Any tricks for cracked MX5 rear screen???

Nah, its shagged and staying that way til you replace the screen or more likely the hood. The tape is as good of a fix as you'll get.

A whole new hood is about £150, and it's unlikely you'll be able to buy a new screen to zip into your hood. Best plan is to just save up and replace the whole thing!

I don't know if it would be any cheaper, but what about using some anti break-in film over the whole rear screen, wouldn't look any better as you'd still see the crack, but would seal it up pretty well

I was looking for repair kits for my roof on ebay (my screen is ok) and found a lot of screen repair kits. I've no idea how well they work, but a roof re-skin is a PITA job that would take most of a day. The other option is to get a good roof already on a frame, then it's a bolt on job.

It's very much attached along the bottom seam. It's only zipped around the top and the sides for dropping the screen down. Having said that, lots of these hood repair/replacement companies can change the rear screens pretty easily if the rest of the hood is in good condition.

The biggest problem is age. Once they start getting brittle there's nothing you can do. A nice fresh screen will happily fold day in day out without being unzipped but as soon as it starts to get brittle they start cracking. You can't remedy the brittleness once it's there. Yellowing of the screen is a sure sign that craking is on its way.

Colder weather is also a screen killer - in the warm sunny weather, the plastic is more flexible but as soon as it's cold, if the screen is old and sun baked it's very likely to crack.

I think it's somewhere in the region of about £60 for a replacement rear screen so not the end of the world?

There's a place opposite my unit that does heated glass panels that just zip in i think.

I can make enquiries if you like.

Al.

It won't zip straight in I'm afraid. I've had an MX5 hood apart and removing the screen where it joins to the rain channel and to the main hood section is a real ballache. You'll need to drill some rivets out and get the ends of the zip undone etc....you'll pretty much be undoing most of the rear mounts and might even find it easier to remove the roof assembly completely rather than try and do it in situ.

After having taken an MX5 hood apart in the past, I certainly wouldn't want to do it myself and I'm not afraid of taking on most jobs. Also, be very careful when working on the rain channel, they are pretty fragile and can be brittle. Once they're split you'll end up with a lot of water getting into the car.

I hope I'm not putting you off, but please be aware, it's a lot more involved than just undoing a zip and doing another one up.

I did have an idea I might be able to stanley knife round the outside of old one leaving 1 inch then cut the new one out and bond it in if its going to be difficult.
Bit of a bodge I know but this truly is just a fun car it does not have to be pretty.