Mod Description

We are starting to see quite a few cabrios having roof problems.

Mod Details

PremiumYes Difficulty Mod ID174 CreditTiny/evil For Linkhttps://www.evilution.co.uk/mod/450-cabrio-roof-fix.htm Copy to Clipboard

First Things First

If the roof doesn’t move or doesn’t make any noises, it could just be a fuse blown, so check them all.

If the roof isn’t latching up, latching down or acting unusually, try disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes (know your radio code). It’s very common for the 450 cabriolet roof to become confused as to the position and actuation of the switches and latches. So it turns off certain parts of the roof control to try and keep it from becoming damaged.

The Cabrio Roof Mechanism

The roof is moved using a pair of identical motors placed either side of the rear roof section, these don’t do one side each, instead they work with each other to move the entire roof. A pair of sprung cables pass over either side of the motors main gear allowing both cables to be moved simultaneously.

Thanks to Telmo Rodrigues for the excellent diagram.

The canvas section contains 3 ribs that connect across the car to each cable allowing each rib to move backwards eventually coming to rest next to each other. The canvas of the roof concertinas from one rib to the other to make the entire roof more compact on opening.

Cabrio Roof Problem

Although the main drive cog in the motors are metal, they seem to wear quickly as there isn’t a great deal of surface area on the mating faces. Eventually the cogs start to slip over the spring cables causing a clicking nose and eventually a loss of all roof control.

The sprung cables are constructed to have thousands of microfilaments along the length, this reduces friction and expels foreign matter that may get caught up. The microfilaments eventually wear down and break, they accumulate in the tubes and especially around the motor main gear and worm drive. Ideally you shouldn’t grease any part of the roof system as it collects dust and broken fibres which will eventually block the mechanism.
The obvious fix is to replace the spring cables and the motor main gear which is what this how-to is going to show you.