Top down in an Arizona July: what the sun does to leather, the dash and the driver

Scottsdale, 2016 Stingray convertible, Kalahari leather, 27k miles. the username is the rule i live by from May to September.

what i've learned in four summers. top down only before 8 in the morning or after the sun drops behind the McDowells. at 2 in the afternoon the black seat bolsters will hit 150 degrees and the steering wheel is worse. the leather on the driver bolster went dry and shiny in the first year before i started conditioning it every month, and the stitched dash top is the thing i worry about most, i've seen what ten summers does to a C6 dash out here.

at work it's parked top up with a sunshade in the windshield and a cover over the dash. home it's in the garage. that's not fussy, that's what it takes.

curious what everyone else in a hot place does.

first_droptop_ana wroteis it crazy to buy one if you live in Phoenix?

no. you lose June through September, mostly. what you get back is October to April, which is the best top down weather in the country. 72 and sunny in January while Minnesota is digging out.

one real warning. in monsoon season, if you see a brown wall coming across the desert, the top goes up before it reaches you, not after. a dust storm full of grit in an open car is a miserable cleanup and getting caught on the 10 near Picacho in one is dangerous with or without a roof. azdot.gov has their dust storm driving advice every summer. read it once.