Cloth or Vinyl Top

Keeping it sharp - paint, wax, detailing, etc.
SteinOnkel
Posts: 1000
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2019 9:31 pm
Your car is a: 1978 124 Spider 1800

Re: Cloth or Vinyl Top

Post by SteinOnkel »

Success! 3 hours of scrubadubdub and it looks brand new :D

Except the window. How do you guys like to clean these? I was careful and used glass cleaner and a microfiber. Still looks blotchy as hell.
18Fiatsandcounting
Posts: 3798
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2019 11:23 pm
Your car is a: 1969 and 1971 124 spiders
Location: San Francisco Bay Area

Re: Cloth or Vinyl Top

Post by 18Fiatsandcounting »

SteinOnkel wrote:Except the window. How do you guys like to clean these? I was careful and used glass cleaner and a microfiber. Still looks blotchy as hell.
Sounds like you might have water marks on the glass, like when hard water evaporates on them, leaving the calcium and magnesium and potassium and other -'ums behind. Try washing with vinegar (dissolves those deposits) or try the Iron Man approach (aaarrrr...) of fine steel wool to remove the deposits. Don't get too coarse on the steel wool, as you can scratch the glass.

-Bryan
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manoa matt
Posts: 3442
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 4:28 pm
Your car is a: 1978 Fiat 124 Spider 1800
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Re: Cloth or Vinyl Top

Post by manoa matt »

The plastic gets oxidized kind of like modern plastic headlight housings. You can clear it up by buffing it with rubbing and buffing compounds. Obviously a rotary/orbital buffer will save your arms.
TX82FIAT
Posts: 1814
Joined: Mon May 03, 2010 11:04 am
Your car is a: 82 Fiat Spider 2000 CSO
Location: San Antonio

Re: Cloth or Vinyl Top

Post by TX82FIAT »

There is a plastic cleaner designed for the convertible top. As long as the plastic is in good shape, you should be able to apply Meguiar's plastx plastic cleaner and polish and clean it up with a good buffing. be careful to keep it on the plastic and not get it on the canvas or vinyl. It takes time to clean off other areas as well.
Buon giro a tutti! - enjoy the ride!

82 Fiat Spider 2000
03 BMW M3
07 Chevy Suburban
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