Soft top rear window replacement

[chuckywoody]

Does anyone know of a good vendor for replacement of the soft top plastic window, or am I better off purchasing a whole new soft top?  Thanks

[Charles 230SL]

hello chuckywoody, give Bud's Benz a call and ask for David Latham. Jeff Graham and Brad Shore do upholstery and trim work at Buds - they're the best in the business. Bud's is in Douglasville, about a hour drive from you. vr,,charles  https://www.budsbenz.com/

[Jonny B]

The difficulty is just how do you actually do the replacement. The top will have to come off the car in some manner to allow for the restitching of a new window. I would suspect that would lead to a new top if it was an already installed one.

Will be very curious to learn what you find.

[kampala]

I had this done as a temporary measure on the 280 - I knew I would repaint the car and replace the top but wanted a clear window while doing a rolling restoration. It served it's purpose.
 

The shop that did it, removed the top from the frame and replaced the clear plastic and reinstalled the top - I think I was charged about us$300.   

Two issues to note:  since they removed the top from frame, you can see previous glue in area on the fabric and on the frame.  Also, for whatever reason, they did not sandwich the new clear material between the soft top fabric as originally done - they overlapped it on the inside.  You can only see it if you were looking for it.  I let it all go and did not complain since this was a temporary fix for me - it bothered me, but not worth it since it was temp.

I now have a new top to install once I finish the new interior. 

So it is doable, but be clear (pun intended) if your old top is worth saving and be clear how they will stitch new clear plastic in addition to seeing some glue marks.

[chuckywoody]

Thank you for all the advice - I may end up going for a new top. My top is currently blue but should be black based on my data card. And Charles, I agree Bud's Benz does excellent work.

[114015]

The difficulty is just how do you actually do the replacement. The top will have to come off the car in some manner to allow for the restitching of a new window.

It can be done  - by restiching the new rear window by hand and not by machine.
By this the top does not need to be removed from the frame.
Drawback: most interior shops don't want to do that kind of job.
And thus: expensive.

IMHO only worth if you kept the original 1st softtop. Those Sonnenland materials back in the 1960ies looked different from what we can obtain today.