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Tips and cleaning products for convertible roof..?


hairyman68

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Autoglym Cabriolet Fabric Hood Maintenance Kit. follow the instuctions carefully as its a pain in the backside to get off the paint if you do not protect it properly when applying.

 

also some silicone lubricant on the joints and runners in the rear hoop

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Nobody has made the obvious statement to you yet ................. please don't part with your hard earned until you've seen, driven, and tested said zed ie no dodgy bank transfers

 

good luck :thumbs:

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+1 on the autoglym

 

I have said this before and i will say it again, as you are seeing a roadster if there is anything wrong with the roof at all just walk away.

 

Any misalignment or catching of windows on material, or any tears or leaks just walk away. It will be complicated and expensive to fix. I have seen lots of posts by people that got caught up in the moment and bought a car thinking a minor issue would be ok. Don't do it think with your head (which i know it difficult when you turn your key and start it up).

 

My old 350 had a minor leak on one window and i thought ah they can replace the rubber. It was very expensive (they paid) but the problem still occurred and in the end its the reason i sold the car. Make sure you get a gem

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Im sure you will do your research so you know what to look out for on the roadster, but besides any obvious splits or wear in the hood (particularly where the back part of the roof frame is really tight on the roof material), the main 2 things I found was that the roof sometimes seems to "stick" at the half way point when powering it down. There are big rubber bands in the roof which can get worn out and I think these provide a bit extra ooomph to the motor. The 5th (i think it was) bow motor can also be a bit weak which doesnt help. The other thing I found was the the roof beam directly above your head in the car has a thin piece of metal wrapped around it as part of the roof. this seems to peal back with use. Nissans "fix" on my roof was to re-rivet this back down.

 

In general the roof motors do struggle in winter. The roof material gets a lot stiffer and wont fold as easy. The manual actually recommends not to use the hood if the temperature is too low.

 

Any roof problems in general will not be cheap. At one point Nissan "broke" my roof whilst it was in for a completely unrelated check. I was amazed when I saw what they had to do to get to the roof motors/mechanism. They basically stripped nearly all the inside of my car out, including all inside the boot. They had 3 or 4 mechanics working on it and it took them several days to fix whatever the problem was.

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In your intro you say the car has been laid up for many months. Was that inside or out ? What year is the car ? Suspect mine was more a daily driver and hood had not been used excessively and looked fine to my inexperienced eyes. Mines stood outside and being a hood down nut, over the last summer it has been up and down like a yo yo. Cracks/small splits now beginning to appear in one or two places. Its a 2005 and ,as probably not previously garaged, the old UV has taken its toll . Life of a hood , I have read, is 8-10 years in the UK. I should sit in it and put roof up and down several times and then look for signs of cracking/creases.

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  • 5 months later...

My method is a little more unorthodox, but it's cheap, and I'd wager better than off the shelf products. Learned it from other mountaineerers/hikers.

 

Simple soap, the bars you buy in the supermarket. wittle half a bar of shavings into a pan, and boil it until it's dissovled.

Then put it in a bucket, fill with water, and clean the roof thoroughly with a regular car sponge. The dirt will just lift out, without the soap damaging any current water proofing.

Let it dry completely.

 

Then paint Fabsil onto it with a paint brush, and buff with a soft cloth.

 

It leaves no brush marks, restores the colour, and is one of the best hydrophobic coatings on the market.

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Sly at Kaizer motors in Kent replaced two motors on mine this spring and it was a big job and the parts had to be ordered in from Japan. I took it to Nissan who couldn't even find the problem.

 

Look after you roof guys, unfortunately mine broke after having owned it a few weeks, seems it may have been bodged just for the sale.

 

Works perfectly now though :teeth:

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