keeping top open

I close it every time the car is put away for the night.

 

I close it every time I park. Avoids creases.

 

I agree, closing will keep its form, like a good suit coat on a hanger.

 

On my 355, I kept it mostly open, only closed to wash it....or if I knew I was not driving for at least a couple week or more (rare). Had the car for 10 years. No creases, no damage or problems.

 

Im told its better to keep it open, then close and open the top to many times.It should not cause any creases since its cloth like material.The 360 and 430 have a very complicated top mechanism so the less its used the longer i would think it will last.Thats just my opinion.

 

There is one school of thought that closing it prevents creases. Another school of thought is that less wear on the capote system is good because the cost to repair is very high, these leave it open more. A 3rd group, like me, think it is a car and I want to use it so I don't worry about the small stuff. I close it occasionally but it could be open for weeks on end (I store in a garage).

You should close it and leave it closed occasionally. If you don't, the cloth appears to shrink a little and the top has a difficult time closing.

Don't sweat the small stuff and drive the car. Have fun. When it wears out, a new top isn't that expensive and they last a long time.

 

Not a thread hijack (apologies if it appears to be), but can the top be left in the midway position to do maintenance (like cleaning and putting fresh lithium grease on the hinges)? Say for an hour or two?

 

You can run it part way but it will slowly drop as the hydraulics lose pressure. I would use the manual process to service the top. I know it will drop but keep in mind that I am not an expert on this so I am just saying what I would do to service.

 

I was told keep the top closed (up) when you park for more then a few days, but you should put the down sometimes to keep the mechanicals working, I was told leaks can start from non use....

 

+1

 

+1

Enjoy man. If it will break; it will probably break no matter what

 

This is what I do, let's say I use the car on Friday and I am planning to use the car again over the weekend and the weather is nice, I would leave the top down the whole weekend and close it when I am not going to use the car again until the next weekend.
That way I am not excessively opening and closing and wearing down the mechanism unnecessarily. Basically common sense.
The canvas will take more than weeks or even months to be permanently creased , but it is always a good idea to stretch it.
Now check the rear window is folding "outwards" (towards the rear of the car)while the top is going down, sometimes the straps on the sides of the window get weak and the window center fold "inwards" (towards the front of the car,), and by doing this you will badly crease your rear plastic window, you can tell if this is happening if you see two squared indentations on the plastic. (Don't ask me how I know),
I had to careful use a blow dryer to remove the creases, but it look pretty bad when it happened.
The straps are more than 10 years old so if you notice the window is folding incorrectly just push it a little bit while it is folding and it will fold the right way, and then with the engine's heat it will "remember" how to fold properly.

This is the right way to fold in
http://youtu.be/gKluaJ8Cj24

 

I'm told it can be if stopped pointing straight up.

 

Can you elaborate on the manual process? Do you mean it can be opened or closed by hand?

 

I recently needed to access the closed area or the area that is normally not exposed except when the top is folding to replace the outer windscreen. I kept the double humped panel using a water jug on a piece of carpet in the center and rested the jug on the glass. After my maintenance I had my wife hold the panel up until the hydraulics plucked it from her hands. I was worried that the top would be out of phase and collide with each other. It worked great, no collisions.

 

Thanks Keith. Did you turn the ignition off or the battery cut-off as well? I saw the utube video of the guy changing the fuel pump on a spider and he used a piece of broom handle to keep it up. But he turned off the battery power and I hate doing that. Takes too long to get the drive cycle back on track. There are a lot of hinges that needs newer grease since its more than 10 years old (preventative maintenance)

 

I leave my top down all the time unless I get my car washed. I see some normal crease in two spots but nothing that is ugly. It takes longer time for a Ferrari's top to close/open considering it is a soft top. I do not drive with top up so it works for me.