I bought my 98 eclipse spyder about 6 months ago and it hasn't been in the rain yet, but it rained last night and I found that my car had water leak inside. It appears to be coming in on the the sides of my car in the front and rear. I'm wondering if it's the rubber seals or the top itself. If it's the seals, it would almost be a coincidence because it's leaking on both sides. Does anyone know if the Mitsubishi dealerships or if any other place has something that can water proof the top. There has to be something out there that can prevent water from leaking in.

 

I am temporarily putting some water repellent spray on my top to stop the leaks. I went on ebay and found a company that sells good quality canvas tops that meet the factory quality for like way cheaper. www.topsonline.com only wants like $330 to $415 for a top and that comes with the glass window defroster. The inside liner is seprate however running at like $130, but that's one hell of a deal. I think the most expensive thing is to have someone install this bad boy. The dealer quoted me at about $600. I think I'll check out some local upholstery shops before I fork out that kinda dough.

 

before you do anything, where exactly is it leaking, from the windows? id say that almost all spyders have this problem, i had this problem the first week i had mine, took it to the dealer, they replaced it, and a month later it started doin it again. my temp fix for the winter is to take some rubber cement and form a little seal around the window seals and the top, worked last winter, then when spring rolls around take a knife and slit it open so you can put the top down again............

 

The water appears to be coming out where the black rubber seals are in the front corners of my windshield. And for the back it also looks like its exiting through where the rear windows are. There are small thin gaps that are on both sides near the rear windows and thats where the water is leaking through. If I look through the small gaps in the rear, I actually see very small tiny holes like 1 mm size. It appears that where the holes are, are where the owner before me had them sewn maybe by an upholstery place. I just don't believe that so much water would leak through there. I also placed my hand in between the top and the inside liner and felt the liner was slightly wet as well although it doesn't leak through there. I sprayed some water repellent stuff that says it works for canvas so I'll have to see how that works out. Someone else told me to use some Thompsons water proofing. They make one for canvas. I don't know. I'm not sure if it's really the windows or just the top because I know the water is soaking through the top as well.

 

could be, although i dont know of a problem with it, but the front seals are the same problem im havin............. the repelant sounds like a good idea though, i might try that.........

 

Thanks 1398spdr, I just put some black RTV silicone to protect the seals in the front and back of the top. Hopefully that with the water repellent stuff I put on is good. If not, I'm gonna buy the Thompsons water seal stuff for canvas. I'll keep you posted on the status of my car, although I hear it's not going to rain until like next monday.

 

A lot of the other Spyder guys used the polyurethane stuff called WindoWeld to seal up rubber seals, especially the one spot where windows, windsheild and top meet in the upper corners. The windoweld is pretty good, it's black and matches the rubber seals perfectly. What they did was take the rubber seals off and put a layer of windoweld where the glass actually meets the rubber seal, so it's a little tighter seal. My spyder never really leaked, but i did use some of that stuff to kind of cover up the headliner seal since it was cracking or dry-rotting. Works pretty good i think. That is a pretty good deal for the tops though, since canvas is hella expensive.

 

hey, thanks spyder, i think ill try that rather than rubber cement...........hehe.........

 

I bought a 99 Spyder about a month and a half ago from a dealership who assured me that it was leak proof and air tight. Well that was proven wrong real fast, for a while i had some bad leaks, almost puddles on my seats. I have been taking it back to the dealership adn they have been working on fixing it and they replaced the weather stripping all around which they said was a common problem and as of now, no leaking, just in heavy heavy rains. my best bet would make suer the weather stripping is changed bfor u do anything else, my suggestion. and if you bought it from a dealership and asked if it leaked and they said no, they have to keep fixing it until you are satisfied cause they lied to you which means if they dotn cooperate, you could take em to court and really upgrade your spyder cause you will def win lol... hope all works out

 

yea, i woulda done that, but i got tired of driving 30 miles to get it fixed......... gas is too damn expensive.........