My 2005 vert just had both tension rods break on the vert top. Known issue from TSB 05-24-06. One had the shoulder joint break off completely. The other has it "pulled' open. Clearly from stress fractures. I would just take them to get welded and reinforced and eat the $50 and time to fix this myself but on one side the vert framing actually bent - a lot - toward the front of the car. I could bend it back but with the black paint already flaking off - it's clearly weakened.

My question is simple. My 72 months 60,000 mile warranty expired just back on April 13th, 2011. The car only has 35,000 miles on it. It's a show/race car. I drive it rarely.

Does a TSB replacement only occur when a warranty is still in effect? Or will a Ford dealer have any leeway on that? We're talking just about 90 days ago that this would have been completely covered. I barely put 150 miles on it over that time and the stress fractures had to have built up over years.

I really want to avoid having to take this whole dang top off myself

 

Here are some pics of the offending weak link. The tension rods. I assume this will happen to most convertible S197s (at least the 2005s).