What do all you fine people use to treat/clean your hood on your rag tops? Names of products would be good, or do you just brush them? Thanks again
Hi C14RKY, Looking into this for my MK4 cabrio as it has some greenish looking discolouration in patches on the cloth hood. Much prefer the Vinyl hood on my Mk1 as it is easier to keep clean! I'll let you know if I hear anything soon.
i have amohair and use a special hood treatment kit. Its firstly a spray that you spray on(cleaner) when the hood is damp. Then you wash it off. When it is dry again you use the second spray which keeps the hood supple. But i cant remember for the life of me who makes it
Best way to do this is with some decent car shampoo without wax in it. You will make up a wash mix but with TWICE the normal amount of shampoo in it. You will also need a nail brush, but the ones with the natural bristles that are soft and don't scratch. If you rub it across you hand and it scratches then that is not the one too use, it must feel soft. Wash the hood with the wash mix using one of those car sponges with the very fine cells, that hold a lot of water, as they are very soft as well. Wet the roof with the mix and then using the nail brush gently rub the whole roof, paying attention to the areas that have muck on then. Rinse the roof off well and get most of the water off using a synthetic chammy or a drying cloth. Let the roof dry out now in the warmth. Now is the important bit! You must reproof the roof, to get it's water repellent nature back. Get hold of some Scotchguard protector for this. You must mask off the entire roof from the bodywork and windows and frames using masking tape and newspaper. You don't want to get the overspray on these areas. Once you have done that you can proceed with spraying the roof. Refer to the instructions for the distance to spray from but most likely 30cms. Spray the whole woor in one direction using a side to side motion and pay attention to the seams. Now rotate your spraying of the roof by 90 degrees and spray the whole roof again, paying attention to the seams again. So basically spray it first in one direction, bonnet to boot, and then second time left to right. Let this dry off and then remove all the masking. Job done. Also, you should not wash the hood every time you wash the car normally, otherwise the proofing deteriorates very quickly. If you want any more info please PM/email me. john. Edited by: john_wintle
Just what the doctor ordered, was looking into this myself, and it follows what I was told when the new hoods were fitted. Also someone recently posted a link to this site, which, although in Yankee Land seems quite good: ProperAutoCare
Here, thanks everyone, much appreciated! I have a brand new hood on my motor but the worlds largest bird must have flown over head and dropped a load. wasn't sure how to clean as i havent had to yet! I'll get to it cheers
Still waiting on getting splatted with the roof down! All over the recaros! in fact I might look into getting an air rifle just in case! Has anyone been shat on whilst having some top down fun? Any stories? Oh and special mention to john wintle for his advice! Its appreciated the time you must have taken to reply! Edited by: C14RKY
I'm still waiting for the inevitable bombing from a seagull or the like. Got rained on today though in a freak heavy downpour near Farnborough in the Mk4 [:^(] BTW, Thanks John for the excellent advice, Will try to do this soon to mine.
I have been tempted to put roof down this week as well but the weather, as you say, is laughing in our faces! I decided patience was the key! Sounds like you should have as well! Thats a bummer! As for seagulls! I just have to go through my local drive thru mcdonalds and its like bloody target practise! I've even witnessed one of the bleeders fly to a car window and take a burger out of someone hand! seaguls these days! Edited by: C14RKY
