New Top Installed Charcoal Gray Canvas

[94Ragtop]

Here are the results of my first top install. I still may mess with it to get it tighter but I want to see if it shrinks or not with the weather changes.

[Euro]

Nice! Nice 530i next to it too. Those are cool cars.

[jeremy]

nice work, but I would have probably not gone with charcoal, it looks like it was a black top that faded IMHO

[94Ragtop]

I wanted to be different, everyone is putting on black or white. It actually has a nice shine to it so it doesn't look faded in person. I'm thinking of either getting the wheels coated med to dark metalic gray or finding some similar gray rims.

[DOHCRagtopguy]

Really nice job! Good looking Cutty.

[jmoore4294]

I think it looks good. Awesome job!! Was it too hard to do?

[mediabandit]

looks great, good job.

 

[Psych0matt]

i should do that soon nice job though!

[GOT2B GM]

Looks sharp man, nice job.

[Crazy K]

nice job!

 

cost? source of top?

[94Ragtop]

Thanks for the compliments.

The canvass tops run more than the vinal. Mine was $600 with the defroster glass. I ordered it from a local interioor shop who told me he would bail me out if I didn't screw it up to badly, like make holes where they don't belong. It would have been $1200.00 installed. Mine is ok, it needs to be a little tighter and could have shifted it back about 3/4" according to the guy I bought the top from. Home depot has the stainless or monel staples and Napa has the adhesives. I was hesitant to pull it to tight because my other top was hard to close when the weather dropped below 60 degrees. I guess the canvas won't shrink as much. It took me all day without interuptions to do it.

 

[Fmr12B]

Nice work!

 

I'm glad my top is in excellent shape and I won't have to do this any time too soon. I'm diggin the cloth over the vinyl! I had cloth on my 240SX convertible and it folded so much better than the vinyl does. White cloth would dirty up way too fast though.

 

 

 

 

 

[jeremy]

I was hesitant to pull it to tight because my other top was hard to close when the weather dropped below 60 degrees.

 

you are not supossed to raise/lower convertible tops when it is that cold outside....

[Dirty Rockstar]

How difficult would you say this was? I am going to get a Canvas top when I get a convertible.

 

..THe convertible I am probably getting is a white one, so I wonder if I should do a white canvas top or a black one. I would go with black, just to make sure it matches everything else that's black on the outside..

 

..Yours looks fantastic. Looks like a shop did it for you, it truly does. Do let us know about contraction/expansion of the fabric when the temperature changes..

 

..And Jeremy, you raise a very valid point..

 

Oh, forgot to ask: How much for just the bare top? THe glass is still alright on the car I am buying.. Well, I HOPE Ia m buying..

[shyguy164]

I was hesitant to pull it to tight because my other top was hard to close when the weather dropped below 60 degrees.

 

you are not supossed to raise/lower convertible tops when it is that cold outside....

 

60 degrees is not too cold to lower the top. Hell, I've had mine down when it's been 50 outside. You just put a coat on and crank the heat, especially since I was driving on the freeway. Plus, the convertible supplement manual says you're good down to 41 degrees.

[DavidHowell3633]

You saved yourself some serious coinage. Mine was professionally done and I have had to take it back once. Congratulations! That took guts.

[94Ragtop]

To answer euro, It's a 1990 535i auto. Between that and the Cutlass the maintenance keeps me busy. BMW's are high maintenance. I have swapped engines in both cars and also the tranny in the Cutlass. Also I didn't price out the top with out the window but it would probably be $200 to $250 less. You can get the vynal top without the window for under $300. The next choice for me would have been the Black Canvas, It looks realy high class but like all black cars, I'm sure it has to perfect or it will show all defects. I figure with what i saved doing it myself I could allways buy another top and get it right the second time around.To any one who is going to try it just make sure it is positioned right. If it is to far forward the doors will hit at the top of the door and if anything this canvas stretches when wet so put it as tight as you can otherwise it will sag in the rain and collect water. I would encourage anyone on this forum to try it.

[Brian P]

awesome!