13 replies to this topic

['Buchos']

[font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"]I used Renovo to put some life into the black soft top I bought, but I also had the original blue soft top which was in much better shape than the black one and I wasn’t using it simply because I thought the blue looked like a faded black top when on the car.[/font]

[font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"]So I hunted through some forums to see if ppl were changing soft top colours with Renovo and they were. The key is using quite an aggressive solvent to remove any added waterproofing. The cleaner I got smelled like nail varnish remover so was probably largely acetone based with a few other detergents to dilute it.[/font]

 

[font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"][/font]

 

[font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"]Once cleaned and allowed to dry  the material had a very matt look to it. I applied two coats of Renovo Black, let it dry for a few days and applied another coat. The colour change could be seen after the first coat, I let the dye dry completely and moved on to waterproofing.[/font]

 

[font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"][/font]

 

[font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"]I’d used waterproofing from AutoGlym etc in the past and thought it was a bit weak as the water still soaked into the fabric quite a bit when it rained. I’ve had much better results from Fabsil, which is for canvas tents. [/font]

 

[color=#000000;]This Fabsil isn’t dolphin friendly eco warrior water based nonsense its got paraffin and wax and all sorts of smelly chemicals so actually works. Two coats of Fabsil (which is less than 10% of this tin) applied with a paint brush quickly soaked into the material and after drying has a nice matt finish and water sits on top of it.[/color]

 

[color=#000000;][/color]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

['Buchos']

[color=#000000;][font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"]This is the result below. A fresh new looking black soft top, that actually appears taughter after this process, even though in these pics the tension wires are loosened.[/color][/font]

 

[color=#000000;][font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"][/color][/font]

 

[color=#000000;][font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"][/color][/font]

 

 

[color=#000000;][font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"]Not sure if this info is any use to anyone, but thought I'd post it up anyway [/color][/font]

[DanGT]

That looks great! Nice work. I guess the autoglym stuff is designed as more of a top up thing than a treatment. Did you have to adjust the tightness of the roof after any of the stages?

['Buchos']

That looks great! Nice work. I guess the autoglym stuff is designed as more of a top up thing than a treatment. Did you have to adjust the tightness of the roof after any of the stages?

 

 

I loosened it off so I could get in under the edges, then just marginally tightened it and it seems fine. To the touch the whole thing just seems a fresher and more taught somehow. I imagine a lot of Autoglym and other cleaners/proofers are necessarily mild so they don't ruin someones brand new lambo spider soft top that didn't really need cleaned anyway

 

(I had tried doing the colour change off the car, but was worried the dye would pool and give a patchy finish.)

[Tony H]

That's a good result.

 

Whenever I try cleaning my roofs I just get never ending green sludge.

[Hark]

Need to do this. Have some renovo black in the garage. Bought it about three years ago, does it go off?? Any chance you've got a link to the cleaner you used??

[iain3915]

That's a good result.

 

Whenever I try cleaning my roofs I just get never ending green sludge.

 

I looked into this when the soft top on my Mum's MX5 was turning green in places (i.e. not just green dirt coming out when washing but actually appearing green).  Milton sterilising tablets worked brilliantly at getting rid of the mould and they are very cheap - http://www.boots.com/en/Milton-Sterilising-Tablets-28-Pack_25422/?cm_mmc=pla-_-google-_-PLAs-_-Boots+Shopping+-+Category+-+Baby 

[Tony H]

[font="'Futura-Medium', Futura, 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"]The key is using quite an aggressive solvent to remove any added waterproofing. The cleaner I got smelled like nail varnish remover so was probably largely acetone based with a few other detergents to dilute it.[/font]

 

 

What product exactly? Going to have a go at this next week.

 

 

What

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Tony H, 28 August 2015 - 09:33 AM.

['Buchos']

Sail and Canvas cleaners will do it. In future I'd prob just mix up a weak detergent/acetone and water mix.

[jim61]

Try cleaning roof off the car - across a bench or why to support the fabric , just use something fairly mild but then use a wet vacuum cleaner to suck up the runoff ( 😄) Autoglym seems ok for me but the feckin squirtey nozzle keeps blocking 😦 Next time its Industrial Fabsil here 👍

[p4cks]

Word of warning for the red soft top owners - if you're looking to refresh yours (red to red, not red to black) then I'd not recommend Renovo. I used it and it completely ruined my soft top and I ended up having to replace it! I followed the instructions to the letter having read various reviews with various results but alas, still absolutely fcuked.

 

I do use Fabsil though - it's cracking stuff and you can probably do about 10 VX roofs with the amount you get.

[coople]

Can you turn a red roof black.  Looking at the results it looks possible.. HMMM

[MartinS]

I too would like to know what exactly was used to strip off the old waterproofer as need to do this to my blue roof. I re painted it blue last year but it hasn't worked well and looks tired now.

 

Martin S

 

Edited by MartinS, 06 September 2015 - 07:40 AM.

[Kieran McC]

Be careful when using some solvents as they can attack the thread stitching , Not the actual roof material