I live in Seattle and have not had a soft top for years. For the most part I don't regret it at all. I miss out on a few top down drives because I can't just drop the top, but it's not enough to make me reinstall it. Plus it's nice to have a little more room in the cabin.

 

I removed my soft top while in Rhode Island, and now I live in NOVA/DC. No regrets. I have noticed more scratches on the hard top itself from attempted break ins... but I hated the soft top rattle and noise.

 

The ht is the single most effective chassis brace short of a full roll cage. Bolted mine on and removed the soft top years ago. Never a single regret. Bonus: my friend's wife stopped asking to borrow the car for joy rides.

 

Yes. A flimsy piece of fiberglass is more effective than a steel rollbar, or steel door bars....

 

and yet it eliminates the "shimmy" more effectively than a steel roll bar

 

That was the point lol That's just how the hardtop shenanigans seem to happen. Check the weather forecast, figure out how long you'll be gone, take it off and pray for success. Even when the there is no chance of rain you cant really go top down all day without applying sunscreen every few hours. I really need to get a roll bar and make a bikini top. that can go in the trunk.

 

You got me; I haven't actually tried a rollbar or door bars. Could be that door bars done right are very effective, but I've never seen door bars done right. It doesn't matter because once I installed a hard top with tight latches I stopped thinking about how to do door bars right.

 

I bought a decent condition hard top, popped it on. Removed the soft top in the process just because the Cali summer sun always seems to be out. I have to say that the interior feels more refined opposed to having a folded chunk of canvas behind you which can be a little bit of an eye sore. Then again, it all comes down to aesthetics and possibly a little weight reduction I suppose.

 

In my case, I use hard top bolt on brackets so it becomes relatively difficult to remove my hardtop. Luckily I have garage space to keep my car indoors. When the weather is nice (it's nice a lot here in the Bay Area) I will keep the hard top off for a few days if I'm in the mood.
When the hardtop is on, the car really does look a lot more clean on the inside. Due to my Blackbird GT3 roll bar, the harness bar is placed so low that it effectively minimizes my deck space. What I did was remove the rain rails (the metal pieces that are in front of the soft top, held in by nuts. see Adams guide Miata Soft Top Removal ? revlimiter.net), and painted them black with a couple coats of clear coat. This with the black carpet really makes a very clean look.

Another big plus is a lot less noise. In my car, the soft top was a big source of noise while the hard top was on. I've yet to measure the weight of my car, but (subjectively) there was a noticeable difference in handling.

If you have a space to garage your car, I say go for it!

 

I put a nice canvas top on mine. It is about as quiet and refined as my beat to crap early OEM hardtop. Normally I would put the hard top on for long trips and heavy rains, but I find I haven't even used it this summer yet.

When my old top ripped I did 3 weeks with no soft top in the early spring. With the random rains we had and everything I found I really missed the option of top down without worry. But I tend to drop the top and time I am driving the car.

I have no indoor storage for it though so I still plan to keep the hard top for winter storage and such.

 

I removed my soft top a while back and have regretted nothing. The car is is loud and squeaky no matter what you do, but it did cut out some annoying squeaks from the soft top bouncing on the package shelf with hardtop on. It's too damn hot to go topless this time of year, but Fall/Spring/Winter it's easy to call the ball and go topless on days with 0% chance of rain. I didn't go top down that much to begin with, so haven't missed the soft top.

 

What is all this talk of the soft top creaking, bouncing and making noise? Mine doesn't make any noise. with hard top over it, or just free as a bird, folded behind me.

Are the older hard tops lighter or something? Mine is pretty beat up but is thankfully quiet.

 

Some (most) older soft top frames are loose and rattly. I actually swapped frames when I did my soft top because mine was really loose and made a lot of noise.

 

I miss having a soft top in my car. Living in Tennessee, we get pop-up showers all the time in the summer. If I want to go topless, I have to look at the weather in the morning and judge if I'm willing to risk leaving my car open all day. I keep debating buying a daily driver, just so I can have less track cred and more hair dresser cred during the summer.