Ref Sensor · Miata sourcing

Soft top rubbing and wear

The ND's fabric top can show wear in more than one place, and Mazda has separate bulletins for some of them. This page sorts the issues out, from a Mazda Japan bulletin and an owner thread. It is not a repair guide.

How to read it. Mazda bulletins are summarised in my own words from the documents I read on 1 October 2026; owner accounts are from Miata.net forum threads, dated below, and are individual experience. There are no prices on this page.

Four different problems

In the first page of a long Miata.net thread from June 2016 (35 pages; I read the first), a veteran poster separated four ND soft top issues that are easy to confuse:

  1. The top rubbing against itself at the seams, leaving marks on the fabric.
  2. The leading edge of the top rubbing against the roll hoop garnishes.
  3. The black straps inside the Sport and Club (unlined) tops breaking loose.
  4. The inner liner on GT (lined) tops coming loose above the rear window.

Marks on the fabric: Mazda's bulletin R048/16A

Mazda Motor Corporation's Service Information R048/16A, "Rubbing/Contact Marks on Convertible Top (Top Fabric)", issued 30 May 2016 and revised 7 June 2016 for the MX-5 (ND) without inner cloth, worldwide, is in Miata.net's collection (PDF). I read its first page, which shows the marks on the fabric near the side window. The thread's first post transcribes the rest from the document, and says, in effect:

  • Cause: with the top folded and piled up, vibration makes the hard stitching line touch the fabric. A top without inner cloth is more prone because it folds lower and tighter.
  • Production change from 16 May 2016: the top's link stopper was changed to alter the opening angle and reduce contact pressure on the folded fabric.
  • Repair: replace the convertible top assembly with the modified one. The document tells dealers to explain that the marks become less likely but cannot be prevented completely and may return depending on use.

Posters in the thread said the modified top for unlined cars has a new Mazda part number, and that a lined (GT) top is a different part with no bulletin of its own at that date. One owner said his top was replaced twice and the wear continued. Posters also noted that Mazda Japan's "Repair Guidance" and a North American "Service Bulletin" are the same kind of document.

Roll hoops, straps, liner and rattle

The Miata.net list also shows Mazda documents on the inner cloth coming off (R017/16C), the tension band detaching (R080/16) and a header panel rattle (09-045/15). I did not open them. A poster in the thread also listed a bulletin on scratches on the seat-back bar garnish from the top contacting it, which is the roll hoop issue; I did not find it in the list and did not read it.

Bulletins are for dealers, not recalls, and customers should not assume one applies to their car; a Mazda dealer can say whether it does.

Not covered yet

  • The roll hoop rubbing bulletin, and what Mazda dealers fit for it; the app's note that Mazda fitted spacers rests on one site article that I did not confirm.
  • Seller pages for ND top parts; none I could read.
  • The other 34 pages of the thread.

© 2026 Fischer Interactive LLC. Written for the Ref Sensor app's Miata users. The seller's page is the authority.