Convertible Roof tear

[Mister Zag]

I noticed mine last fall. Had it checked out and the warranty approved, but told them I wanted to wait for spring to do the installation. Spring is here and apparently they forgot to order the top. Now I'm waiting again. Oh well. I do think I'm going to switch to the moonlight black top though. I kind of always regretted not getting it. That must be the silver lining (pun intended). Has anyone asked to keep their original top? I figure it couldn't hurt to have it stashed away in case something awful were to happen, post warranty, and I wanted to be a cheap ass. I figure that since they forgot about me, I have some negotiating power, maybe.

[singular]

Originally Posted by Mister Zag

I noticed mine last fall. Had it checked out and the warranty approved, but told them I wanted to wait for spring to do the installation. Spring is here and apparently they forgot to order the top. Now I'm waiting again. Oh well. I do think I'm going to switch to the moonlight black top though. I kind of always regretted not getting it. That must be the silver lining (pun intended). Has anyone asked to keep their original top? I figure it couldn't hurt to have it stashed away in case something awful were to happen, post warranty, and I wanted to be a cheap ass. I figure that since they forgot about me, I have some negotiating power, maybe.

Your wait will not be over. Once installed, they recommend that you don't open it up for about two weeks. That's a tough thing to do when the weather is nice.

You want to keep a top that has holes in it and was used after being installed incorrectly? Doesn't seem worth it to me.

BTW - I bet Moonlight will look great on an SGM.

[Xios135]

Mine is going in Friday for this. In addition to the hole that's developing, the threads right below it are coming undone.

[perth_vert]

Just inquiring if everyone got a new roof changed under warranty? My recently purchased 2008 120 convertible has 11 months warranty remaining and a hole will form in time as it is thin in this same part of the roof section.

[JimD]

I got two new tops under warranty. I had to insist that they do the tsb but they did and the second new top shows no signs of wear. Mine never progressed to holes, just heavy wear in a small area.

[slim_e90]

My top was replaced under warranty for this exact wear/hole in the same spot.

It's been replaced 3 more times since because the defroster didn't work... Finally fixed now I think.

[Xios135]

Originally Posted by slim_e90

My top was replaced under warranty for this exact wear/hole in the same spot.

It's been replaced 3 more times since because the defroster didn't work... Finally fixed now I think.

FINALLY!!!! Somebody else with the defroster issue. I had mine replaced once for the hole and FOUR times for the defroster.

[Steve_in_NH]

I had the same issue on my 08 128i vert. BMWReplaced the top no questions asked. There is a service bulletin out on this for early vert's. take it to your dealer and bring several printouts from this forum showing lots of guys have had replacements done for free. Search for posts regarding wear spots on roofs. PM me for photos of my top and I'll try to find replacement invoice.

[pj.rodriguez]

Thanks all for this thread and your posts. I am new to BMW cars and I just bought a used 128i vert. I don't know if I'm just seeing things or not but I think I may be experiencing this same wear spot. Also, if I run the VIN through a dealership, will they be able to tell me if the roof was replaced?

[lammyman]

My roof was hit by some sort of road debris while driving to work yesterday. The result, 2 slices and a small hole.

I took it to BMW of Reading. They claim to rarely if ever replace convertible tops and would have to research a shop to outsource to.

I called Daniels BMW in Allentown, and they basically said the same thing. They had a guy they wouldn't recommend.

Has anyone had a roof replaced at a dealer in s.e. pa? If so which dealership?

And does the rear window automatically get replaced with the top? I have 2 lines that work and would like to fix at the same time.

Any advice would be appreciated.

[perth_vert]

Originally Posted by lammyman

My roof was hit by some sort of road debris while driving to work yesterday. The result, 2 slices and a small hole.

I took it to BMW of Reading. They claim to rarely if ever replace convertible tops and would have to research a shop to outsource to.

I called Daniels BMW in Allentown, and they basically said the same thing. They had a guy they wouldn't recommend.

Has anyone had a roof replaced at a dealer in s.e. pa? If so which dealership?

And does the rear window automatically get replaced with the top? I have 2 lines that work and would like to fix at the same time.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi BMW certainly do replace the hood - many members on here with pre 2009 models that had the wear marks replacing the whole roof under warranty. Mine is being ordered from Germany at the moment for replacement in the next few weeks.

Someone will confirm but I'm sure the whole roof includes the glass rear window.

So yours should be replaced hopefully under insurance.

[slim_e90]

Originally Posted by lammyman

My roof was hit by some sort of road debris while driving to work yesterday. The result, 2 slices and a small hole.

I took it to BMW of Reading. They claim to rarely if ever replace convertible tops and would have to research a shop to outsource to.

I called Daniels BMW in Allentown, and they basically said the same thing. They had a guy they wouldn't recommend.

Has anyone had a roof replaced at a dealer in s.e. pa? If so which dealership?

And does the rear window automatically get replaced with the top? I have 2 lines that work and would like to fix at the same time.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Yes, the rear window is part of the soft top roof and will be replaced with the top.

If you are under warranty or even CPo you should complain about the defroster. They would have to replace your top.

Also, yes BMW dealers do this job.

[Pavel B]

Hi all!

Guys I'm having the same problem with my roof!!! It's on passenger site in exact same place as everyone else's.
I've been to BMW garage but they told me that is wear and tear issue and that canvas roof is not under BMW warranty!
Can you please send me any emails you had from your BMW garage or any info what to do as they told me to pay £1500 to change my roof!!!!

Pavel

[atldave2]

To all who have suffered this problem, my sympathies. I know your pain.

I bought my 135 used with several months of the original warranty still remaining. I had the car serviced and oil changed shortly after purchase just to establish a benchmark for future services under my ownership.

At the time I purchased the car, I noticed the wear already starting in the same c-pillar location but was told by my service advisor that it was normal wear. If I had known then what I know now, I would have pushed for a new top then. Because there was no hole and the wear was minimal, I let it go.

As it turns out, I ended up with the same c-pillar hole on the drivers side, a heavy wear mark on the passenger side and ultimately, the glass delaminated from the fabric and opened up a long gap. I was initially told by the dealership that the top was no longer covered by any warranty.

I, like many of you was pissed. I scoured the web and found many of you had the same problem. As such, I believed that this had to be a recall type problem. Thanks to one great member (JimD), I found that to be the case. JimD posted the TSB (technical service bulletin - link below) that applies to this problem and part of the fix includes replacing the top. There are numerous TSBs being generated all the time and the fact that so many of us encountered this problem did not in itself require BMW to do a recall.

I took this information to my dealership and my service advisor indicated that he had never heard of it. Again, there are hundreds of these created so its impossible for your advisor to know everything. Nonetheless, they should be better informed how to do the research. Given my service advisors response, I went to the service manager and made the following offer.
I would pay $1000 and they would perform the TSB repair and replace the top. As information, my car was 5 years in service and at 56000 miles when I made this request.

Based upon my consistent patronage of this dealership and my contribution to the repair, they accepted that offer and I now have a brand new dealer installed top. I know $1000 is not cheap but it is way less than it could have been. If you are in a situation where you have to replace the top, I highly recommend you try a similar solution. I'm sure it saved me at least $1000.

Good Luck to all and thanks again to JimD.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showt...ert+Top+repair

[JimD]

If I had a 1 series convertible and didn't know if it had the tsb for the top wear, I would have the dealership check it. I posted it before, you can have the number with you when you ask. The change is a few plastic brackets pop riveted in place. It just helps the top fold properly. Even if my top looked fine, I would get the tsb done (or buy the parts and do it myself).