Hey everyone..

my wife's R52 convertible top is doing my head in lately.
it all started one day while she was cleaning up the car and she left her purse resting over the rear LH side window (while it was down) and went ahead and closed the roof..
the roof closed up alright, but as the side windows went up, the LH regulator snapped a pulley and we had to have the complete mechanism replaced.

now since then, i noticed that particular window goes up a bit slower like it's binding against something, i thought it needed a bit of alignment but never got around to doing it, and now i wish i did, as it seems to have caused some damage in the convertible mechanism on its side:

at the moment everything works fine, the top opens and closes smoothly and all seems well, till you drive and get up to 50-60mph and you hear the wind leaking in from the top left corner (or even worse, go through a car-wash)

upon closer inspection i noticed the following.. i'll let the pics do the talking:

LH Mechanism missing two plastic guides:
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Close up on the mechanism and two arrows pointing at the missing guide tabs:
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Compared to the other side which has them:
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Now the LH side mechanism with the two missing tabs can be moved up and down a little when the roof is unlocked/slightly opened, whereas the other side is pretty tight and i assume that's what causes it not to latch on tight..

i've tried to find the part on ETK, and what i came up with is 54347174761 - Mechanism, sliding roof ( ~$420 Retail )

my questions are as follows:
1. is this the correct part # i'm looking at?
2. assuming it is.. do i REALLY have to replace the whole assembly for those two missing tabs? :(

i'd appreciate some feedback from any of you that have had experience with this particular fault.

furthermore while we're at it.. the soft top itself is starting to get de-laminated near the rear glass:
162940162941

any DIY tips to fixing this before it gets worse?

Thanks in advance! :)

Easy fix...don't let the wife wash the car ;)

if you had the complete mechanism replaced by a garage take it back and ask where missing parts are and ask to fix.
if you did it yourself then your in the brown stickey stuff and good luck.:(

Thanks for the replies guys :)

RM: the mechanism i replaced was the rear left window regulator assembly which broke when my wife forgot her purse there and closed the roof.. the roof closed, then the windows came up and that snapped the rear LH window mechanism.

now when i replaced that, i adjusted it to an extent but noticed later that the window was binding on the weather stripping while going up.. and i figured i'd adjust it when i had the time, then a couple weeks later the wind leaking noise from the top left corner of the roof started and that's when i found those broken/missing tabs..