I’ve had my NC2 nearly two weeks now, and thoroughly pleased with it so far.
I gave it its first wash the other week and used autoglyms kit to clean and proof the roof after being recommended by a mate who’s had soft tops for years.
Now the roof wasn’t that bad apart from a few marks here and there, certainly couldn’t see any mould spots…
Now when I washed it I noticed the lather getting a greyish tinge to it and once it had dried you could see quite a few green mould spots and also what I think are called tide marks…???
When I got the car it came with a box in the boot full of goodies from the previous owner and it contained unopened bottles of renovo wash, proofer and reviver…
So I’m wondering if the previous owner had been unable to get rid of the mould spots so just tried to hide it by painting over it with the reviver…???
Anyhow, I’ve now tried autoglym cleaner without any joy… various strengths of Milton tablets in warm water and now the renovo cleaner but none seem to be able to shift these spots… they don’t seem as bad as they were so I’m wondering if it’s just a case of repeating the Milton and renovo steps until they’ve gone… I’m currently painting the solution on and leaving it 1 hour before lightly scrubbing the areas with a nail brush,Milton first and then the renovo, then rinsing off and letting dry…
I’ve seen a lot of recommendations for ChrisRS method that is on the forum, but I don’t have a wet n dry vac to be able to suck it out….
Any other advise would be appreciated as I’m starting to wonder if I’m expecting too much…
I think you’re now seeing the results of not thoroughly cleaning the fabric top before using a re-proofer.
You must completely clean the hood using a Milton/ soft detergent mixture applied using a nail brush to work the mixture into the fabric. You then need to rinse out the residue using lots of water. A spray head is good but a pressure washer used carefully on a low setting works best. You need to see clear water and no detergent residue flowing off the hood. Wipe over with a microfibre towel to remove as much water as possible and allow to dry. If should look good at this stage, if not repeat the process until it does. If you want the water to bead then by all means use a re proofer but be aware that this does not improve the Permeability of the roof fabric, but looks good.
Thanks alben, I’ll try a few more rounds of Milton and renovo and see what effect it has. They do seem to be fading, so as you say, they could have been sealed in of sorts if previous owners have not got the fabric clean enough…
I noticed that the autoglym kit instructed to use the re-proofer while the roof was still damp, it’s just that while the roof is damp it looks emaculate and is only once it is fully dry so you see the spots…
So maybe autoglym isn’t the best stuff unless you know there are no mould spots before you start…
Forget renovo and use a cheap hand washing detergent from a supermarket. Cheaper and probably more effective. Getting it clean in the first place is the answer.
I use Sainsburys Delicates and Hand wash detergent. A capful is sufficent and it’s much cheaper than the specialist hoods detergents. Don’t be worried when using the nail brush, you are unlikely to damage the material, unless it’s already starting to deteriorate badly. Are you using the milton and detergent separately? The need to be used together to get the best results. The secret is to get all the dirt and rubbish out of the weave and then rinse it off completely before doing anything else.
I have been using Milton on its own, 2 tabs to 5 litres of warm water, giving it 30 mins then a scrub with the nail brush followed by a good rinse. Then used the renovo cleaner…
Managed to get hold of a wet n dry vac so will give that a try
Disclaimer - I’m not a chemist or a hood cleaning expert…
… but I don’t understand why people so readily jump at using other household products instead of long established ones sold for the job. No doubt some of them work but which of the folk remedies should I trust?
Laundry detergents frequently contain bleach - unless they say they don’t, I would assume they do. Also optical brighteners and whiteners. None of which sounds a good idea to me for a black fabric roof.
I use Milton to clean out the water pipes in my caravan but not on my MX-5 hood - looking hard at the photos above it looks to me as likely that the (lighter coloured) tide marks could be where the concentration of Milton or some other previous cleaning agent has been highest and that the colour variation is more to do with fading/lightening than dirt. Uneven application of a strong cleaner maybe.
Note that Renovo also contains fungicides so you might reasonably think it can do the job of both the Milton and the laundry product.
No doubt some of the ‘specialist’ products resemble other much cheaper alternatives but I’d rather just use the dedicated product and hopefully reduce the risk of unintended consequences.
EDIT - I have checked and apparently the Renovo Ultra Proofer rather than the Soft Top Cleaner is the product that includes the fungicide and also UV protection - sorry that what I wrote above could have been misleading. As I use the two products together it makes no difference to me.
To be honest I’ve given up on the Milton tablets. I kind of expected them to get the spots out quite easily yes they still persist…
The tide marks and slight variation in colour only became noticeable after I gave it the first clean with autoglym products, so they were certainly there before I tried the Milton tabs…
I’ve given it two more cleans with Renovo today and managed to get hold of a wet n dry vac to help suck out the muck. Although to be fair there isn’t much muck coming out of it anymore…
The spots do seem to be fading slightly so maybe it just requires patience and a few more washes, although looking closely it almost looks like the spots are sealed in to the hood… hopefully will have a better idea at the weekend and might be at a stage to put some reviver on it…. Ultimately it’s not the end of the world for me if I can’t remove them fully as the roof is always down when I use the car, but it would be nice to know the roof is clean and mould/stain free… (it’s 12 years old so can’t really expect it to be perfect)
Thanks for everyone’s advice and comments on this…
So, I’ve now tried another 3 attempts at getting these darn spots off the roof without really any success. I managed to get hold of a wet n dry vac, and although the hood as a whole looks a lot better I’m still left with these blumin spots. Straight after the hood has been vacuumed it looks perfect, but as it fully dry’s out they slowly appear.
Starting to think it might be something other than mould and was just well hidden under reviver and proofed by the previous owner……?
So I think I’m resigned to one last blast at getting them out and then it will probably be on to the reviver and proofer
Yeah I think I must have given the hood 6/7 full cleans now, 4 with the wet vac too. I do keep holding out hope that once it’s fully dry the spots will start to diminish but they persist… surely they should have started to disappear by now, even the small ones….
