forward by 2mm with spacing washers. Not a particularly good solution in my opinion, especially if it compromises the stiffness of the roll bars. I will probably just take care to fold the hood from outside. I have, over a fairly bumpy run, established that the hood doesn’t come too far forward once its been fully stowed. I’ll also leave my tell-tale foam strips in place for now.
There is a world of difference in design between saying don’t use a CD to lever the top off a tin of paint and foreseeable use or even misuse of a product. The heart of good design encompasses many things and in this case it is part of the DNA of the product that you would expect to put the roof down from inside the car, it was considered a selling point for the MK3 and would certainly not have been something on the design brief to make the occupants get out of the car to lower the hood. If the design is asking you to do something counter intuitive then problems are going to occur regardless of what a manual says. You would not expect to have to leave the car to raise the roof regardless of instruction manuals.
If this essential that the hood is stowed in such a way then the only option would be to fit sensors and switched to force the roof to be lowered in this way. As it stands I expect Mazda will be replacing a lot of roofs under warranty until they find a solution.
My roof definitely rubs against the hoops, and needs an additional push down towards the rear once it is in the down position in order to give the front part a few mm of space between the hoop - this can be done from within the car though.
I have no intention of getting out of the car to put down the hood, and will be looking for a claim under warranty if the roof gets damaged - realistically there is no way mazda can “prove” I have been opening it “incorrectly” since the hood will rub a little even if opened from the outside, until I give the rear part of the roof an additional push down once the roof is already clicked in.
To clarify, I have not managed to get the roof down withouth the rubbing, even if I do it as per the instruction book from the outside. the additional few mms can be had by pushing the rear part of the roof down ONCE it is already clicked into place (at least in my case)
I’ve got no intention of raising or lowering the hood From WITHIN the car. I never do.
I also open both doors before raising the hood so that no damage can occur to the seals. Regardless of whether the windows are dropped a bit automatically or not.
Stickler I might be, but it’s the way to look after hoods long term.
Chacun a son gout.
Yep, different strokes for different folks. Doing the majority of my driving through London traffic, so I treat the roof like a window or a sunroof - something that I put down if I want some air and the weather is OK. Therefore the ability to do it from inside the car, as well as on the move, are my two key criteria - it has literally brightened up the commute to/from work on numerous occasions already.
Agree that your method will take better care of the hood long term! My policy - if it breaks I will fix it
As the weather was dry I decided to remove the hoop trim and take a look. The front half should just pull off but its not easy in chilly weather. My tip is to use two old credit card. Insert them between the halves of the trim then put a lever or screwdriver between the two cards. The front half will then lever forward hopefully popping the plastic tongues out without damage. The rear ( shiny ) half is held by a single screw and two tabs at the base.
Its easy to see why Mazda are advising that the entire cross beam is spaced forward because it controls the boot side trim panel which in turn determines where the root of the shiny trim sits. There are some slight tweaks which give about a millimetre of extra clearance. The boot side trim panel interferes with the base of the roll hoop and it can be reshaped with a knife to match the circumference of the roll hoop. Its only an indirect help though. The tabs at the base of the shiny trim can also be cut back a little so that its free to move forward and downward. The rectangular hole that the tab nearest the offending rib fits into can also be relieved on its forward edge.
It remains to be seen whether the above is enough for a permanent solution.
But by you each to their own, will mean that there are thousands that do do this. It is not unreasonable for people to do this and therefore it is also very foreseeable that this will be not just common, but the majority operation of the hood.
Sounds like Mazda tested the car with short people who didn’t push the seat right back (something I absolutely have to do on any MX5).
That’s exactly the same way as I’ve been doing from the start.
Tres bien mon brave
I have had my MX5 for 3 weeks now and I also have the rubbing on the hoops and more worryingly the roof is showing wear because of it.
I have been to the dealers and neither of us could close the roof from outside the car, as of the manual, with out the roof touching the hoops.
They have taken pictures and sent them to Mazda and are awaiting a reply.
Their technical guy thinks it will mean a new roof
Looking at the worldwide posts on this it seems obvious that Mazda has made a bit of a cork-up here, otherwise they would not be replacing so many roofs, roll bar covers and packing out parts with washers.
I imagine that it’s only new car teething problems but is a bit poor, a minor redesign to the hoops and we can forget all this rubbish about getting out of the car to open and close the roof, why make it light and balanced if you have to get out, PAH!
Hope you all saw the FIAT launch today where “the roof was raised and lowered from the drivers seat” OMG!
The Fiata hoops look to be a very slightly different shape in the a-b picture in the TG article, slimmer and not so tall. But, also the pictures of the two cars are not quite the same size, check the alignment of the wheels and hubs…
http://www.topgear.com/car-news/first-look/meet-fiats-124-spider-italys-mx-5-based-answer-mx-5
Forget the roof and roll hoops, that’s a nice looking car. I’d buy that over the ND any day of the week. The front end looks so much better than the ND. No idea what the performance is like but on looks alone it’s a winner for me.
The overlay is very nice but cannot be used as a guide to sizes and difference in design, I am sure Mazda already has a simple fix in the pipeline, it just goes to show how exhaustive the test phase must have been though
You must be kidding! The front looks like its off a 4x4, it’s 2015 not 1915!
No, actually I’m not. Sorry, I don’t share your view. The front of the ND looks like it was going to be nice and sleek then someone took a cutter to it and sliced it off. Now it looks like the front of most of the Mazda range. Nice and corporate.
Not sure there were many 4x4’s in 1915…
Pardon me, shouldn’t this be posted in the “Fiat Derivative” thread?
I picked up my UK Mk4 Sept 2015. My son pointed out in the last couple of weeks that the roof was rubbing on the hoops and has worn the material away. The dealership have been really good, taken the car to investigate, gave me a replacement for the morning while they did it and have passed the details on to warranty. I’ll let you know how I get on. In my case the roof is not locking down properly; the rear of the roof on lock down is proud of the bodywork forcing the roof forward against the hoops. The new models in the showroom locked down flat with plenty of clearance from the hoops. I have also noticed that my roof is much more resistant to movement than the new ones on the showroom so its possible this is some sort of degradation over time as I am sure mine was like that when it was new 6 months ago.
It doesn’t affect the fantastic performance and ride though . How I’m averaging 40mpg I’ll never know
As a new Mk4 owner the rubbing hoops issue was only drawn to my attention by ‘Roadie’ and I read about it some more here. Having checked my MX-5 it is clear that mine is also affected by this issue. In fact where the roof has been rubbing on the back of the hoops it has marked the high gloss black paint. On further investigation into do find that if I open the roof carefully whilst standing outside the car, it is possible to open it and to position the roof in such a way as it does not rub the hoops. Raising it can still be done from inside the car without it rubbing.
I’m in the process of raising it with the main dealer for a fix.
In the meantime,…I aim to keep enjoying the top down fun!,