Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax It leaks like a sieve!

No electric windows on the new plus 8 , a certain amount of small leaking from the front of the plastic window were it meets the roof over the TOTH weekend , there has been a lot of rain most days .

I use Gummi Pflege (rubber care is literal translation) on mine as part of my servicing, when ever I do my king pins, I treat all my rubber seals with it after cleaning out any debris, it conditions the rubber making it soft and plump, there by it has a better chance of creating an effective seal.

Never let seals get stiff as they'll end up with a memory effect and stay the same shape and not springing back.

There is a nut on both sides of the header rail that can be adjusted to pull the overcentre catches tighter. These might help.

I have had a sot top car all my driving life and with two exceptions they have all leaked a bit in heavy rain. Bit to my surprise, neither the Fezza nor the F type leak but my wife's (Mercedes group) Smart Roadster does so big time.

Together with wind noise and scuttle shake, its part of the price you pay for open car motoring

Smart Roadsters can be made 100% water tight. Milligoon has one and after over 100,000 miles it remains water tight....and damn quick!

Not if you buy a McLaren, the chassis is carbon fibre and the convertibles (Spiders) have the same chassis stiffness as the coupes so no scuttle shake. Also the roof panels are carbon fibre and do not generate the same wind noise as an old-fashioned hood.

The smart roadster has a stiffer body than the elise, this was something stated by lotus when they checked it out in its early years. Helped by its tri ply steel construction. Smart use the term tridion.

Ice pack - I solved the same problem by sticking ordinary “P” section draught excluder to the top of the windscreen surround. This then forms a proper seal with the strip on the header rail and stops all ingress!

It does separate at the edges occasionally but it’s so cheap I just replace the entire strip

Cheers!

Thanks for the input. I’ll try the gummi (had never heard of it)& p strip. I’ve tightened the catches as well.
Next heavy rain we will see.
Thanks again.

I must contact Milligoon then to see what he knows that our local dealer doesnt.



I drove one ( the 570s) back to back with a 458 Spider and was very impressed by the progress that McLaren had made in the 5 or so years they have been making road cars. The cockpit was a minimalist masterpiece. So was the ride quality thanks to the rigidity of the body.

The roads were too smooth for any scuttle shake. However carbon fibre is just another material and there are only two ways that you can make an open car as rigid as a closed one. First is to strengthen the chassis ie slightly different structure for the open and closed versions. The second is to make the roof of the closed car non structural so that it doesnt add rigidity. McLaren have chosen the second option as I understand it - most car makers chose the first option. That said, the ability of a moulding / bonding process to make shapes that arent available to a press formed structure gives extra rigidity.

As for road noise I did say "open".

I really fancy a McLaren but my budget will only stretch to an older MP4C, and even the local dealer, who also does Lambo, was less than enthusiastic about reliability and parts cost.