Convertible Top Care

It matters more than anything else on this page. Run your hand over it. Fabric tops feel like canvas or a tight weave, and water soaks in when they're unprotected. Vinyl tops feel smooth and slightly rubbery, water beads off them even when they're old, and they often have a visible grain pressed into the surface. Most European convertibles from the last twenty years are fabric. A lot of older cars, and some cheaper newer ones, are vinyl.

Fabric needs a low foam cleaner and a fabric protectant that soaks into the weave. Vinyl needs a surface cleaner and a dressing that sits on top. Using a vinyl dressing on fabric leaves it greasy and attracts dirt. Using a fabric guard on vinyl does nothing at all.

Dry brush it first with a soft upholstery brush to lift loose dirt and leaves out of the weave, then rinse with a gentle spray, never a pressure washer up close. Spray a convertible top cleaner or a diluted all purpose cleaner over a section at a time, agitate with the brush in the direction of the weave, and rinse before it dries. Mould and green growth in the seams sometimes need a second pass and a bit of dwell time.

Let it dry completely before you protect it, which on a fabric top can mean overnight. Putting a protectant onto damp fabric traps the water in.

Spray on protectants are the maintenance option. Something like 303 Fabric Guard for fabric or 303 Aerospace Protectant for vinyl goes on in ten minutes, beads water and blocks UV, and needs redoing every few months depending on how much sun and weather the car sees.

A proper coating like C.QUARTZ Fabric 2.0 bonds into the fabric and lasts a year or more, with water beading off the hood at speed and dirt rinsing away instead of staining. It costs more and takes longer to apply, but if the car lives outside it's the one that saves you the most work over time. Whichever you use, do the rubber seals at the same time with a trim dressing, they crack and leak long before the fabric does.