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  • mith612

    Nov. 8, 2010 8:31 p.m. mith612 Reader

    So my new to me 1991 Miata came with a matching Snugtop hardtop that has, until this week, sat unused in a cellar for the better part of three years. When I put it on the car, all seemed well other than the driver's window seal, which had suffered a bit of dry rot. Passenger's side seal looks and feels brand new.

    If anything, I imagined that the top would leak on my side, but the several days of rain occurring here have proven otherwise. The passenger side window leaks profusely, completely soaking the seat on that side. The window completely misses seating on the seal from just below the back corner to about 4 inches forward. It seals fine elsewhere.

    I had adjusted the window stops down a bit to clear the hardtop (you can see in the pic that the window was way too high originally) so the window is now centered on the seal the way it was with the soft top. I've also adjusted the bolts on the bottom of the door in an attempt to move the top of the window in (moved those bolts outward, is that right?).

    Until I can figure out the issue, I've resorted to leaving the soft top up. Hopefully soon, because snow is impending ...

    hotlinked from reader's rides

  • Woody

    Nov. 8, 2010 9:06 p.m. Woody SuperDork

    I had a Snugtop on my last Miata. It was actually a pretty nice top, although the latches were not nearly as nice as the Mazda ones and the headliner smelled like plastic boat carpet.

    Mine never leaked water, but I noticed that there were fewer air leaks when I adjusted the passenger side window down just a little.

    Snugtop no longer makes them, but they are still in business and make very good fiberglass truck caps. I e-mailed the company with some questions a few years ago and they mailed me a bunch of info on the tops, even though they were NLA. I think they sold the rights and tooling to another company.

  • peter

    Nov. 8, 2010 10:03 p.m. peter New Reader

    I had similar issues with my SnugTop, before I sold it at a loss to someone who wanted a cheap top.

    Honestly, if you're serious about having a nicely sealed Miata, I'd do the same thing. The OE top is miles better.

    That said, I think I solved my problem by peeling away the window gasket from the top, moving it outboard 1/2", and gluing it back in place. The gasket is simply glued into place, or at least mine was. No fancy metal channels or tabs or anything. Mine was actually coming off on its own, maybe some gentle persuasion remove yours.

  • mith612

    Nov. 9, 2010 5:10 p.m. mith612 Reader

    peter wrote:

    That said, I think I solved my problem by peeling away the window gasket from the top, moving it outboard 1/2", and gluing it back in place. The gasket is simply glued into place, or at least mine was. No fancy metal channels or tabs or anything. Mine was actually coming off on its own, maybe some gentle persuasion remove yours.

    I realized it was glued in place, but I thought there was a channel or something there to make sure it was aligned properly. I'll have to give adjusting the seal a try. So it's actually just guesswork whether it was aligned right from the factory?

  • peter

    Nov. 9, 2010 6:03 p.m. peter New Reader

    mith612 wrote: I realized it was glued in place, but I thought there was a channel or something there to make sure it was aligned properly. I'll have to give adjusting the seal a try. So it's actually just guesswork whether it was aligned right from the factory?

    On mine there was no channel, nada, zip. YMMV, but this was in keeping with the design principles of the rest of the top.

    I never actually adjusted the window mechanism on the car, I just learned to roll the windows up only "almost" to the top.

 
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