CLK Operator

I am thinking of picking up an 02 SL500 silver arrow and have a question about the roof. Can two people easily put the hard top in place? Also, Is it better just to leave the hard top off and and drove around with the soft top in place if you only drive it in the summer?

SLCL

The regular hardtop weights around 75 lbs, the pano hardtop weights around 100 lbs. Two adults should be able to handle the top.

The soft top can be left all year long. A garage would help the soft top if you leave it out all year long. Soft top replacement is expensive.

I have the hard top on most of the time though. I only lower my soft top around 3 times a year.

MBZ16V

I haven't installed my hardtop in 6 years. Although, I live in CA, we have sunny days, where we can use the car with the top down, and my wife would rather use it with the top down.

The only down side is not being able to park the car unless it is in a secured location. I've seen some R129s where they took a knife or blade to the soft top to get inside.

davewmi01

You can mount a harness and hand winch to a garage wall & ceiling to remove and install a hardtop with only one person.

nilop

My 13 year old son and i can take it off together. It's not overly heavy but its very bulky and the last thing you want to do is scratch the car when you're taking it off.

More importantly, i just had to replace my soft top and the shop said that the worst thing you can do for the soft top is to use the hard top. When you use the hard top in cold months, the rear plastic window, which is plastic, hardens in the cold and since its already bent when its in the down position, it wears away the seams and the plastic window much more rapidly. As a result, the sticthing will start popping sooner and you'll have permanant creases in the window itself making it harder to look out of. His suggestion is to never use the hard top. Thinking he was off his rocker, i called a couple of other places and they all said the same thing so my hard top will likely stay where it is, in storage.

CLK Operator

I have one more question. Did all R129 SLs come with the hard top from the factory or was it an option? Reason I ask is because I see some for sale without one others have it.

Floobydust

The cold is not the issue as long as your raise/lower the roof when the temperature is warm. Creasing of the rear quarter windows with long term use of the hard top (or having the soft down for a long period of time), however, regardless of the temperature, is an issue as this does set a crease/crinkle in the plastic window. I replaced the soft top (myself) about three years ago due to this issue.

I put the hard top on for the long, nasty New England winters (during which I do not drive the car) and have figured out how to avoid the creasing problem. I cut a piece of an old bed sheet big enough to cover the rear windows. As I lower the top to prepare for hard top installation, I position the sheet so that it is folded between the plastic, thus preventing plastic-plastic contact and therefore preventing deformation of the rear quarter windows while the hard top is in place.

As for options, I believe that they all came with a hard top - the only option was pano or regular. Over time, I think they tend to get separated from their respective cars.