Well, after a couple of weeks of (wife’s) mx5 ownership, i had a chance to clean it. The roof is in decent condition (2007) but there are bits of green on it and grime down the side, especially noticeable when? the roof’s down.
Tried the Milton’s/Johnson’s baby bath method with a soft nail brush, but there’s still quite a bit of green. Don’t want to get too aggressive with the scrubbing, so I reckon it’ll need a bit more. Do i just bite the bullet and buy a megulairs/autoglym/renovo roof product? Will one of these do the magic.
Also a few stone chips bonnet area (white showing) and light scratches around the car especially under drivers handle. Without going down the route of getting an expert detailer, should i (she) just live with it or are there ‘magic’ polishes. It’s a blue icon edition.
Oh and by the way we’re finding MX5 ownership a hoot, what a great car. Kids always fighting to get mam to give them a lift.
I use this Mazda hood cleaner and agitate with a firm sponge or firmish bristle brush, it works really well.You can also buy this product from Mazda Dealerships for the same price.
For the small chips try a genuine Mazda touch up kit. It comes with the paint and a clear lacquer, again you can purchase this from a Mazda Dealership.
I have the same green problem on my 2007 icon fabric hood.tried the wonder wheels kit.not great.so have bought the auto glim hood cleaning kit.will let you know.
I’ve been advised to never jet wash a fabric hood. The ‘green’ on the hood is difficult to remove and I can’t recommend a sure-fire way to remove it. You will just have to keep trying.
Last year I bought a Z3 that looked in need of a new top. Over all a dirty grey, lots of green slime and a bird’s toilet. Jet washed the worst of the ingrained dirt then scrubbed it with Renovo cleaner and followed up with Renovo colour restorer and waterproofer (probably not essential) and it looked like a new roof. All in all took about two hours and a year later it still looks perfect (it’s my son’s car now)
I’m on my second MX-5 now. Due partly to my parking situation, both times I have chosen coupe (PRHT) versions, and reading about all this hassle with soft tops and green algae etc, I’m glad I did. I had no idea that soft tops were so troublesome.
There was another thread about soft tops a few weeks ago, where some owners suggested that they should be specially cleaned and reproofed twice a year if left outside to the mercy of the elements - presumably all in addition to normal car washing !
Sorry gentlemen, I know a lot of you insist that cars like MX-5s should always have soft tops, but reading all these posts about them, I’m not so sure they’re worth the hassle.
Chris, you don’t know what you’re missing with your PRHT - especially as Spring is finally here!
Let’s keep things in perspective here - a couple of posts in the last few months about problems with keeping soft tops in good condition is hardly a sound basis for condemning them as not “worth the hassle”, when tens of thousands of other '5 owners are entirely happy with their soft tops.
As is often the case with forums, and with internet reviews, people are more likely to take the web when they have problems, wish to complain, or seek solutions from other users.
Imagine if everyone who was completely happy with their convertible roof posted here, telling us so.
I’ve had my 2008 NC since October 2014 and have cleaned the roof twice using the Autoglym fabric roof kit, It doesn’t take long to do and the water beading after is amazing.
My personal opinion is the roof is only there for when the car is parked and in the worst of downpours - it spends most of it’s life folded!
Glad you wrote in - I love a good debate, don’t you ?
You’re quite right about people often only writing in when they have a problem, but you must admit, there have been rather a lot of postings recently about the care and cleaning of soft tops.
I’ve only been an OC member since last November, so perhaps it’s a seasonal thing, with people only asking for advice about this kind of problem at this time of year. Perhaps after I’ve been a member for many years, I will get to realise a pattern of sorts, and not be so concerned when a spate of postings about the same problem crop up all at the same time.
Incidentally, what exactly, in your opinion, am I missing with my PRHT ? To me, it’s the best of both worlds - a snug little saloon-car type feeling with the lid on, and the joys of topless motoring with the lid off. I can’t really see why a soft top should be preferable.
Truth be told, you’re probably not missing anything with your posh power roof, Chris.
My problem is that my first few cars (from the age of 17-21) were MG Midgets and Triumph Vitesse convertibles - which only ever had their (soft top) roofs up when parked, or when driving in pouring rain. My mum used to think I was bonkers. That devil-may-care, maverick sense of throwing the roof back in seconds, and the slight, uneasy, perilous, vulnerable feeling when the roof was up, left a strong impression on me, and I suppose I’ve grown up with a slight sense of inverted snobbery towards any new-fangled auto roof. I’ve always admired and favoured light, simply and elegantly engineered cars, and tend to view powered roofs (why don’t we say ‘rooves’?) as the antithesis of that.
I do know what you mean about the ‘snug little saloon-car type feeling’ though - I’ve softened with the passing years, and have a hard top for my daily driver (only because it came with the car when I bought it). It’s high time it came off for the summer - but I’ll miss the cosiness.
Thanks for all the tips (and a heated debate too). There’s certainly lots of differing views.
I’m going to try the autoglym kit first & if no luck there I’ll crack out the jetwash, although i don’t feel as if the roof warrants that (I’ve seen alot worse) is a jetwash ok to use? Re the jetwash, it’s a nilfisk, any suggestions for one of those snow foam nozzles (the one that came with it isn’t very ‘foamy’)
[quote=Leejacmx5]
Thanks for all the tips (and a heated debate too). There's certainly lots of differing views. I'm going to try the autoglym kit first & if no luck there I'll crack out the jetwash, although i don't feel as if the roof warrants that (I've seen alot worse) is a jetwash ok to use? Re the jetwash, it's a nilfisk, any suggestions for one of those snow foam nozzles (the one that came with it isn't very 'foamy')
[/quote]
I think the green grunge can get worse if there is dirt in the roof weave. It does not come out with normal washing and that’s where the pressure washer comes in. My Z3 roof was awful when I bought the car but after a good scrub with Renovo I used my pressure washer on it each time the car was washed to blast the dust and dirt out. Although it was parked under a large Sycamore tree avery day I had no more issues with gunge and no problems with the 14 year old roof. My son now has the car and the roof is still perfect. Now I have my ND I still run over the roof with the pressure washer and have had no issues. Never thought I would until I saw some of the NEVER USE A PRESSURE WASHER posts.
I use a Karcher K7 which is pretty powerful and was perfectly capable of removing paint from plastic bumpers (on my Hyundai Coupe and Merc A class) so as with all tools, a bit of care is needed. For foam I had a Karcher foam gun which sort of OK. Recently I bought a Detailers United gun from Amazon. It does a much better job and has a larger capacity. It is also available with a variety of connector for different brands of pressure washer.
Hi Mate, go for a good spring clean on the roof, in readiness for the summer. Buy a Renovo three stage cleaning kit (clean, paint and seal) do it properly and your hood will look like new. Some years ago bought a Mk3 with green algae problems, used the above thoroughly and did the trick. Good luck
