Monday 20 May 2013

Winter work Part 4 - Roof Revival

Like all of these things, the small jobs end up taking longer than planned and the list of small jobs is growing. I got another little job out of the way over the weekend, reviving the soft top.

Over the few years I've had the Elise I've used Autoglym Cabriolet Cleaning and Proofing kit which has worked well at keeping the roof clean and most importantly water proof. (ish, it is a Lotus after all!!)

Two years of being parked outside year round and often near/under trees has started to take it's toll on the roof's finish however with some deep staining, fading of the black colour and even the odd spec of moss in the gutters. The fabric itself was in good condition with no tears or loose stitching, so a good thorough clean and dye was the order of the day.

After some internet research, I decided to give the Renovo line of products a turn. They make a three part treatment system of a Cleaner, Reviver and Proofer. The other things that are needed are some new paint brushes and old take away dishes. (Crispy chicken in pineapple sauce being a particular weakness of mine, meaning I'm rarely short of trays)



To clean, dampen the roof material and then brush in the cleaner. Leave to sit, then agitate with a sponge and rinse. Repeat until the roof is clean. Two goes of this and the roof was cleaner than I'd ever seen it. This was then left to dry overnight.

Next was the Reviver. Speaking from experience, I can advise NOT using the reviver on the kitchen table and definitely do not rush into the job still wearing your Sunday best, that'd be very silly!



The Reviver is a liquid dye really and is very runny, and messy. The only good thing is it is very easy to clean up drips with a damp cloth once it is still wet.

So far I have got two coats of Reviver on the outside, and I've put a coat on the inside of the roof also as this was never coloured on my roof and was reasonably tatty looking from being exposed to all sorts of stuff from oil to exhaust parts whilst folded up in the boot on sunny days :)

Outside:

Revived on left of seal, old colour on right of seal. Not sure if the phone camera picked this up well, I'll try to get better pics:

Inside, huge improvement here. This used to be light grey with a mix of rust, oil and exhaust paste stains. Thankfully passengers rarely look up:


Again, this dye is recommended to be left for 24hrs to dry before Proofing. I'll probably leave it an extra day or two as I have time. The Proofer just gets painted on and left to dry in, restoring the roofs water proof layer and providing UV protection to the roof material.

Overall, I'm delighted with the results so far, the only problem possibly being the roof looks too bloody good now compared to the rest of the car. I'd recommend the Renovo stuff to anyone thinking of doing something similar, but be careful with the Reviver, it's messy stuff and I'd say it's a nightmare to use when working on a roof that cannot be removed completely from the car.

...and yes, the grass does need cutting, another small job on the list :)