As for my everflex top, I always leave it closed and tensioned. When I had the deer accident two and a half years ago, my 4/4 was in the workshop from March to the end of September, which is the warm season. The hood was always open in the workshop because the car was in a hall. When getting her back I could hardly close the hood, so much it had shrunk and it took some time until it was back to normal.
