'07 W209 Convertible top tonneau cover damage
05-06-2016, 04:56 PM
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'07 W209 Convertible top tonneau cover damage
Recently took my 550 CLK vert in for service as the top would not go through its full open sequence (it would stop after the tonneau cover would open but the soft top would not fully release from the front windshield header). The hydraulic pressure was released from the system, and the problem was found by service to be in the front header latch switches. At any rate, the system was fixed and the top works fine now.
The problem is that when I lowered the top after the fix, I noticed that there were two scratches, symmetrically distributed, one on each side, on the front leading edge of the tonneau cover, right where the rear support struts/hinges are to the soft top. New scratches are obviously new and bright, down to the metal.
I took my car back to the shop (a very well respected independent shop run by a former MB dealer service manager who was universally praised in various MB forums) and he was open to trying to find out what could have happened. We checked the top operation (both observing from the outside of the car, and also sitting in the rear seat to see if anything was hitting the front edge of the cover during operation and everything seemed to have cleared, with no scraping nor contact on the leading edge, in either the open and closed positions and everything in between.
The indentations are fairly small, about 1mm X 2mm, but are down to metal and can clearly bee seen when the top is down, right in the area between the tonneau cover and the two hinged "flaps" on either side. During operation of the top, as previously described, they appear to be right where the hinges or support struts are that are attached to the soft top itself.
The service manager says that he is at a loss as to what could have caused these small "dents/scratches". They are brand new as the metal is very shiny, and were not present prior to the top being serviced.
I suspect that when the hydraulic pressure was released, and when the top was manually opened by the service tech, that since the timing of the opening was not controlled by the microswitch sequence that usually occurs when the top is normally opened, that the lack of the precise timed opening sequence allowed the tech to inadvertently scrape the struts supporting the soft top to rub along the front edge of the tonneau cover, severely enough to scrape the paint off of this area.
The service manager said that he did not think this was possible but that he would look into whether or not this is an issue with the soft top on these vehicles (that is, whether this is a known issue that this can occur during regular top operation, although there was plenty of clearance noted when we tried the top after it was fixed).
Is anyone familiar with whether or not this is an issue, or is it known to be an issue in the Mercedes repair instructions to watch for interference between the soft top struts and the tonneau cover when servicing to avoid damaging the cover? Any information regarding this is extremely appreciated. TIA.
The problem is that when I lowered the top after the fix, I noticed that there were two scratches, symmetrically distributed, one on each side, on the front leading edge of the tonneau cover, right where the rear support struts/hinges are to the soft top. New scratches are obviously new and bright, down to the metal.
I took my car back to the shop (a very well respected independent shop run by a former MB dealer service manager who was universally praised in various MB forums) and he was open to trying to find out what could have happened. We checked the top operation (both observing from the outside of the car, and also sitting in the rear seat to see if anything was hitting the front edge of the cover during operation and everything seemed to have cleared, with no scraping nor contact on the leading edge, in either the open and closed positions and everything in between.
The indentations are fairly small, about 1mm X 2mm, but are down to metal and can clearly bee seen when the top is down, right in the area between the tonneau cover and the two hinged "flaps" on either side. During operation of the top, as previously described, they appear to be right where the hinges or support struts are that are attached to the soft top itself.
The service manager says that he is at a loss as to what could have caused these small "dents/scratches". They are brand new as the metal is very shiny, and were not present prior to the top being serviced.
I suspect that when the hydraulic pressure was released, and when the top was manually opened by the service tech, that since the timing of the opening was not controlled by the microswitch sequence that usually occurs when the top is normally opened, that the lack of the precise timed opening sequence allowed the tech to inadvertently scrape the struts supporting the soft top to rub along the front edge of the tonneau cover, severely enough to scrape the paint off of this area.
The service manager said that he did not think this was possible but that he would look into whether or not this is an issue with the soft top on these vehicles (that is, whether this is a known issue that this can occur during regular top operation, although there was plenty of clearance noted when we tried the top after it was fixed).
Is anyone familiar with whether or not this is an issue, or is it known to be an issue in the Mercedes repair instructions to watch for interference between the soft top struts and the tonneau cover when servicing to avoid damaging the cover? Any information regarding this is extremely appreciated. TIA.
05-06-2016, 05:48 PM
#2
MBWorld Fanatic!
This is the first time I recall this issue being raised. You are probably right about it happening during manual lowering. You'd have to manually lower it to see how it happened. I can't exactly picture what you are talking about without a picture.
