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I have a 2002 Toyota Solara convertible. The top was replaced about 7 years ago, but now the (relatively) new top has come unglued from the entire bottom of the rear window.

Unglued soft top

So research online has shown me that this is supposed to be a relatively easy fix with some Windo-Weld and suction cup clamps, so I have that stuff on order. But in the meantime I did some recon, and I'm seeing a bit of a problem.

The issue is that the part of the top that's supposed to overlap the bottom of the window ... it doesn't. In fact, it barely reaches the bottom of the glass. With a tremendous amount of pulling I can get it about halfway up where it was glued before, but that's the best I can do.

Nobody I can see online showing how to do this kind of job seems to have this issue. They all can reach the top's canvas to where it needs to be glued onto the window with no problem.

I tried unlatching the top and lifting it up a bit hoping that would release some tension, but that doesn't seem to help any (if anything makes it worse). So I'm wondering if anyone knows how to solve this issue (or can point me to someone who does).

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  • Presuming the fabric is somewhat flexible, perhaps a heat gun can help warm the fabric into stretching enough to allow adhesive bonding with clamps? Secrets are everywhere and helps businesses stay in business by not giving away trade secrets.
    – F Dryer
    Commented Sep 21 at 14:08
  • @FDryer - I don't own a heat gun (but probably ought to. I have some other things that could use it, like a fender dent). Pulling it out into the sun might help a bit too...
    – T.E.D.
    Commented Sep 21 at 14:17
  • Sadly, I don't think there's anywhere I could get the back side of a clamp, but I saw someone online holding them together with lots of duct tape, and my experimentation tells me that might work. I'd probably have to keep the fabric warm for a while though.
    – T.E.D.
    Commented Sep 21 at 14:26

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I did eventually work this out for myself.

The problem I was having was that when up, the fabric was way too taut, but when you put the top down, the window itself gets mechanically lowered down first. At about 40 degrees (held in place by putting a putter between the top and the top of the windshield) it was enough lower than the back of the car that the fabric on the bottom of the window was still too taut. Any further than that, and the bottom of the back window becomes unreachable.

So I tried a bit in-between. I could get more like a 15 degree opening by instead bracing the putter on the center console. That happened to allow the fabric to reach with no tension. So yeah, if you have this problem, you're likely looking for a very small angle. Enough that the edge of the window is a wee bit lower than when fully up, but not enough that its actually below the level of the back of the car.

As for the rest (superfluous to the question asked, but I think interesting), I'd bought some of those special car window suction cup clamps to help hold the edge of the fabric down to the window edge while the glue dried, but they didn't work very well. The act of tightening them down also pulls the cups right off the glass.

Weak window suction clamps

What did seem effective enough was just using a sturdy masking tape, or (when I ran out) a weak duct tape to tape it down to the window. I'd already masked the top edge of the fabric and the window past the edge where I was running the glue.

2 days later, clean up the excess silicone off the window with a razor blade, and I appear to have a working watertight seal there. The thickness of the joint was a little uneven. That's something I'm sure a pro would know how to avoid, but I'm unlikely to ever get that level of experience with this, and you really have to be looking for it to see it.

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