badger15

Hey gents and gals. Does anyone have a strong recommendation for a shop to replace the soft (plastic) window in my Boxster's convertible top?

I am in Green Bay, WI but would be willing to drive down to the Milwaukee or Chicago area to make sure it gets done right. Thanks in advance!!

Macster

Can't help you with a recommendation for a place to get this done but I can share with you some things I learned when I had my 2002 Boxster rear window replaced after the original plastic window developed a crack when I was sloppy doing the "chop".

I picked a well regarded auto upholstery and top shop. My memory is getting more cloudy every day but I believe the cost was in the $500 ballpark.

The car at the shop a few days. I may have waited until the shop had the window on hand before bringing the car in.

The replacement plastic window was a heavy gage plastic on par I think with the factory plastic.

The old window was cut out leaving the border -- the part through which the stitches were in -- in the canvas. The new rear window was sewn in with a second line of stitching.

The remnant of the old window resulted in a bit of a raised canvas border but it was not unsightly. My biggest concern was would the new plastic window be water tight. It was. And it was durable. The original top developed a leak before the replacement rear window needed replacement again.

Regarding the "border"... Before I selected the shop to do the work I talked with a couple of other shops -- both with good word of mouth -- that were located 40+ miles from me.

Each shop made a good case to have me bring the car to it but the distance put me off.

The shop I ended up using was just 10 miles away and this was within a reasonable cab ride distance from home and had an equally good word of mouth. My local dealer said it sent all soft top/upholstery jobs to this shop.

Afterwards I spoke to at least one shop and it indicated it could have replaced the old rear window with a new one and not left any portion of the old window in the canvas. (The 2nd shop I had talked to before the job had gone out of business. The old boy and his wife decided to call it quits and retire.)

Had I known this before hand about the old window border being left in the canvas I might have used another shop instead of the one I did use.

Have to admit I can't recall now if the shop I used told me beforehand it would leave the border of the old window in place or not.

I do recall when I picked up the car and noticed the border and of course then asked about the border I was assured the window (and canvas) would be water tight as as I mentioned above this proved to be the case.

So you might ask about the process before you leave the car. However, I'm not sure leaving the border of the old window in the canvas is that big of a deal. But talk this over with some top shops and make up your own mind.