Recommendations for convertible top treatment

What (if anything) do you use to clean/treat convertible top?
Anything to avoid?

jeff

wrote:
> What (if anything) do you use to clean/treat convertible top?
> Anything to avoid?
>
> jeff

I just use soap and water, and Simple Green every once in a while if it
is getting really dirty. That purple stuff works well too, anything that
isn't too harsh.
I use a large soft-bristle brush, but have used a cotton rag with good
results too.

Avoid Armor-All.
I had a friendly neighbor "help" me one time by slathering my top in
that stuff as payback for showing him how to do a few things to pep up
his miata. :-/
It is not something that you want on your top..........

Pat

for cloth tops i recommend 303 products. specifically there is something
called '303 convertible top cleaner' and '303 high tech fabric guard.' they
can be purchased separately or together in a kit. amazon.com has great
prices on them. this product is what hartz, the near exclusive maker of all
soft top fabrics, has recommended for years. recently they started to
recommend something else called 'ragtop' which i have also used. this year
ragtop changed their spray nozzle and made it impossible to use outdoors as
the mist is so fine that it is blow away it even the most gentle of a
breeze. and even though i applied it in a garage it failed to make my top
bead water (rain). when i contacted the manufacture about why the new
formula failed to work when it had worked the last time i has used it they
were less than professional to say the least. that drove me to try the 303
products and i am very pleased with the results. the top beads water again.
the 303 product has been around for over 20 years so must be doing something
right. if you have a vinyl top i know the cleaner will work for you but i
think you might want the '303 aerospace protectant' for uv protection and
waterproofing if necessary (not the high tech fabric guard). cloth tops are
much higher maintenance than vinyl so the protectant is not nearly as
critical on vinyl as it is on cloth tops.

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> What (if anything) do you use to clean/treat convertible top?
> Anything to avoid?
>
> jeff
>

Ditto for the 303 aerospace. My dealer recommended it for my first
vinyl top and I use it on my second one, too. Water beads, and it keeps
that nice dark black color nice and dark black. Spray on, wipe/rub off.
I do it about once a month.

On Jan 22, 7:40 pm, " > wrote:
> What (if anything) do you use to clean/treat convertible top?
> Anything to avoid?
>
> jeff

Carol wrote:
> Ditto for the 303 aerospace. My dealer recommended it for my first
> vinyl top and I use it on my second one, too. Water beads, and it keeps
> that nice dark black color nice and dark black. Spray on, wipe/rub off.
> I do it about once a month.
>
> On Jan 22, 7:40 pm, " > wrote:
>> What (if anything) do you use to clean/treat convertible top?
>> Anything to avoid?
>>
>> jeff
>
What about the fabric tops like that ofmy'03 SE?

"Randy Maheux" > wrote in message
...
> Carol wrote:
>> Ditto for the 303 aerospace. My dealer recommended it for my first
>> vinyl top and I use it on my second one, too. Water beads, and it keeps
>> that nice dark black color nice and dark black. Spray on, wipe/rub off.
>> I do it about once a month.
>>
>> On Jan 22, 7:40 pm, " > wrote:
>>> What (if anything) do you use to clean/treat convertible top?
>>> Anything to avoid?
>>>
>>> jeff
>>
> What about the fabric tops like that ofmy'03 SE?

red my post above. 'cloth' = fabric.
for cloth tops: 303 convertible top cleaner to clean, 303 high tech fabric
guard to protect from uv and waterproofing.
for vinyl tops: 303 convertible top cleaner to clean, 303 areospace
protectant to protect from uv and waterproofing.
despite recently being recommended by haartz (the dominate maker of
vinyl/cloth fabrics) ragtop brand products suck and cost more. 303 was
their recommended product for over 20 years. seems that money is probable
cause for their new endorsement as the product doesn't work as well.
and the oxo feathered-tip wash brush is popular among detailers for cleaning
soft tops. amazon sells all of these products.

wrote:
> What (if anything) do you use to clean/treat convertible top?
> Anything to avoid?

We usually use Renovo products in the UK. Don't know if you can get
them where you are. Armor All makes vinyl tops very shiny but is not
supposed to be all that good for them in the long run.

The top cleaner ans treatment is from "RaggTopp". They sell it for
eather top you want. Be sure you buy the correct treatment for the type
of top you have. You can't use one on the other kind of top.

I have used RaggTopp on my Garnet Red LS top and it did a fantastic job
of cleaning and waterproofing the cloth top.

Bruce Bing '03 LS

Go to "RaggTopp" and get their kit, cleaner and treatment for a cloth
top. You will love it ! The top on my 2003 Garnet Red LS was dark and
needed cleaning, I used RaggTopp and it came out just like a new top
looked.

Bruce Bing '03 LS

i am glad that it worked for you but did you use it in the fall of 2006?
i had successfully used it before too, in 2005, but they did something to
the nozzel and the formula last year that has ruined the product. and the
company did not stand behind their product and were completely
unprofessional about it. i contacted them after it failed to bead water
like it had done the previous time i had used it and first they said i must
not have put enough protectant on the top. then they said that i probably
put on too much. and then they sent an email written in all capital letters
which was nothing short of insane. i won't repeated it publicly as nobody
should talk that way to anybody, certainly not a company to a customer. i
would think they would want to know when the application of their product
fails in the field but what i learned is that this company appears to be run
by a creep with a bad attitude and poor social skills. if you read the
direction on the can you can tell how little thought went into them.
compare that to the directions listed on the 303 products and you can see
the difference in professionalism. 303 is a set of mature products that
work great and had been recommended for over 20 year by haartz. ragtop is a
new product with a company that does not give a crap about you or your car
and i can only guess that they paid haartz for their endorsement which will
probably come back to haunt them.

"BRUCE HASKIN" > wrote in message
...
> The top cleaner ans treatment is from "RaggTopp". They sell it for
> eather top you want. Be sure you buy the correct treatment for the type
> of top you have. You can't use one on the other kind of top.
>
> I have used RaggTopp on my Garnet Red LS top and it did a fantastic job
> of cleaning and waterproofing the cloth top.
>
> Bruce Bing '03 LS
>