[Lejunte]

Hi all. I'm just about to pull the trigger on a 2018 2 series convertible. Slightly concerned about future issues with the roof and mechanism. The car will be parked outside all year and I intend to have the roof down as often as possible. Are there any known issues with the roof being waterproof or issues with the opening/closing mechanism? Any thoughts?

[PHEVer]

No issues here, but I do keep my 2015 F23 garaged.

Consider using a fabric top cleaner/waterproofing product like "Raggtopp" or "303". I would also recommend lubricating the pivot points on the folding top frame at least annually.

You can find more detailed info in YouTube and the Cosmetic Maintenance board in this forum.

Enjoy!

[jzeiler4]

FWIW I owned my 2004 E46 vert for 8 years (2012 - 2020 and not garaged) and and the only issue I ever had was after a while water would leak in between the top and the window seal (not he seal) in a car wash. Other than that the top was fine and always operated and never leaked other wise. Now I have a 2021 M240 ixDrive vert. Looks to be the same mechanism.

[leftoverture]

As far as I know the tops are very reliable. Our 2016 has no leaks at all. I use the Raggtop products on it.

[Lejunte]

Thanks for everyone's replies. Another question... I have attached the service history of the car to this post. The car was 1st registered on 31/05/2018. Since then it's had 2 services - 1 just after it was registered? And one last year. Can anyone see any issues with this?

[Lejunte]

Specifically, in relation to the red exclamation marks, does anyone know what they mean? Is the lack of service in year 1 something to be worried about? What do the numbers mean in the boxes and why are the numbers in both red boxes the same?

[TrboMike]

I've had a few droptops and always parked them outside. Only issues with parking outside IMO:

-cats want to sleep on warm black cloth tops a lot, their claws are terrible for the top and terrible for your paint when they jump on and off the car
-if you park near a tree you will clog up drains over time no matter how well you try and keep it clean
-if you dont drive in the winter and get a lot of snow you'll need to clear off snow buildup asap because the weight on the top is more than you think

Cheap tops will fade in extra sun exposure, happened to my older cars. I'm assuming that wont be a problem with my 2017 BMW but I've only had it a few years so knock on wood.

[donkim]

I just purchased a 17 and carfax did not show the first couple of BMW oil changes. When I called a local dealership they did have record of them.

[dradernh]

Originally Posted by donkim

I just purchased a 17 and carfax did not show the first couple of BMW oil changes. When I called a local dealership they did have record of them.

I don't think Carfax can be relied upon to provide prospective buyers with the full history of the services a car has undergone.

[leftoverture]

Originally Posted by dradernh

I don't think Carfax can be relied upon to provide prospective buyers with the full history of the services a car has undergone.

Agreed. Not all shops report to Carfax, and none of the do-it-yourselfers do. And they are some of the most meticulous maintainers.

[msej449]

I've had my M235i Convertible since early 2016 and the top is still doing well.

There was one minor recall to replace a spring, but this was only for a very small proportion of 2016-17 cars and was done during the next service. The VIN will identify if a car needed the work done. If the dealer says your car wasn't one of them, then I'd trust what they say.

I use the BMW soft-top cleaner and soft-top re-proofer products to treat the fabric every spring and autumn, and then usually a couple of further times in the year if the roof has had bad bird-strike or tree sap incidents. There are lots of similar products out there, but the BMW ones are quite concentrated and have lasted me about 4 years.

Note the recommendation not to store the roof down for prolonged periods. This keeps the tension up and stretches the fabric so it doesn't crease. BMW also recommend not storing the roof when wet i.e. leave it to dry before folding it down.

Vacuum-cleaning the roof regularly helps a lot as well. I use the brush attachment and clean along the bias of the fabric, and this picks up a lot of dirt. Just beware that if you have High Gloss Black trim, most vacuum cleaner brush attachments have too hard a bristle for the varnish, and can leave micro-scratches.

Other than that, the current generation of soft tops are a massive advance on those of even 10 years ago. Both in terms of cabin noise insulation and durability. And I think that being able to drop the roof at speeds up to 30mph at all is also a big advance.

One recommendation I would make is to read the Owners Manual and understand how to manually put the roof up if there is some failure of the mechanism. I haven't had a problem ever, but the prcess is quite involved and if it ever hapened, I wouldn't want to be trying to read the instructions for the first time if I was stranded by the road in the rain.

The other thing you should note is that you need to be careful if you partly-retract the roof in order to clean the storage bay/bodywork. The hydraulic pressure drops after a while and the whole mechanism will move of its own accord. If you have the ignition on, and the top is only part-folded, the manual says it'll drop fully after about 10 minutes, but if it's off, it'll happen after about 5. You don't want your hand to be inside the levers when it folds down. This is all described in the manual.

[leftoverture]

The other thing I noted in my owners manual is it says not to allow spray waxes to get on the roof, the kind they use in automated car washes. So when I run through my local automated car wash, I choose the basic wash option that has no wax.

[msej449]

That reminds me - the converse is true as well: when you re-proof the roof fabric, don't let the fabric proofing solution dry on the bodywork. It leaves whitish streaks. They come off, but they're not what you want if you've just cleaned the car. So I tend to clean the roof and let it dry before then cleaning the bodywork subsequently. I've never taken mine through a car wash: we have some good self-service, lance-based washing bays around where I live, which I prefer, even if it means I have to hand-dry the car.

[Barry45RPM]

Originally Posted by Lejunte

Hi all. I'm just about to pull the trigger on a 2018 2 series convertible. Slightly concerned about future issues with the roof and mechanism. The car will be parked outside all year and I intend to have the roof down as often as possible. Are there any known issues with the roof being waterproof or issues with the opening/closing mechanism? Any thoughts?

We ordered & bought new, a 2010 128i Convertible from Jan 4 2010 until Jan 30,2021. (89,000 mi) The only roof problems we had was that early on dealer had to replace the interior "headliner" under warranty because clips holding it to the canvas near the rear window failed. On the passenger side rear, there is a plastic sliding door/cover that slides back to allow the steel ribs to pass when roof is going down or up, from Day 1 to the last day it was v e r y s l o w to slide back in place after roof was completely down... never able to get that fixed right. in the latter part of the 10th year, the rear window glue separated from the canvas top letting the window sag inward and leak. Cost $300 to re-glue at a top shop, repair lasted 8 months before separating again. Didn't want to repair it again, should have replaced the roof the first time for about $2500. Bought a 2017 CPO M240 Conv with 8,000 miles from BMW Ft. Lauderdale. Wife LOVES is as much as she loved the 2010. It is a much much better car than the old one in every single respect, fast as hell... Hope she doesn't get killed in it. Never hand washed it, always went through commercial, long tunnel, car washes. When the windo failed, was told I should never have machine washed it to begin with... but hell, it lasted 10 years! Other than that, the top never leaked.

Hope this helps.

[MarcoZandrini]

OP, have the car undergo a pre-purchase inspection performed by an independent shop that specializes in bimmer (beemers for you Brits).

[Neverlost99]

Use blue painters tape to mask the area that is not the fabric top. Makes it easy to use the protector. I will use a piece of cardboard but the tape is better