As I’m sure you’re aware, we here at the Autopian have a company car: our ridiculous Nissan Murano CrossCab, which we’ve half-wrapped in Xpel protective film and then done all sorts of dumb stuff with. It’s been a hell of a lot of fun, perversely, and people seem to really enjoy seeing this strangely improbable product of a Nissan fever dream out in the world. There is one colossal Achilles’ heel on this car, though: the roof. And today I happened to see a picture of a fellow CrossCab with a genuinely hilariously bad but perhaps understandable fix.
Right now, the CrossCab is in the hands of our own Mercedes Streeter, who lives in a bitterly cold place, and has been mentioning how the top seems to be “shrinking.” That’s alarming.
We’ve known that the top’s lifespan is limited, as the power tops on these have pretty much a 100% failure rate, and now that it’s winter the consequences of this happening feel even more dire.
Happily, Merc has assured us that the top is in the up position, nice and secure. But she’s also mentioned that the fabric seems to be shrinking, and it’s pulling tighter over the ribs than usual, and that feels like a harbinger of doom.
I think that’s why seeing this tweet from my friend (and man who now owns my old Scimitar) Myron Vernis alarmed me so profoundly:
It’s important to use the right product for the job. pic.twitter.com/dEYCtOc2wI
— Myron Vernis (@MyronVernis) January 25, 2026
Now, I don’t know if Myron took this picture himself or found it, but it hardly matters because what its showing is so alarming to the CrossCab ownership community. It seems like whomever owns this CrossCab has solved the problem of the top no longer sealing to the body with some pretty liberal application of spray foam insulation, which has cured and hardened into a sort of goop that looks like a layer of pimento cheese gooped into that gap.
Now, I don’t blame whomever did this; this was clearly the result of desperation, and, even more importantly, I suspect this solution actually works, aesthetics be damned. Remember fixing this top can cost anywhere from about $2,000 to $19,000, likely far more than the value of the car, which may run just fine other than the fact that it has a huge hole in between the roof and body.
Also, I bet they could use adhesives and some flexible black plastic strips to cover that goopy cheddar-looking belt of insulation reasonably well. This is a solvable problem.
Yes, it’s terrifying to witness. But I think we all need to see this. It’s a visual reminder of engineering failures, resourcefulness, desperation, and the freedom that comes with just simply being out of fucks to donate.
This picture speaks more about the human condition than countless books on the subject, and I suggest we all take a moment to contemplate it.
Photo: X/Twitter
I know nothing about the cross cab specifically, but my experience with convertibles is that they all leak. The secret is that you have to have a working drain for the leakage to get out. The same thing with sunroofs. They aren’t supposed to be waterproof, but you need to make sure the drains work.
I’ve watched enough Pole Barn Garage to know that just about anything can be fixed with enough cans of spray foam.
The Crosscab is a boat, isn’t it? Time for some Flex Tape (from the Flex Seal group).
Phil Swift ftw!
I think Mercedes should personalize the Crosscab while she has it. It should not be that hard to modify and graft a camper top onto it. Find one of those compact pickup camper inserts (preferably corrugated aluminum for the ‘look’) and do a little cutting and fabricating then slide it on. We know she’s been eyeing inexpensive campers…do it!
Bishop, get to work on a render!
That repair is the most Texas thing in the picture, even more so than the license plate.
As a Wisconsinite, I can confirm I’ve seen many spray foam auto repair jobs here. It’s not just Texans who can half-ass a repair. 🙂
I’m thinking more in terms of “whatever the problem, throw petrochemicals at it until it’s someone else’s problem” aspect of it, but fair enough.
It might work for a bit, but I don’t think expanding foam is general is good for high vibration/flexion like a car experiences. So hopefully it holds up to that.
True, I wonder if there’s a more rubbery / flexible variant for applications that might move or shift a little over time.
For such a large gap I don’t think so, other than maybe that stretch tape that Felonious Thunk posted below me.
I’m thinking it would be easy to cut a piece of waterproof fabric to roughly fit the gap, and use some kind of flexible adhesive that can stick to it. Pricier sure, but robust with good surface prep.
It’s a modern Nissan. Anything you can’t fix with a $10 trip to Home Depot probably isn’t worth fixing.
“I suspect this solution actually works, aesthetics be damned”
Exactly what the Crosscab’s designer said when he finished penning the final rendering.
If I had one of these, I’d put my fiberglass skills to the test and make a removable hard top.
It is all good until somebody gets hurt!
Foam and duct tape are so 1990s.
This is the shit!
https://www.huberwood.com/zip-system/stretch-tape
Stretch it for that clean finished look. I think the print will come off with acetone.
The other option is Grace Ice and Water Shield. I used it for door bottoms on an old Dodge Truck. It lasted for many years until the metal underneath totally dissolved. I had sold it long before that. It was a great selling point. And all the print washed off with some acetone–the True Universal Solvent.
Reminds me of a pickup truck I saw running around with the rear fenders covered by Tyvek house wrap and some tape.