by PKs600 » Mon Oct 04, 2010 1:00 am
Fitting the boot does involve a couple of tricks; the first is making sure the roof is folding correctly. When you hit the down button, you have to stop it about half way and then reposition the roof canvas and the side padding at the edge, between the front edge and the first "naturally occurring" fold, pulling it away from the frame so that you create additional fold. you have to do both sides, then continue with retracting the roof. Hard to describe here, but essentially as the roof is going down, the canvas naturally creates a sideways "V" (hugging the frame) and you want it to be a "W". This is necessary so the roof clears the rear seat edge and folds all the way into the storage area. This is in the manual.
With the roof properly folded, you are ready for the boot. On the underside there are black plastic pieces that are several inches long; these are formed with a lip to catch under the chrome moulding around the roof opening to hold it on. I start on one side (usually the driver side, but does not matter) laying the boot loosely in place over the folded top. Here is the second trick: I catch the black lip of the underside of the boot on the driver side under the chrome moulding, making sure there is a little tension towards the othr side so this lip stays engaged. Then I walk to the passenger side and do the same thing. Here I need to use both hands to hold the front edge in place while I "stretch" the boot (open palm) to have the rest of the lip hook under the side chrome moulding- the goal is to have both sides completely engaged. Check the first side -sometimes it partially disengages. With this done, the rest is easy. After the sides are in place, stretch the back of the boot towards the trunklid until the back plastic lip of the boot clicks under the chrome; again, do both sides. Then do the part of the boot that is at the top of the back seat by simply twisting the black curved lip into place at the center and working it towards you (again, both sides). The last part is the very front edge covers (above the rear speakers) - again,they should stretch into place and push down with your palms until the black hooks grab under the chrome edge (this one is inside the car). Again, both sides. Then engage the snap at the very front edge. It is this last section where the way the roof folded is very important - if you just fold the roof all the way down without the "repositioning" I mentioned, then the roof will be in the way, sort of laying on top of the interior side edge by the rear seat.
In short, Left side, right side, trunk edge, seat edge, left front shoulder, right front shoulder.
This may be hard to follow - it's hard to describe. You end up walking from one side of the car to another about 3 or 4 times, but generally it takes me less than two minutes. I will try to take some pictures of each of the steps sometime in the next week or so.