Just curious if anyone has any theories about why the glass falls out of so many vert tops? Or better yet, if there are any Chevy employees out there who might have inside info, can they share it with us? I haven't had the problem yet but I've seen enough posts that I'm wondering if this is one of those "not if, but when" problems that I can expect. If there are any preventive measures that can be taken I'd like to do so. Would excessive exposure to the sun cause the glue to fail over time? Maybe it's just crappy engineering? Anyways these are the types of questions that pop into my head while I'm washing my car and pondering the fate of the world.

 

My glass fell out. I tried to glue it, which worked OK, but in the end decided to get a new top.

It's a known design flaw, just like the wear points that develop from the glass rubbing against the top when you shut the door. The good news is my replacement top from Zip Products addressed all of those problems.

I looked at three or four C5 convertibles all of them had a rub where the top right corner of the driver's glass was contacting the top when the door open or closed. So many of them had the rear glass partially separated (including the '00 that I bought) that I thought it was the way the top was supposed to be! These weren't abused cars, either. All of them were '99 or '00 models with less than 40k miles.

Will your car develop this problem? There is no way to know. I wouldn't worry about it. Just replace the top when needed. If it happens then you will have plenty of time to fix the problem. You will slowly see the glass separate beginning at the top. It probably won't even leak...mine didn't, even after almost half the glass had separated!

Make sure you DO NOT use a new, old stock top, otherwise, it will have the same flaws. Use a new, quality replacement top and you'll be fine.

Keeping the car under a car port or in a garage when not in use would probably help. It probably wouldn't hurt to go easy on the top when putting it up or down. Otherwise, there really isn't anything you can do to prevent the problem. Personally, I think an adhesive that has to support that much weight for that long will probably fail anyway...heat or no heat.

Just be aware that this is an issue. If you see it happening, then immediately glue it back. That should buy you enough time to save up for a replacement and find a good shop to do it.

Here's a photo of the rear window in the new top. Check out the stitching...

 

71vetteinva, thanks for the response and the advice. I do keep mine garaged so it's only exposed to excessive sun on the days I take it to work. Your new top looks great,that entire stitched area is a pocket for the window to glue into, correct? Quite an improvement over the original.

 

I was about to ask the same question.........................:thumbs :

 

Yes, I believe so. It seems far more secure than the original top! The outside stitching seems to continue on the other side of the top. Either that or a separate third row of stitching has been added from the inside. I was very nervous when I went to pick it up, since I never saw the top before it was installed. I just assumed it was going to be like the factory top with all of its inherent problems. Boy was I wrong! In my opinion, Zip should start advertising all of the improvements!

 

good info for us vert owners thanks

 

Your top is cloth and dries over time. The drying causes the top to shrink and pull away from the glass at the weakest point, which is the adhesive. You can slow this shrinking down with proper cleaning and treatment of your top with conditioners such as Ragtopps. HTH

 

Fixed mine last week with Rhino Glue so far so good, but I have beening looking at every vett top I see and I see many poor fixes.

 

I often wondered if this was aheat load problem. It would be interesting to know if any white top verts have had the glass separate.

 

Mine is a white top and no sign of seperation yet and it's an '02.

 

Mine is a 00 white top & no problem yet !!

 

SHRINKAGE!!!

Interesting....I can see the logic here. The glass heating up probably doesn't help either. I do use Ragtop cleaner/conditioner on mine and so far, so good. If mine ever fails I think I'll be going with the Zip version. Thanks for all the responses.

 

Mine either keeping my fingers crossed

 

I"m separating also in my 00 Vert. Talked to a couple of upholstery/top shops in Maryland and they all immediately said that the top 'CAN'T' be repaired/fixed/glued, etc. A new top must be purchased - consider the source. They also said that the window is lamented at the factory at an insanely high temperature and consequently a top/upholstery shop cannot do any repair the window. The life expectancy is approximately seven to eight years according to these shops

Will insurance cover this?

VETSTYL

 

Another tighty whitey 02 here!

 

Sox Fan, I don't think you have as much to worry about with your '03 Vert. The '01s and up had the better weather strip and a 5 layer vert top rather than the '98-'00 3 layer top. I've had friends loose their backlite, but not any on an '01-'04 vert. 2002 pewter/black vert here, bought new with no top problems to date. (Where did I leave that piece of wood!)

 

The glass in my '98 (made in '97) separated just last week.

The RhinoGlue worked great! I used it to seal the whole perimeter, not just the separated area. Time will tell if it holds, only been 150 miles of mostly highway speed, but it passed a hose test.