< SOB > My roadster was vandalized Saturday night by someone throwing liquid whiteout over the body, windshield, and top (two other cars in the parking lot also suffered the same fate). The autobody shop was able to buff out what was on the body and clean up the windshield but the liquid whiteout had soaked into the top. They have been calling around for a replacement top but have been told that Chrysler has these on back order with no date of when they might have them in (the shop thought it would be months) and there was no third party tops available (not that I would want one). My car is currently in the DC area (I brought it up on the auto train to keep it safe--out of the hurricane season--ironic isn't it?) but now in my paranoia I want to drive her back to Florida asap and have the top replaced there.

Does anyone have any advice on where a new OEM top for a 2005 roadster can be found? I don't want to have to wait months/years.

Thanks in advance.

 

Sorry about the damage, but be thankful they were able to just buff it out. As to the problem with the top, have you tried contacting a manufacturer of White Out, and asking if they have anything that could be used to remove the product from your top. It may be a long shot, but also may be well worth it in lieu of letting a "tech" replace your top.

I just used "Google" and searched Remove White Out stains. There was actually a lot of information on this subject.

One that caught my eye was good old WD-40. Apparently it will remove without damage, according to the posts I read. I cannot vouch for this method. If you know of a top shop in the area, ask them to test it on a junk top for you and see what happens.

Good luck..

 

Cobra 953 - thank you, that's a great idea and I will look it up and confer with the shop. When they called me, they said they got some of it out but it was impossible to get all the spots out and those spots they were able to take out made a faded spot. I doubt if they looked up the website for ideas. Of course, I don't want to drive around in a polka-dotted Crossfire but those fixes can tide me over.

If anyone know where I can pick up a new OEM top for the 2005 please let me know.

Thanks again Cobra 953 and thanks to everyone on the Forum.

 

You might consider dying the top with either clothes dye or leather dye if you are unable to remove all the stains. Being as tho the top is already ruined what have you got to lose ?

Just my Dos Centavos

 

paint it until you can get a new one. Not sure if you would want to but go to auto zone or someplace and get black fabric paint. Might have to do alot of taping but it might be a fun job for the weekend

 

Listen to my experience, frantastic:

Do not attempt cockamamy do-it-yourself fixes on this part.

Order the entire top, wait for the part, call the parts department every couple of weeks to make sure they are doing their job and actually HAVE ordered the part.

Then drive around with the wonky, liver-spotted top - the pain of embarassment will go away in a few weeks and when you get your new top you will be ecstatic and it will be SPRING.

 

If you are replacing the top anyway I would try and fix it with the wd-40 and then remove the wd-40 with some dawn dishwashing soap.

 

I suggest you contact:
http://stores.ebay.com/Turners-Performance-Programming
I bought a top from him about a month ago for $499.00 (buy it now was $599 but he accepted $499).
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...em=#ht_500wt_0
I keep cars a LONG time and know that I will eventually need a top. This is the factory top with heated back glass. I do not see that he has any listed at this time but he may have more and you can't beat the price.

 

Great, now you've got me worried about Halloween night. One year one of my cars had some sort of candy stuff poured all over it. Oh yeah then there was the paintball attack. Grrrrr!

 

So sorry to hear about it, and it really hit home.

I had my top vandalized back in early June. The top was cut on one of the few times I didn't have it in the garage. The dealer basically told me the same thing and that was that they were on back order, however it cam in about a week later. The dealer than irritated me so I took it to another dealer instead. It took them about a week to get the top in as well. It may not take as long as you might think.

 

I've found brand new tops on eBay a couple of different times for around $600.

 

Thanks everyone--all really good advice. My plan is to hightail it back to Florida next Thursday (drive from the DC metro area to Melbourne Beach) and get an OEM replacement top as soon as it is available--I will pass along the ebay information to the shop that will be doing the repair work (I would never be able to do it myself). Although I could try to paint it, since I don't embarrass easily, I'll just drive it as is and if anyone says anything, then I'll tell them it was the biggest bird I've ever seen that made a deposit on my car

In the meantime, I need to find a secure place to the park car until next Thursday as I am leaving for a quick business trip to the West Coast on Sunday and not back until Wednesday night (thus, I won't be around to keep my eye on the car or the neighborhood). I know my friends will help me out. I too am paranoid about the car and Halloween night.

Everyone have a happy and safe Halloween and thank you again . . . you have helped me more than you can ever know.

 

Doesn't insurence pay for vandalism? I know you have to pay deductable but ???

 

hold onto the damaged top, you might be able to remove/fix the white out problem and keep it as a backup

 

Yep, insurance covers it but I took a $1,000 deductible since it isn't my daily driver and where I usually have the car has a very low crime rate and not as much traffic as the DC area. Just my luck to have it in the DC area a few weeks and have this happen. The body shop was great to get the gunk off--True2Form and I highly recommend them--efficient, personable, did a fantastic job, and my insurance company was great--USAA--efficient, understanding, and flexible in whatever I asked. Now, I just need to get it to FLA and get it into a shop down there to get the cover ordered and then installed. Thanks all!

 

See, just another reason we need a Crossfire gang.

We could walk around snapping our fingers and such.