Hi everyone Has anyone suffered from scratches on the roof? I'm assuming it's probably caused when the roof goes up/down? They're not really bad scratches but I noticed tbem yesterday after washing the car and wondered if there's anything you can do to prevent them?
The roof doesn't contact anything as it goes up and down so I can't see how that would scratch it. More likely they happened as a result of some over hanging shrubs or similar. Get some T cut on the go then finish with a good waxing to get rid of them. Where are they on the roof? I'm guessing they are on the near side.
No, not really. They run horizontally across the roof and are too uniform to be overhanging branches or anything like that. I did find an old post on the Copen owners club forum that sounded similar to mine. Here is that post:- I too have had the problem with the "scratch" on the rear part of the roof due to the cable rubbing on the roof whilst the top is down. What I ended up doing is buying a set of stick-on black felt circles (about 1" or 2.5cm across and about 1/6" or 4mm thick), available at most hardware and craft stores. They are the things you put on the bottom of objects like vases and statues to stop them from scratching the furniture etc. and sticking one on either side of the back of the boot in the little hollow where the plastic stoppers that are attached to the underside of the boot meet the body of the car. This lifts the boot up just a tiny bit at the back, just enough to stop the rubbing but not enough to even be noticeable. There are also two adjustable plastic stoppers on the hinge mechanism at the front of the roof which can be adjusted to raise the front part of the boot, or you can cheat like I did and just stick one of the felt circles on top too to give a fraction more clearance on the front. If you've got a couple left over in the pack you can place a couple of them in the corresponding place where the stoppers on the bonnet meets the front of the car. Stops the bonnet rattling, even if it's only noticeable when you're washing it. I havent had chance to have a look at this, yet, but wondered if this sounds feasible.
Do we know what cable is referred to in that post? I'm going to have a look at mine tomorrow as well and see if it's a likely future problem.
Hi, to avoid roof scratches from the cable of the middle brake light one can relocate the cable to the inside of the boot-lid: Andreas
Hi debs, I had roof scratching problems back in 2008, I had the paintwork sorted under warranty. But still had a scratching problem afterwards, but managed to catch it before it got to serious, have a look at the photo's in the link, are your's in the same position. As you can see the cable that was rubbing had a mark on it showing that it was the source of the problem. I ended up wrapping a small piece of microfibre cloth around the cable, never ahd the abrasion problem return. http://copen.fr.yuku.com/sreply/10765/paint-abrasion-on-roof-by-electric-wiring
Hi Coxie My scratches are more in the middle of the roof and not as bad as yours were. I've just had a go at putting a couple of felt pads on the rubber stoppers (as suggested in the copen owners club forum) which should lift the boot fractionally. To be honest, they are only very faint scratches and I only noticed them when I was washing the car round the front of the house on Saturday (and it was really sunny), but when I took it round the back of the house, I had to really look hard to spot them! As I'm fairly sure it's not the cable causing them (as they are in the wrong place), I'm kind of tninking it's possibly caused by driving on bumpy roads with the roof down (?) so hopefully a fraction more clearance with the felt pads will help (and another T-cut / polish session). All in all, though, the scratches are hardly visible - it's just that I'm a perfectionist!
Good news that they're not as bad as I had, at least you can sort them out before they get any worse.
