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Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

i was thinking of doing that too, is there any leakage after u did it

Thats straight up ballin.

thanks for the great idea!

Just try and get it a little tighter next time

How did you remove the rear window?

At least, that's what I SHOULD have done. I laid a piece of vinyl over the window and used a sharpie to mark where the lower edge was. Then, I cut along the line and glued the new vinyl to the old window. In order for this glue to make a good set you have to be sure and use sandpaper to rough up both the old and new vinyl. I let the glue dry, then measured and sharpie-ed around the rest of the window and cut it out. I then removed the old window using an exacto-knife, leaving about half an inch of vinyl all the way around. THIS WAS A MISTAKE! It turns out that the stock window is very tight and is pulling all the fabric together! When I removed the old window suddenly the new piece I cut out wasn't big enough anymore. I had to use the velcro along the top in order to make it long enough to reach. This is why it ended up bunching up so badly along the sides.

What I SHOULD have done:
1. Leave old window in place.
2. Lay new vinyl over old window.
3. Sharpie the TOP of the new window to the old window and glue the TOP first (There's an overlapping piece of canvas that makes it hard to do the top last)
4. Let top glue dry.
5. Glue sides, making sure to leave enough new vinyl on the side to have something to pull on to leave no excess. It would help to have someone on the inside of the car to push outwards as you are pushing inwards to make sure the glue touches.
6. Glue the bottom, again making sure to glue new vinyl to old vinyl and leave enough excess on the bottom to give your fingers something to grip onto and pull tight.
7. Let all glue dry.
8. Cut off excess new vinyl.
9. From inside, CAREFULLY cut out old vinyl, making sure not to cut the new vinyl OR to cut off the old vinyl that the new vinyl is glued to.

At least, that's the procedure I THINK would work, given the mistakes I made.

At any rate, the new window is still a thousand times better than the old one, and after letting the glue cure overnight (like the bottle said) I was able to lower and raise the top without anything coming undone.

NO LEAKS!

I've also had the top up and down a couple times and all the glue and velcro is still holding.

So, The Inflicted, the way you did it, you are gluing the inside of the new vinyl w/ the outside of the old vinyl - that means if someone were to look closer @ your car, they would see some of the old nasty vinyl from the outside correct?

Just trying to see if there is a way to do this w/ the minimal amount of old window visible.

Yes, but only along the bottom, since the canvas overlaps the plastic on the top and sides.
Also, a neat side-effect of this glue is that it actually tends to restore the old vinyl a bit- I guess because it partially dissolves the upper layer and fills in the pores. At any rate, the sections of old vinyl that are visible don't look as bad as the old vinyl before the glue went on.

Not that care- I'm just happy I don't have to say the Lord's Prayer every time I back out of my parking spot!

I'm not 100% sure, but based on what I've read the only way to get a new factory window into the factory top is to have a professional sew it in.

Now, I have read stories of people replacing the entire top themselves, but it's a major project and not something I'm ambitious enough to attempt.

If you're just going to do the middle portion don't sacrifice a rare factory window to do it- Wal-Mart's thickest vinyl wil be good enough.

Also, make sure you're using a glue that is specifically approved for vinyl. A lot of super glues and epoxies will melt right through it, or not make a good bond.
I used Loctite's brand.

One other thing I would reccomend to make your window last longer and look clearer is using Plexus spray every couple weeks. I notice a big difference in clarity after using this stuff. They sell this at most paintball stores.

Quote, originally posted by -RJ- »

i was just going to cut off the middle part of the window and glue the new window on with nail glue... or whatever that stuff is called. its not gonna be the best looking thing but my top is almost always down anyways

Its a pain in the arse! I guess the toughest part is that you have to staple the curtain (the peice you were talking about) to one of the convertible bars and have it tight enough to make the rear window wrinkle free. and also when your stapling its hard to keep the actual fabric wrinkle free. IMO well worth it to shell out the $250 and get it done professionally.