08VRZ06

Mark

holdin5aces

There otta be a law. I can't believe how many apparently prosperous folks (need to be to buy the car) seem so naive to the danger involved with this activity. GM made it that way to protect you and you just won't let them do it.

cclive

I have to disagree with you here....I don't believe that there is anything wrong with moving the top up or down when I am on a crowded freeway in Los Angeles and am moving along at a walking pace. I am smart enough not to do it when I'm going 80, which is the reason that GM interlocked it with the car's computer. There are convertibles out there (BMW I think) that specifically allow the top to be moved at some slow speed but while the car is moving. It isn't rocket science, but there must be some kind of interlock to make sure that a driver doesn't accidentally push a dash button and have the top deploy at high speed.

VettedCandidate

Ya know the fact that they are prosperous doesn't necessarily mean they are not naive.

VettedCandidate

But I will probably never do that just to protect the top's frame.

cclive

Also, my philosophy is that, in general, there should be fewer laws....

obxchartercaptain

Gimme a BREAK.....Obvisously, you never owned a convertible. There are MANY times you can use a feature like this. I done this myself many times throughtout my automobile driving life. And, I started driving LEGALLY in 1959 and owned 5 convertibles. We ALREADY have to many stupid "don't hurt yourself" laws. Speaking of laws.... there should have been a law against me marrying my 2nd wife....

VettedCandidate

Yeah, after all, look at all of the coupes that had tops that flew off while moving!

06 C6 vert

Nah, that is the roof ejector button they pushed while moving...

It gets the targa off extra quick

TBD

Why would one feel the need to raise/lower the top whilst moving?

The weather and/or your whim can't change that fast.

Perhaps some self control should be employed...




Peace, out.

Never Say Never

Vet

On my wife's Mustang GT convertible I was able to modify the parking brake / convertible top switch so that I can get the top to go up or down with just a very slight raise of the parking brake lever, not enough to even engage the brake itself.

When you put a lot of miles on convertibles you learn that you can't be raising and lowering the roof every five minutes on a day when you have fairly frequent very brief passing showers. What you do instead is keep the top down, even if the sky turns gray or there is a brief light rain... usually it'll pass and you can keep on going undisturbed. A little light passing shower will not hurt anything, might even feel good.

But, there will be times when the rain may start to become heavy and you might be stuck creeping along in traffic at 5 mph (in a place where you cannot pull off the road)... this is where it can be handy to be able to raise the top while moving slowly.

You might think it would be just as easy to stop dead in a lane, lock your parking brake and make everyone behind you wait while you fiddle with the top... sounds good in theory but when you're out there, things seem different... at least in NY ... nobody wants to wait for anything. It doesn't seem like a good idea to lock a parking brake while in a highway lane anyway... is that even legal? Somehow, in that situation, you're better off raising the top while moving at 5 or 10 mph... at such slow speeds no strain or damage will occur.

Of course if you're moving along too fast while raising the top you may do serious damage... so don't move too fast... simple. If you feel you have no concept of what "too fast" is or feel you cannot exercise enough care and/or discipline to be able to raise the top at a slow safe speed, then don't try it at all.

Now for us C6 coupe owners, putting the top "up" (on) is a bit more tricky. Pretty much requires pulling off the road and stepping out of the car etc. I love my coupe but this is the one thing that can be a little annoying. You do need to put the top on in advance when things start to look menacing.... either that or you better make sure you're traveling on a road where you can pull off easily, quickly and safety so you can get that roof on fast if the sky opens up.

On a humid summer day when you have the occasional passing shower, dealing with the coupe roof can be a general headache and you may wind up just keeping the top on all day... and that's no fun. The vert boys have us coupe owners beat in this regard as they can get their tops on much easier and faster, and even in traffic, in the end they can spend more time "top-down" without fear of getting drenched by a sudden heavy shower.

cclive

...Simple situation where no rain is involved: You are on the Interstate 10 at the beach in Santa Monica Ca, its 74 degrees at the beach and you are enjoying the top down. As you head inland, the temperature rises rapidly and in five miles, it is 90. When you get near downtown Los Angeles, the traffic gets thick and you are now moving at 10 MPH and the temp is 95 degrees. You pull the parking brake up one click, put the top up and hit the A/C...its back to 74 in the car.
Now if you want to tough it out and not put the top up, or go through the ordeal of getting off the freeway, finding a place to stop, and then put up the top and then figure out how to get back on the freeway....more power to you. For me, I'm going to do it at 10 mph on the freeway, be done with it, and get a few admiring looks from the poor slobs that aren't lucky enough to be driving a shiny C6 convertible. But thats just me.....

Knob Jockey

If you are smart enough to buy a C6, isn't it assumed you're smart enough to perform this maneuver only when it's safe for you, others, and your power convertible top.

Now this obviously doesn't apply to the members of the my-top-blew-off-my-coupe club. If I have to take flack from some coupe owner for performing this dance in my Vert, my previously noted sympathies to their plights are hereby withdrawn.

GM could have made this action impossible. Their easily circumvented approach at restricting this is merely a disclaimer of sorts.

Now that I know how, and thanks for the info , I will add this feature to the list of other great attributes that my C6 has.

madmxnj

I've been doing the slow roll up/down on the power top ever since I figured it out last year. Yeah the DIC will beep at you because you are moving with the ebrake on, but as long as your slow rolling there isn't an issue. I live on a mountain where its too cold in the morning to drop it when I leave, but halfway through my commute its perfect weather. I used to always worry 'is there going to be enought time at the light to drop it?'. Then I thought of the slow roll, 1 click ebrake and tried it in a parking lot. Now I start dropping the top as I roll up to the red light and no worries. I do the reverse coming home too.

John Mclain

K@@L,

Is there any way that the one piece top can be taken off or put back on while a Coupe is in motion?

Is anyone making a type of passenger side running board that could slide out at slow speed?

This way your passenger could open the door, get out, stand on the board, and replace or remove the top while rolling along.

VettedCandidate

I can understand why you don't mind it raining in a Mustang.

I'd never let it rain on my interior (even a little) because you never know how much it is going to rain once it starts. I've never had a need to do this while moving to prevent it. If it looks rainy, I just keep the top up.

In the end, I guess my traffic patterns just aren't the same here in Iowa that I feel the need to do this while moving.

holdin5aces

Currently, there is a triple black 1959 Corvette in my garage. It sits next to a Monterey Red/Cashmere/Black 2006 C6 Convertible with 3Lt which means the power top. So two of my current three rides are indeed convertibles.

There are no appropriate times to be putting the power top up or down except when stationary. None that a reasonable person concerned about the safety of others would adopt. But this thread puts me at risk for the sake of another's convenience.

I started driving legally in 1963 and count 9 convertibles in my past. The one that got away. The ultimate everyday man's vert. A 1959 Cadillac Model 62. Ka-bling ka-bling. You could have sublet the back seat to a family of four and not known they were there.

We might have too many self protective laws, but we have so few with the innate ability to self police themselves that they become necessary. Consider the number of horrific accidents in the last year or so with people texting and driving. How dumb is that? Risk your life and the lives of others to send a worthless message. So yes, there needs to be laws to protect me from you when you won't.

As for the law against marrying your second wife, the case is made that there was one at all. So you obviously did not learn from the first. So yes, I guess there should have been a law to keep you from continually making poor choices and expecting a different result.

Choices like putting a convertible top down on the run.

cclive

You need to be sure to stay away from that convertible BMW then, because they allow this very dangerous activity from the factory....on purpose...oh no!

Spinner_89

2006 Audi 2.0 will also allow it, up to 15mph. The only problems with it is that if for some reason you happen to exceed 15mph, the roof just stops working and remains at full mast until you slow down again. Good in theory however having it 1/2 way and stopped is not. It is quite possible to be stopped at a red light for ~18 seconds but to be in parked for a full ~18 seconds is another story... bump for the slow roll !