Call up a local interior shop and have them give you a quote to replace. Do not do the work yourself.

 

:agreed:

 

Message LogicGate, he replaced his own top but I warn you that it is not for the faint of heart.

 

Very true. It can take you up to 2 days even 3 and need 2 people to remove the unit out of the car. I can guide you through the process. AABest is the company I got mine through. They sell them on Ebay when they are overstock. They use real stayfast material which is what we have in our canvas. It takes patience and MORE patience.

 

I stress the reasons you want to have it done professionally is merely because of the amount of work involved and chances of screwing up and damaging a new top or having leaks.

THe amount of effort it will take to get it right is better off just paying upfront to have it done right where its warrantied. Otherwise, you will find yourself paying then to take it off and re-install or repair whatever you don't do right which will take longer and probably cost more.

Just do it right the first time, thats all I ask.

 

It is quite simple, if you have more than 3 days to work on this and have the out most patience, then why not do it your self. Tearstone knows I'm a full blown stubborn DIY and so far I've been blessed with good results. But you can not do this yourself by your self. You need to get the unit out of the car and that thing is pretty heavy. Also there is a bar that goes from one side to the other that holds the canvas to the metal of the car. It is super tight in place by one screw on each side. To take that bar out, you need patience and some ingenuity because otherwise you will damage your side rear mirrors(scrashing them with the bar, by accident) and the odds of that are pretty high.

Remove everything out:

Stripped unit sitting on the table with the bar hanging from it:

5 hours later, after removing and putting staples over and over again to make sure it was aligned (the center of the mirror) and that the canvas stretched into a smooth even surface with no winkles(which was one hell of a task to do). I installed and removed the unit more than 10 times to make sure the mirror was in the center and there was no rinkles.

I'm not trying to scare you but just to show you a "little" of what is to come if you decide to DIY

 

It can be done by anyone as long as you have enough patience to do it. :dunno:

 

:runaway:

 

Things like this are why I'm glad I have a hard top. If I was in this situation, I'd be paying out of my butt to have someone do this professionally.

 

This is exactly why I did not get a Spyder. So mad props to the Spyder guys that run this risk :bowdown:

 

your all :nuts: :hspin:

 

if only mitsubishi would have been smart enough to come out with a hard top convertible. no slashing the top and you could still ride with the top laid back. but yeah if i had a spyder i would deffinetly do it myself. alot more pride in your car when you do it yourself and you save alot more money.

 

..or you screw up the top and are out another $300... Personally, I do all the work on my car (minus tranny) and I take pride in it. But I SUCK BALLS at sewing and would not try to do that on my own top for the 1st time. Plus, it probably takes a heavy duty sewing machine which I doubt most people have now a days.

 

I thought someone was selling one on here a few weeks ago.......

 

I'll try just about anything on my car. There are only 2 things.. brakes and the convertible top replacement.

:idea:

If I do both, and the brakes fail to stop me, maybe the top will come loose and give me the parachute effect!

Leave it to the pros. If you are on the highway, and something goes wrong, you can kill yourself and the person behind you.

 

Noticed one on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ecli...op-and-window_W0QQitemZ170102863943QQihZ007QQcategoryZ33652QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

Thats the one I have

 

Same one here!

BTW, won't the Spyder's stock alarm go off if the alarm is set and someone rips the top and unlocks it manually from the inside? If so, then I'd have to say the Spyder's owner got owned and not the Spyder.

 

I never said anything about anyone opening the doors... The just cut the top and left.

Anyway. Im getting my top off AABest. I talked to the guy the other day. I also found a good shop in a nearby city. :elvis:

 

Nope, the alarm is only there for the doors opening. If someone cuts the top and unlatches the top, it won't go off. It won't move either unless they get into the trunk and disengage the motor.

 

:agreed: No sensors or wires anywhere but in the motors on both sides of the unit.

 

So the only way to steal stuff without the alarm being triggered is to not open the doors?

I've never heard of anyone making off with a stereo without opening the doors... I'm sure it has happened but for your "typical" thief I think they would end up opening a door to get beter access to the goodies.

 

:agreed: isn't that funny!, but the bars from the canvas would make it close to impossible to get into the car still, but will give you access to press the button to open the doors

 

Ohhhh, so opening the doors from the inside while the alarm is on will not set of the alarm?? I thought it still went off unless the alarm had been disarmed by the FOB. Thats good info to know! I guess its ime to look into an aftermarket alarm now...

 

Actually, and I speak of this from experience, if you lock the car with remote or in my case, since my remote is missing, if you lock it with the button and then try to open the car by pulling the manual lock itself, the alarm WILL go off. Btw, and not trying to steal the thread or go OT, but without a remote, how do you shut the alarm off? I ended up having to wait till it timed out and shut itself off!

 

IIRC, stick your key in the door and unlock it and it'll shut off

 

Mikolan: Thats how I thought it worked.... Seemed odd to me that unlocking and opening the door manually wouldn't set off the alarm. I was gonna say tat would be one crappy design flaw! A box cutter would be all you needed to gut someone's Spyder. Thx.

 

Ohhhh! So it was just vandalism? No theft?