Mk 3 Softop wear

Technical Area Body, Interior & Styling
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  1. My model of MX-5 is: __Mk 3
  2. I’m based near: Leek Staffs
  3. I’m looking for technical help or recommendations on: __

As my hood is very rarely up I have used the small covers that fit over the spaces either side of the folded hood. They have been in place for more than a year now but have taken them off to clean and treat the hood.

Unfortunately they have started to wear the hood where the rivets holding the securing clips rub on the hood. There are also signs of wear on other parts of the hood where it is folded over the door area.

I suspect that this problem may differ car by car depending on how each individual hood folds.

I cannot see what can be done to stop this wear though I have put some tape over the rivets in the hope that it will help.

Am just sending this as a heads up to others who use these covers.

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Thanks for sharing :slight_smile:

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The hood material will wear quite quickly when it is in constant contact with metal fixings which is why the roof mechanism has material between the roof bows and the actual top. This is exactly the same problem as happened on the nd where the roof material rubs on the roll bar and will eventually wear through the rubber interlayer resulting in leaks. The only solution is to provide flaps of the outer hood material over the fixings, but this should have been part of the side tonneau fixings and shows a lack of understanding of hood design. Whilst there will still be some wear the material to material contact will reduce the effect considerably.

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I think the best solution is to remove them, personally not having some sort of cover on the mark 3 was a bonus.