How to Stretch a 2002 T-Bird soft top - in storage 2 years

[Robert1947]

My 2002 has had its hard top on 2 years. When I removed it and tied to raise the soft top it misses the window landing by 1”. The top has shrunk. How can I loosen the top or do I have to let the sun heat it to stretch it?

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[Bond007]

A good sunny day will do it in no time.

 

[Tonyspad]

My 2002 has had its hard top on 2 years. When I removed it and tied to raise the soft top it misses the window landing by 1”. The top has shrunk. How can I loosen the top or do I have to let the sun heat it to stretch it?

Hello- The best thing to do is open the top as much as possible on a warm and sunny day. Park the car in the sun for 2-3 hours and it should do the trick.

 

[Frankie the Fink]

The above is good advice but it might take a whole day or you can speed things up with VERY judicious use of a hair dryer...
Don't force the top to latch though - it should latch smoothly and without undue effort. If you read the manual there are two "handholds" on each side of the center latch that let you grab the top's header and pull it down and forward -- when you get close!

BTW - these are Haartz Stayfast tops and not vinyl - they should not shrink.. Or not much anyway..
The old-style vinyl ? A totally different story!

 

[ChuckH262]

Mine was tight after I got it in 2018. I didn't take the hardtop off until spring 2019. I had to pull it shut by hand. After the weather got warm, all was good. I also used some Teflon garage door spray on all of the pivot points on the mechanical parts.

 

[DaveF]

try a hair dryer to warm it up