A silver Vauxhall VX220 on track
← All guides

Soft top cable: an alternative repair with a bow string

One owner’s home-made replacement for a snapped soft top cable: a waxed archery bow string joined to the original end plates with two bicycle chain split links. He reported it holding up after a year, but only one owner tried it.

Applies to: VX220 and Speedster, NA, TurboDifficulty: InvolvedTime: Not stated

Parts

  • Bow string, about 950 mm long (The author made his from FastFlight, an HMPE (high modulus polyethylene) fibre. He gives a breaking strain of around 1000 kg for his string and isn't sure of the exact length. Another owner measured his cable at 950 mm)
  • Two bicycle chain split links (The author used SRAM 9-speed links, as about the thinnest and easy to snap together and release. Stainless ones are available and avoid the surface rust he saw)

Tools

  • Allen key (for the countersunk screws)
  • Grinder or file, and a punch, to remove the peened pins
  • An old bike brake cable (or similar) and tape, for pulling the string through the hood

The soft top's steel cables can snap. This 2011 write-up offers an alternative to replacing the cable: an archery bow string in place of the steel cable. It is a simple idea, and one that another owner liked well enough to plan to use, but you should know that it is a home-made fix from one owner, and the thread has only one report of it in use, after a year.

The thread doesn't say how the original cables fail, how to tell one has snapped, or how to get the hood off the car. The steps below start from the cable already removed from the hood.

What you need to make

  • The string. The author is an archer and made his own, from FastFlight, a waxed HMPE fibre that is very strong, very flexible and unaffected by moisture. His is about 950 mm long (he wasn't sure afterwards). Another owner found a supplier who would make up FastFlight Plus strings to 950 mm and was asked how many strands (14, 16 or 18) and what bow type. The author said 18 strands, which is a little stronger and creeps less, and to say it's for a recurve if asked. The thread doesn't explain what the bow type changes, though presumably it's the end loop size. If you can't find an off-the-shelf string the right length, an archery shop should be able to make one up.
  • Two chain split links, which join each string loop to the end plate.
  • The two countersunk end plates from the original cable, which you re-use.
The parts of an old soft top cable laid on a wooden table: two countersunk end plates, a pin, the threaded adjuster and the fixed cable crimp
The old cable apart. Only the two countersunk plates are kept.
A long loop of purple string with a red whipped end on each side, each attached to a countersunk plate with a chain split link
The finished string with a split link and plate on each end.
Close-up of two silver-and-gold chain split links joining the plates to red whipped string loops
A close-up of the links.

Steps

  1. Remove the cable and its fixings from the hood by taking out the countersunk Allen screws on each side.
  2. Each end of the cable has a countersunk plate. Take the threaded adjuster and the fixed cable crimp off them. Each is held to its plate by a small pin that is peened over. Grind off the peening and drive the pin through with a punch. You should end up with two plates, and you can throw away the rest.
  3. Refit the countersunk plates on both sides of the hood.
  4. Thread the string through the hood. Thread a bike brake cable through first, tape the string to one end and pull it back through.
  5. Working on one side, push one half of a chain link through the plate, loop the string over the other half and connect them. Do the same on the other side and test-fit the hood.
The fabric hood edge folded back to show the chain link and red string between the hood and the red bodywork
Fitted. The hood is lifted just to show the parts.

Adjusting the tension

There is no adjuster. You release the string on one side, twist it a few times to shorten it, and reconnect. It is a little harder than turning an adjuster, but takes a minute or so.

How it got on

  • Moisture and mould: the fibre is unaffected by moisture and is waxed, and the author couldn't see it promoting mould any more than the damp hood itself would.
  • After a year (2012): it was holding up fine, with outdoor storage all winter. The only problem was surface rust on the chain links, and stainless versions are available.
  • Another owner had a cable let go in 2012. He ordered a couple of replacement cables from a supplier instead and was pleased with them, but said he would use the string method next time. So nobody else in the thread reports a result.

The other option: aftermarket replacement cables

One owner says the replacement cables from one supplier are a different design to the standard ones. They are basically the same layout as the string version, but in stainless steel cable and with an adjuster, which removes the single stress point of the original. The thread doesn't say whether they are still sold.

Help wanted
We have only one owner's experience of the string repair, and no information on how the original cable fails or how the hood comes off. We would like to know the exact length and loop size that works, how long a string like this lasts, and whether anyone else has tried it. If you have replaced a soft top cable, either way, please tell us.

Send us details or photos →

Sources & credit

Written up from these owners' original posts. Thanks to everyone who contributed.

Last updated 2026-10-15