Ever since I got my XKR, several years ago, I have not been happy with the way the tonneau that covers the retracted convertible top behaves at highway speeds.

Often, wind gets under it and strains the snaps as well as pulls the dowels that anchor the straps in the trunk out.

I have worried that the whole cover would detach and fly away. Even at low speeds the cover is typically rippling quite a bit. Although I have known how I thought this could be fixed, I just never got around to doing it until yesterday.

Of course, as soon as I had made improvements to the tonneau, put it on and took it out for a test drive, it started to rain here in Los Angeles, for the first time in a year. So, I had to stop and put the top up.

Today, I gave it a proper test at speeds up to a sustained 90 mph. I am happy to report that there was virtually no rippling, no straining, no threat of flying off, it worked pretty much as I expected.

The process involves attaching 3 strips of 1.5" velcro (hook side) to the top of the 3 existing anchor straps on the trunk side of the tonneau (each about 16" in length), 2 strips of about the same length to the underside of the side wings but protruding out about an inch to the outside (hook side up), a strip of 3/4" hook velcro sewn to the top of the flap of the tonneau that tucks in behind the back seat, and about 16" inches of self adhesive plush side velcro (2" wide) that attaches to the underside of the body where the side wings come in contact with the side.

Below are some pictures of the above. On the sides, where the self-adhesive plush side attaches under the lip, there is a molded plastic piece to which you bend the self-adhesive to attach firmly.

The side wing pieces of velcro attach to the self-adhesive body mounted pieces, the 3 strap attached pieces simply are pulled as tight as possible and will naturally grip the trunk liner very strongly, and finally, the same plush fabric that lines the trunk lid is also on the back of the rear seats, and when the flap is tucked in behind the seats, it will grab the liner and hold on for dear life.

Believe me, it stays as tight as a drum.

Next up, designing a whole interior tonneau that I've been promising. Sometime soon!

 

Glad to hear that your modifications worked for you. I've never noticed a problem with our cover if it is properly secured in place, and it is always used whenever the top is down. I'll have to pay more attention to its behavior the next time I drive the car (which is admittedly infrequent since I am far too tall for it)....

 

Hey Jon89,
I have the top down virtually every day (except for the 4-5 days/year that it rains in L.A.), and always have the cover on, however, when driving at elevated freeway speeds, air frequently gets under my cover and has on many occasions pulled the back of the cover loose. Admittedly, this isn't the world's greatest problem but it was annoying me and able to be fixed so easily.

 

tberg - look forward to the whole interior tonneau - will pm you some thoughts on securing the cover without modifications to the interior or exterior

 

I was also annoyed at the cover performance at highway speeds. No problem with the back edge under the trunk (boot) lid. My issue was air getting under it and lifting up the cover enough I worried it would blow off.

My correction was to put eyelets in the front edge of the cover that goes behind the seats. From the eyelets I hook a short bungee cord that straps in behind the seat. Problem solved and adds very little effort to the install time. Holds it nice and tight.

Now my problem is that I just don't use the cover enough.

 

I haven't noticed any issues and drive daily on the interstate but have wondered how better to afix the cover. Just a thought - instead of bungee cords, why not use something like the floor mat hooks on the back of the seat - the eyelet would hook to that.

 

It doesn't quite reach and the bungee cords were a simple fix. Plus I already had them hanging on my tool wall. But your suggestion would be better looking.

Some kind of snap on the lip or under the panel behind the seats would look more OEM, but I will leave that to the creative engineers on this forum to figure out.

All the other convertibles I have had, both English and Italian, used a snap-on system all around. My old MGA even had a system for covering the cockpit that snapped on, but it didn't go fast enough for the wind to be an issue.

 

Some people won't have this issue... my '97 came with a really thick cover... my '05 came with a really thin one that does ripple a lot. I use my '97 one on my '05, when I used to put it on.

Now, with my interior being black and using the remote top, I don't use my cover at all.

 

There used to be a seller on ebay (cwclo) who made great covers much heavier that the factory ones. I have one of these and it does not flutter at all. He seems to be gone for the moment, but I hope he returns.