Anything special I have to do to take care of the convertible top? My previous car had a cloth/canvas type roof so I just used mild detergent to clean and did not protect it with anything.




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From the dealer recon dude, "struck me as he knew what he was talking about" ? He said don't use anything, alot of people claim this and that and that one works better then the other. the truth is... one wont mess it up as much as the other and they only can compare the two because once you start putting jnuk on it... its a consent battle as the different products will yeild different long term effects. He said the tops are good for pretty many years and will continue to look like new for a long time if you dont put anything on.

The tips were,

1) keep it clean, don't let dirt settle on or into it

2) clean with hot soapy water and rinse it really good

3) dont put it down wet or moist, make sure it good and dry

As for the harsh winters in some areas. He said just follow the above a little harder and be a liitle more **** about it. You'll get a long healthy life out of the top if you just take good care of it the old fashion way and keep those chemicals off of it. Mine gets a bath at least once a week if its staying clean, it's performance white with black trim and top.... Very hard to keep clean... the two worst colors to keep clean on one car

 

I have done nothing but wash it the same as I wash the painted parts... soap and water and rinse it off. It looks great...

 

One word... RaggTopp! Get the version for vinyl tops (which is what ours is...it's not fabric).

http://www.autogeek.net/rafaca.html

Got mine in May...so far, I've washed it normally and put RaggTopp on it about every 2-3 washings.

It makes it look BLACK and adds a small amount of "sheen" to the top. I can tell when it's washed off...like I say, about every 2 or 3 car washes I reapply.

I haven't used the RaggTopp cleaner yet---but I expect that I will in time. Mine has the luxury of a garage, but the NC sun will certainly be hard on it! So, I'm being proactive.

 

How do you know it's vinyl? I've been trying to find this out for some time and no-one was really sure. I have the raggtopp protectant for vinyl but was afraid to put it on until I got confirmation that it was vinyl.. Did the dealer tell you this or some Ford rep?

Thanx.

 

I've read at least two places on forums that it's vinyl---these folks were quoting their dealers.

I've also used two different webpages that use the model/year to help determine if a top is fabric or vinyl. Both came up vinyl...

So---I figured it must be vinyl

If you find out otherwise, lemme know....but it seems that the new T-birds use fabric, while the Mustangs have vinyl.

 

I concur with Hambone that the top is vinyl. Not only is there info from other MF members and dealers, but i remember reading an article about the GT500 coming out and the 'vert version was to offer a cloth top option instead of vinyl.

Here's the article about it:

http://www.autoweek.com/news.cms?newsId=103257

 

confirmed 100%, its vinyl

 

Thanx for the info guys... I called my dealer (I use that term loosely) and they were'nt sure. Now I can use my Raggtop vinyl protectant on the car.

 

When I apply the RaggTopp, I use the following sequence, due to the "smeary" over spray I get every time I apply it...

1) wash/dry
2)apply RaggTopp
3)Clean Windows
4)use detail spray

That pretty much keeps things moving in the right direction! Otherwise, the oversprays keep working against each other...