hi I have a 1992 eunos I would like to fit a new soft top, please can anyone give me an unbiased opinion as to which
company does the best quality mohair top, I intend to fit it myself so ease of fitment and good instructions is a consideration
thanks
simon
Jack Smith Trimmers do free fitting I think but they are in Swansea ?? area,.
Few will have much experience beyond a single make. Generally, a Mazda “mohair” hood will be best respect to fitment and quality, but it will cost. My experience is with BAS vinyl hoods, with plastic window. Overall, the construction is similar quality to OE Mazda. The window is vygon, which is softer than original, but more prone to scratching.
Another thumbs up for BAS - mine’s a mohair but with glass/HRW screen. Supplied & fitted my mx5parts - it looks superb and fits really well. I can’t comment on how easy it was to fit, but it looks and feels top quality.
Steve
MX5parts will also fit that for free.
I’m sure that the MX5Parts fitted hood, particularly if it is a BAS product would be the best solution but it is £628.78 and involves getting the car to them in Portsmouth for fitting. Is the MX5parts hood BAS? - I cannot see that in the description and in their position definitely worth bragging about.
How much is a fitted black mohair hood at Jack smith’s? No complaints about their service and I seem to remember £350 mentioned. That seems too cheap though.
I can confirm that the hood that is offered with free fitting by MX5parts is a BAS International hood. Yes, involves getting a car to Porstmouth, but that might be more or as convenient as South Wales. Free fitting does not include a replacement rainrail or new wires. Fitting is also M-F only. Some of the videos posted by “pros” fitting a hood seem pretty brutal.
The only example of the Jack Smith hoods is from some years back, and all of them seemed to have fraying seams, particularly I observed, around the plastic window. I’m not sure how the glass window in bonded. Perhaps fixed now. Mazda had issues on early Mk2s with the window seal coming apart. Later, SFT had enornmous problems getting the tooling right to enable TrimTec to fit the glass properly. Certainly when Robbins first introduced “Mohair” (Sunfast), as I recall, around 2000, the common complaint was that the stitching on the panels failed. Vinyl hoods are generally welded. Vinyl hoods don’t shrink, so in appearance, appear to last longer, but car has to be taken with the seams, and invitably, because these are a multilayer material (the “canvas” is bonded to a rubber layer, with just rots), eventually they get to a point where holes appear. So its swings and roundabouts.
Having just paid a £1700 bill for welding on a 25 year old MX5, and £1000 on a 14 year old Jag, £600 seems like chump change at the moment.
List price of a Mazda vinyl hood was about £500, but that was a good 10 years ago. Fit though was top notch.
thanks for all your replies I think I will get in touch with bas and hopefully all will be good
simon
I can fully recommend Jack Smiths for price and service.Raymond is nice guy, good job, reasonable price (around 300 pounds ??, not sure, but top quality mohair with glass window
I’d gained the impression that a major reason for the competitive pricing
of the Jack Smith hoods is that they’re cut, made, and fitted there, on the premises of the long established,
low overheads, small motor trimmer business that Jack Smiths is.
Rather than being produced on mass, then travelling through various middlemen, with each stage
doing their add ons, until finally the punter… “Phew…, how much…?”.
Mazmania did mine, very pleased with it