Anyone with experience on rag tops (Convertibles)? (Page 2/2) blackrams APR 11, 12:37 PM quote Originally posted by 82-T/A [At Work]: Yeah, I hope it didn't come off like I was insulting you. I had to ask the same questions when I owned my Solstice. I went to Solsticeforum.com or Solsticeforums.com, whichever the real one was. The bottom line for me was that the top is fabric... and it does wear. There are "touchless" car washes, which are good. But the ones with the beater bar (with the rubber fingers) can wear away at the top. Paint has a clearcoat, though the Solstices paint is actually quite thin (unfortunately)... but that's why it was only a ~$21,000 car when new! But as the convertible top wears, it loses it's ability to be repellent, and this can exacerbate that wear. It won't destroy your top if you do it now and then, but if you're looking to do it every weekend, you're going to have problems. When you say "pressure washer" ... are you talking about a 2400 PSI pressure washer or the pressure gun at one of those wash bays? As for the creasing... yeah... you really do not want to leave the top down or longer than a day or two. This will be a problem, and it will absolutely shorten the life of your convertible top... like, extensively. When it's in the down and compressed position, you are basically folding the cover over. It's not a natural fiber, but a plastic, and eventually it will start to stay that way. Then when you do put it back up, it's significantly more stress on the fabric, and more likely to split. If at all possible, you should be putting the top up every time you park it in the garage for the night. Like you, I drove the car with the top down everywhere I went... all the time. Even when I would drive to work, which was only a few miles away. But you'll want to put it up when the car is not in use. EDIT: Think of the top like you would tires. It's OK to make the top come up and down lots of times... but it's bad to let it stay down. It would be like if you had a classic car sitting in the garage. If the car is driven regularly, the tires will last. If you let the tires go FLAT... the tires will eventually remain that way permanently. You can fill them up again, but they will never be the same (this is like keeping the top down in the trunk). Alternately, you can keep the roof raised when not in use where it can remain stretched and crease-free (as if you had a classic car with most of the weight of the tires on stands). Todd, I wasn't insulted, I view what you said as good advice. And, I'm not rejecting it as bad advice, I simply don't want to have to put the top up and then take it down and store every time I go to drive it. I accept that it's not good for the top but, as I said, that's my kid's problem. I get in and go. Rams