1994 Cabiie

Greetings and please be easy on me... I'm a cabriolet newbie...

My plastic back window is busted out and obviously needs replaced. The rest of the top appears in decent condition. I've heard some windows have zippered portions, but mine being a 1994, I don't believe that's the case.

Question: Has anyone replaced their own convertible top and/or back window or is it just plain better to take it to an upholstery shop? What might a guy expect to pay just to have the window replaced?

Thanks in advance, and now back to read/lurk mode....

hubturn

You do have a zipper but might not be able to see it. There are various opinions on this repair. A guy on ebay sells (if still in business) a "universal" zippered window, made for your car. It works, but is difficult to install. Further, the results can vary based on how good a job you do installing it. The gotcha on this is that none of us have developed a good procedure to seal the window back to the top. What you don't yet know is that there is a bead of rubber like material that has a braided copper wire running through it. During install that wire is attached to a voltage and melts the rubber (or whatever it is) and seals the plastic window to the cloth top. There is a special frame that puts pressure on the window and top during this process to compress the two together while it seals. This tool is suppossedly available to the dealer on a loan basis from Audi. I have never seen one. If I were to do it over, I would take out the bad window, take it to a shop and have them PRECISELY sew the old zipper to a new piece of window plastic. There are cuts in the old window edge to aid in alignment. If you want a perfect job, a new top may be the only way to go but that is going to cost you. My next attempt on the seal will be this summer with a construction grade glue gun and some long clamps.

1994 Cabiie

Thank you so much for your detailed reply. A few weeks ago, when I was able to crawl into the car and look, I didn't see any zipper component on this window. I have seen them for sale however on the internet, but am a bit reluctant to order one until I can see just how this one was put in. It's too cold and snowy to mess with it now, but it's pretty near the top of my list of things to do with this car once it warms up a spell. The place where I found this replacement window is emiata.com . I've seen a couple videos on youtube, but nothing that detailed. I'll continue searching and once again, thank you for your reply!!

hubturn

That's the guy and his shop is about 10 miles from me. I went there and he has a roll of window material and a pattern for about every conv top window. He stitches the universal zipper to the window material, cuts it and mails it to you. Having seen it done, this is why I say use your old zipper if it is not torn and have somebody stitch it to new window material. I'm not trying to hurt his business but it is a difficult install with the universal zipper. When you have the chance, get in the back seat and look closely at the window and you will see the zipper. On the outside you will have to separate the top from the plastic using something like a butter knife and pry the two apart being careful not to damage the top. You will have to peel off the rubbery stuff. You will probably not have a zipper pull on the inside as the pull is designed to run off the cut end of the zipper during the original install. When summer rolls around send me a PM and I'll send images from the Bentleys manual of the top components involved. Don't waste a dime on any of the suppossed window rejuvinator fluids/waxes. They don't work.

1994 Cabiie

I can't try any of those repair polishes and such, there's hardly any window there! While walking the halls at ebay, I also found this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130771360278...84.m1438.l2649

Loudgoldwing

I can't wait to not hear about your success with this, should you choose to do it.

Seriously... Pleae just buy the $269 top from ebay seller "diamondmall". It's a good top, not that hard to install, and you won't be wasting your money because you don't need a special tool to install it.

1994 Cabiie

Have you installed one of these tops? Any reviews of the installation process?

hubturn

It looks like they added a channel that fits over the edge of the fabric top where we have difficulty gluing the top to the window. I'm seriously considering this. It might not be totally waterproof, but one heck of a lot better that what I've got going.

1994 Cabiie

I've emailed the German seller on ebay regarding the replacement window, asking if he would have his instructions in English. So far, no response.

Mike Atkisson

How long are you planning to keep the car? If you are planning to keep it for a long time then a brand new top would be a good investment.

I have already invested more than my car is worth, so when the rear window seams all popped and the window fell out, I made the decision to pull the top myself and had a local shop sew in a new window. He also re-stitched all the seams that he had access too.

Of course a few weeks later I found a Black top at a local yard so I will be pulling the Blue top with newly sewn in plastic window to swap on the black top. This top had the window replaced previously and there was no zipper, so the plastic is sewn directly to the top.

I paid $140 to have the window sewn to the top. On the '96 Cabby I sold, the old window was too cloudy to see through so I managed to unzip it. I had the same shop sew new plastic to the zipper and I think I paid $80. When zipping the new window in, the seams holding the zipper to the top started to pop. Now the car has a clear window, but it is seperating from the top.