Clean and waterproof your convertible top with these easy-to-use products
As anyone with a modern convertible car will know, it’s hard to keep the top looking smart, with bird droppings and tree fallout to battle, plus the neighbour’s cat finding the sun-warmed fabric the perfect place to nap. And even if you have the luxury of a garage for winter, it’s surprising how grimy the roof can become with a few months’ worth of dust.
On older cars with vinyl roofs it’s a simple task to scrub the dirt, sap and cat fur away, but if you’ve got a fabric roof, heavy duty scrubbing never seems like a good idea. All of which meant that when Fabsil reminded us that its well-known fabric cleaning and waterproofing products are ideally suited to automotive use as well as camping gear, we jumped at the chance to try it out.
Testing
Our guinea pig for the Fabsil products was a new MINI roadster with the black mohair roof which although in good condition had suffered from living outside. We’d cleaned it with soap and water, but patches of lichen were still visible and it looked noticeably patchy when dry.
It didn’t warrant a re-colouring treatment but clearly needed a proper clean, so we started with Fabsil’s Tent & Awning Cleaner. The brand name will be familiar from outdoors gear, but the makers claim it’s suitable for pretty much all fabrics, including Nylon, Polyester, Cotton Canvas, Hessian, Mohair, Ventile, Polycotton, and Ripstop.
The product is diluted using two capfuls per 5 litres of water and is then applied with a brush before rinsing off with water and we found a soft brush was all that was needed to agitate it sufficiently to get the dirt off.
For a proper job, we worked the brush into the corners and seams, after which we left it to dry naturally in the sun. The result was impressive, with the various stains having disappeared without the need for aggressive scrubbing and the roof taking on a consistent colour.
Naturally, having cleaned the roof we wanted to keep it looking smart and Fabsil had provided a can of their Universal Protector, which provides a waterproofing treatment and also includes a UV blocker.
The product is used neat and can be applied either by spray or brush and to avoid getting it on the glass we opted to use a brush. Given the MINI Roadster’s small roof area it didn’t take long and as suggested on the instructions we applied extra on areas prone to chafing when the roof is folded. Application on heavy fabrics like the mohair used on car roofs is 5-7m per litre which seems about right as we used around half of the 1 litre container.
It’s sensible to apply it on a dry day of course and luckily it didn’t rain until a couple of days after we’d treated the MINI. When it did though, we were pleased to see the water beading up and running off nicely, suggesting that the roof was probably more weatherproof now than it was when the car was new.
Fabsil: our verdict
Both the cleaner and the protector are easy to apply and made a big difference to the roof on our MINI. It’s a simple way to smarten up a convertible which has been living outside, while the protector alone is ideal to apply to even a brand new roof keep a car looking smart for longer.
Fabsil specifications
RRP
Cleaner £10.75 for 1 litre
Waterproofer £19.95 for 1 litre
Manufacturer
https://www.fabsil.com
