Staffordman Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Nick, I have an RAC bar fitted on my car - and have had the hood modified to fit. This involves having (in my case) a tent repair company sewing an additional two inches of material to the bottom of the exisiting hood. This now fits a treat without the need for the hood frame - which is a pain in the a**e anyway. One small thing to consider; in my westie - when it is raining - regardless of whether the hood is up or down - you get soaked by water coming through the gap between the side screens and the rear wheel arches. This also results in huge amounts of water being dumped onto the carpets - which end up soaked also. Then the screen mists up................. and so on. I agree that westie's are not ideal wet weather cars - but I have only been caught out a couple of times in three years driving. Take my advice (or leave it! - buy a tonneau and ditch the hood. Mine is now stuck in the roof of my garage and has not seen the light of day for over a year. Don't let any of this put you off owning a westie - getting wet now and then is all part of the experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffordman Posted January 8, 2003 Share Posted January 8, 2003 Nick, I have an RAC bar fitted on my car - and have had the hood modified to fit. This involves having (in my case) a tent repair company sewing an additional two inches of material to the bottom of the exisiting hood. This now fits a treat without the need for the hood frame - which is a pain in the a**e anyway. One small thing to consider; in my westie - when it is raining - regardless of whether the hood is up or down - you get soaked by water coming through the gap between the side screens and the rear wheel arches. This also results in huge amounts of water being dumped onto the carpets - which end up soaked also. Then the screen mists up................. and so on. I agree that westie's are not ideal wet weather cars - but I have only been caught out a couple of times in three years driving. Take my advice (or leave it! - buy a tonneau and ditch the hood. Mine is now stuck in the roof of my garage and has not seen the light of day for over a year. Don't let any of this put you off owning a westie - getting wet now and then is all part of the experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomo Posted January 10, 2003 Share Posted January 10, 2003 Nick I'm in a similar position to you. I use my car in the Summer to drive to work which is a combination of some great lanes/ backroads and a final bit into the centre of Birmingham (about 50 miles). There is no way I would use it for this on days when it might rain (like most) when I'm wearing work clothes and know I will be stationery for part of the time. I have found driving in the rain, hood up no problem - a bit like driving down a tunnel but no problem. After all the posts I was surprised how little water came in - just the odd drip. I certainly don't get water coming in round the back edge of the sidescreens. The straps are pretty tight on mine but I find air pressure tends to want to blow the screens in which helps seal the screen to the side of the car. This may also be helped by the fact that I have mudflaps on the front guards. The only place I seem to get drips is from the front scuttle which is nothing to do with the hood (must find out where its coming from). I know I get a lot more use out of the car because I'm not bothered about whether its going to rain or not. I strongly recommend that you try driving in the rain in a suit with and without the roof and see which you prefer. Safe, dry motoring is perfectly feasible - go for it. Cheers Simon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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