patently Posted April 3, 2011 Report Share Posted April 3, 2011 The 911 is now 7 years old... hardly seems a day since I collected it from the OPC though. The age is visible to the close observer, both in the form of the numerous stone chips on the front bumper (must stop tailgating lanehoggers...) and in the very flat roof. Water beading on the roof is a fast-fading memory. So it's time to do something about that. Vertar.com publish a useful roof care guide which makes it sound easy, so I've bought some Renovo cleaner and proofer from them. So far this morning I've covered over the rest of the car, daubed the roof with the cleaner, and rinsed it off. It's now drying, hopefully it will finish that before we get any rain Any tips & suggestions for the proofing stage will obviously be warmly received Covered up & ready to go Nice & sudsy. Just need to get all that out, now Looking rather cleaner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted April 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2011 The roof dried out nicely, so I went out with the lint roller and cleaned up. It had a good going over with that about 2 weeks ago prior to waxing the car, and has been in the garage since then. Amazing how much junk gets there the moment it goes outside... Then the masking tape came out,for the plastic edge trims, the seals, and the back window. It started to look like rain, so halfway through the plastic got rolled back so that the car could roll forward back into the garage. The wet stages are done, we don't need to be outside any more. Back inside, all taped up So with everything taped up, on went the proofing gunk. It's thinner than I expected, but that means it goes on more easily than I thought. As Vertar suggest, I did the seams first then started at the front middle and worked backwards and outwards. It's quite easy to see where you've been, as the liquid soaks in and darkens the fabric nicely. Hope it dries nicely I'm going to leave the masking there for an hour or so while I see how it dries, in case any bits need a second coat. I'm especially concerned about the front edge, as that is the hardest part to avoid washing when cleaning the car. You need to do the windscreen and the frame, which runs smoothly onto the roof without any ridges to keep the wash mitt back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelwind101 Posted April 3, 2011 Report Share Posted April 3, 2011 Hi, How is it looking now? The bugger i found with soft tops is its the dirt that kills them, it gets in deep if you dont keep them clean and then it causes the rot and mould. In some cases you need to use some mould killer to be sure you have killed everything off! The bugger i always found with putting anything on the roof to clean it is that you have to rinse it out and if you dont it shows through when you try to protect it....! Even if its dirty, if you keep in the garage and out of the rain it should not be to much trouble. Post up some finished pics! Geoff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted April 3, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 3, 2011 She lives in the garage, so she avoids at least some of the dirt. Most of the road dirt gets splashed onto the bottom half of the bodywork, the top half stays quite clean even though she's relatively low. No sign of any mould or the like, thank heavens. It's drying slowly now, probably because she's in the garage. It just started raining heavily, so I'm glad she went back in. So far, things are looking good, much more glossy than before, and very uniform. I'll put some pics up when there's some light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jediknight83 Posted April 3, 2011 Report Share Posted April 3, 2011 Just spent 3 days on an old neglected A4 cab. The roof was green from sitting under trees. I didnt find the renovo cleaner very effective on the really ingrained stuff (even though i left it soaking for a good 90 mins with plastic sheeting wrapped around the roof to keep it moist while the cleaner was supposed to be working) Ended up using a strong mix of autoglyms interior fabric cleaner and a short stiff bristled brush and kept washing and rinsing till all the green was gone (you have to let it dry to really see if its all gone as when its wet its impossible to see.. a couple of times I thought I'd got it all and then when it was dry you could see a few patches still) Once it was ACTUALLY all clean i protected it with Gtechniq fabric guard. Not my favourite cleaning job in the world but makes a massive difference to the car when its done right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patently Posted May 2, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2011 It worked! Just noticed this beading on the fabric roof - I have a waterproof roof again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OGWT Posted May 4, 2011 Report Share Posted May 4, 2011 Drying • Dry with a waffle weave Micro fibre towel using a blotting motion to dry excess moisture. • Allow the fabric to dry for as long as possible (preferably 24-hours) before using the protectant. An hour or two isn’t long enough, it may feel dry but that’s only the uppermost surface layer (using a protectant on a damp fabric will ‘seal in’ the moisture and encourage the formation of mildew) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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