Rip in the soft top, any quick fix?

[forrestjordan]

One of my soft tops has a rip created by the lock post in the back when the rear bow dropped down because I had not made sure it was locked in to the more forward bows when I was putting down the top.  :evil:  It is only a small rip but on both sides of the bar.  It is not the bow where a chrome strip might go but the next one forward.  A whole new top is not something I really want to buy now, does anyone know of a quick fix or is there some colored canvas patch tape that is made like patch tape used for quick fix on sails for sailboats :?:   All the liquid sunshine here in sunny Florida is not so good for the inside of the car.

[BaronYoungman]

I have in the past glued a patch where a hole was.  I went to Jo-Ann Fabric and got heavy duty canvas(they have some different colors) and fabric glue. It was on a Allante and I matched the pattern fairly well.  When or if you go this route make sure that you only put glue in the middle and then work the glue to the edges as you are pressing it down (It is best if you can press between the inside and outside at the same time).  For if you get too much glue it is very hard to get the off if it gets onto the top material.  This repair lasted me one entire Chicago winter and the only downside was that it faded faster than the top so after 3 months I had to put some black fabric dye on it to get it back to black from a sun bleached dark grey.  Let me know if you need the name of the fabric glue and I will try to find the bottle.

Bob

[Douglas]

Forrest, you should buy Tom Collit's $99 top in the For Sale section here. (It's even the right color for you.)

[forrestjordan]

Douglas, thanks for the idea on the one for sale.  It won't work, that one would be good for the '69 which is blue, but this is the '70 that is ripped.  It is light Beige with Dark Brown soft top and Tobacco Brown hard top.
 

[forrestjordan]

Baron, That might work for me.  I will check Jo-Ann Fabric this weekend to see what kind of colors, etc. that they have.  (Are they on our site's vendors list (sic.)?  I would have rather bought the whole top for $99.like douglas suggested, but it is the wrong color.

[scoot]

quote:Originally posted by BaronYoungman

I have in the past glued a patch where a hole was.  I went to Jo-Ann Fabric and got heavy duty canvas(they have some different colors) and fabric glue.

Do you glue the canvas patch to the exterior or the interior or both?  I have a couple of small holes that I would like to patch...  It seems like the outside would look good if I did the patching on the inside...

[BaronYoungman]

It is going to depend on the rip.  My first sugestion would be to glue it on the inside but keep in mind this will add extra material and depending on where it is you could rip off the patch each time it retracts due to it hitting the top mechanism.  On the Allante this was my problem... so I had to put a paper thin piece on the inside and the canvas patch on the outside.  It looked ok from 5 feet for the top was black and the material was very similar.

Bob

quote:Originally posted by scoot

quote:Originally posted by BaronYoungman

I have in the past glued a patch where a hole was.  I went to Jo-Ann Fabric and got heavy duty canvas(they have some different colors) and fabric glue.

Do you glue the canvas patch to the exterior or the interior or both?  I have a couple of small holes that I would like to patch...  It seems like the outside would look good if I did the patching on the inside...

[forrestjordan]

Does anybody know where to get some canvas that is dark brown that I can use to patch the rip I have?  I checked at Jo-Ann Fabrics and they don't have any color that matches in canvas.

[bogeyman]

Forrest:

[bogeyman]

Forrest
 Why don't you call GAHH or World Upholstery or Cabrio,de - they will send samples of materials for tops - might be all you need?

[forrestjordan]

Thank you, I will give them a try.