Cleaning a soft top

[robin mckee]

Hi All

After cleaning my E220 cab, I noticed the soft top was a little grubby with small patches of green, does anybody have any advice to the best way to clean the soft top.

Many thanks

Robin

 

[Blobcat]

The Autoglym soft top cleaning kit is very good.

You can also gently use a scrubbing brush to get rid of the green

 

[robin mckee]

The Autoglym soft top cleaning kit is very good.

You can also gently use a scrubbing brush to get rid of the green

Great, thanks Blobcat

 

[Wearsafoxhat]

Try some Milton sterilising fluid for the algae. Use 50/50 with water. Do a test bit somewhere first then rinse well.
The AG kit is good as is Renova.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Chrishazle]

Standard response to this question runs 50/50 between AG and Renovo. Depends on exactly what you want to do. First up is clean - scrubbing brush/sponge, Milton water or Renovo soap (and loads of water, it takes forever to wash off and stop the soap suds as you rinse but is good). Re-colour? Beware, and mask up thoroughly, I've only used Renovo on my 968 cab, it's thinner than water and gets everywhere, easy to remove when wet but a pig when dry. Reproof - AG or Renovo works well, as does Fabsil from a camping shop.

When I first got the 968 cab, I did the full Renovo 3 stage clean/recolour/reproof, it lasted very well, but the big lesson was RTFM!! Amongst other instructions it says, after re-colour, do not fold the roof for at least 24 hours or you'll get light coloured crease marks. Guess who didn't RTFM!!

 

[fabes]

Before you consider recolouring, try using Fabsil to proof it. It will add a level of 'colour' or richness to it, as well as actually proofing it.
Milton's blue gets the green off best, but the AG kit is quite good though

You will have to wash the Fabsil off if you decide to still colour it

I, like Chris H, had a bad experience with colouring (a dry line set in)

 

[philreed52]

Before you consider recolouring, try using Fabsil to proof it. It will add a level of 'colour' or richness to it, as well as actually proofing it.
Milton's blue gets the green off best, but the AG kit is quite good though

You will have to wash the Fabsil off if you decide to still colour it

I, like Chris H, had a bad experience with colouring (a dry line set in)

Hi I have been in outdoor trade ( folding campers etc)for 30 plus years and something I have learned is Do not use house hold detergents on canvas type materials as
It destroys the ability for it to accept a reproofing agent efficiently . Fabsil is good but use paint on not aerosol as it does not have UV inhibitor due to propellant .if really shabby contact the company STORM waterproofing I'm sure they manufacture a product for that which re colours (the owner is ex md from Graingers that make fabsil) There is as mentioned kits to re do the job but never used those. Might just add that fabsil is silicon based and if applied you cannot afterwards apply something else without cleaning it off.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Wighty]

I normally wet the roof with a hose , then check half a bucket over it which has 2 Milton tablets in it . Leave this for 10 mins , then spray a roof cleaner spray on it (any make I have) and rub with a soft brush .
Leave for another 10 mins , scrub it again and then rinse .
Leave overnight to dry , then depending on how it looks I will either Fabsil , it or Renovo colour it then Fabsil it .
I used to tape up when using Renovo , but it takes longer to do that than it does to paint . Tip some Renovo into a empty plastic ice cream or butter pot , then use a 3 inch brush.
Keep a damp micro fibre handy for any paint flicks . Do this in the shade when the roof isn’t hot and you shouldn’t have any dry line issues .
I did a friends 20 year old Jag roof that had never been done before , I used Milton tablets , a bottle of roof cleaner , 2 x Renovo roof cleaner , 2 coats of colour and a Renovo proofed and it looked like new

 

[Mark A]

Always swore by the Renovo stuff when I had my CLK430 convertible.

 

[Flyinspanner]

Recently done our CLK. (first lockdown job)

Scrubbed it with a Milton solution first.

I used the Renovo cleaner, recolour, and Ultraproofer. Very pleased with the results.
Get an old icecream / takeaway dish and a 2” brush...
don’t put too much fluid in the pot, makes life easier, wear rubber gloves.

I used clingfilm to protect windows and bodywork, get a mist sprayer and the clingfilm sticks really easy, and comes off easily.

 

[robin mckee]

Try some Milton sterilising fluid for the algae. Use 50/50 with water. Do a test bit somewhere first then rinse well.
The AG kit is good as is Renova.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Thanks Wearsafoxhat

 

[robin mckee]

Standard response to this question runs 50/50 between AG and Renovo. Depends on exactly what you want to do. First up is clean - scrubbing brush/sponge, Milton water or Renovo soap (and loads of water, it takes forever to wash off and stop the soap suds as you rinse but is good). Re-colour? Beware, and mask up thoroughly, I've only used Renovo on my 968 cab, it's thinner than water and gets everywhere, easy to remove when wet but a pig when dry. Reproof - AG or Renovo works well, as does Fabsil from a camping shop.

When I first got the 968 cab, I did the full Renovo 3 stage clean/recolour/reproof, it lasted very well, but the big lesson was RTFM!! Amongst other instructions it says, after re-colour, do not fold the roof for at least 24 hours or you'll get light coloured crease marks. Guess who didn't RTFM!!

Thanks chrishazle, oops
I wasn’t planning on recolouring but guess that decision will be made once I have cleaned it .. is the roof waterproofing safe when using Milton tablets?

 

[robin mckee]

Before you consider recolouring, try using Fabsil to proof it. It will add a level of 'colour' or richness to it, as well as actually proofing it.
Milton's blue gets the green off best, but the AG kit is quite good though

You will have to wash the Fabsil off if you decide to still colour it

I, like Chris H, had a bad experience with colouring (a dry line set in)

 

[robin mckee]

Thanks Fabes, ok, so if I ultimately wish to colour maybe Fabsil isn’t the best wateproofer?

 

[robin mckee]

Hi I have been in outdoor trade ( folding campers etc)for 30 plus years and something I have learned is Do not use house hold detergents on canvas type materials as
It destroys the ability for it to accept a reproofing agent efficiently . Fabsil is good but use paint on not aerosol as it does not have UV inhibitor due to propellant .if really shabby contact the company STORM waterproofing I'm sure they manufacture a product for that which re colours (the owner is ex md from Graingers that make fabsil) There is as mentioned kits to re do the job but never used those. Might just add that fabsil is silicon based and if applied you cannot afterwards apply something else without cleaning it off.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Thanks Philreed52, I may consider recolouring depending how the good looks after cleaning/reproofing, what cleaner would you recommend?

 

[robin mckee]

I normally wet the roof with a hose , then check half a bucket over it which has 2 Milton tablets in it . Leave this for 10 mins , then spray a roof cleaner spray on it (any make I have) and rub with a soft brush .
Leave for another 10 mins , scrub it again and then rinse .
Leave overnight to dry , then depending on how it looks I will either Fabsil , it or Renovo colour it then Fabsil it .
I used to tape up when using Renovo , but it takes longer to do that than it does to paint . Tip some Renovo into a empty plastic ice cream or butter pot , then use a 3 inch brush.
Keep a damp micro fibre handy for any paint flicks . Do this in the shade when the roof isn’t hot and you shouldn’t have any dry line issues .
I did a friends 20 year old Jag roof that had never been done before , I used Milton tablets , a bottle of roof cleaner , 2 x Renovo roof cleaner , 2 coats of colour and a Renovo proofed and it looked like new

Thanks wighty, what’s your preferred roof cleaner?

 

[robin mckee]

Recently done our CLK. (first lockdown job)

Scrubbed it with a Milton solution first.

I used the Renovo cleaner, recolour, and Ultraproofer. Very pleased with the results.
Get an old icecream / takeaway dish and a 2” brush...
don’t put too much fluid in the pot, makes life easier, wear rubber gloves.

I used clingfilm to protect windows and bodywork, get a mist sprayer and the clingfilm sticks really easy, and comes off easily.

Great tip with the cling film Flyinspanner, thanks

 

[Wighty]

Thanks wighty, what’s your preferred roof cleaner?

I think the Renovo cleaner is excellent and strong enough to get the really dirty jobs done , but if the roof looks pretty good with almost no green i would get Milton tablets and any cheap convertible roof cleaner from wherever you can these days . Halfords , eBay , Amazon

 

[Wighty]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Auto-Fin...109907&hash=item46952612b2:g:aEEAAOSwo-5c1VPl
as an example

 

[robin mckee]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Auto-Fin...109907&hash=item46952612b2:g:aEEAAOSwo-5c1VPl
as an example

great, thanks Wighty