97 Cabrio roof seam

[wenchris]

The rear seam on my daughters 97 Cabrio is starting to split. Its about a foot long and looks as though it is a glue that they used, no stitching. The backing seems to be some sort of cloth tape maybe heat sealed? Any ideas on a fix before it gets worse and cost's ME more money.
Thanx Jimmy

[busbodger]

Hey, I just replaced my top with one from www.topsonline.com

$300 for the cloth top, less for the vinyl. Took me about 5 nights of 2 hrs a night.

Local upholstery shop quoted a friend $1000 for the same top (unknown brand) for the same kind of car.

My top has a 5 yr warranty and the original lasted 10 yrs. Rear seam above the rear window failed. Top was otherwise in good condition. I tried to glue it but it failed again in 2 days.

[wenchris]

Replaced my daughters with one from cabrioworld took about 8 hrs, all in all she's happy.
Jimmy

[wlr]

Were there any "gotchas" as far as installing the new top? Are any special tools needed ?