Soft top revival

[campbell]

As well as Lotus' own service to refurb your S1 roof with new stitching, header rail and tail tensioner (if required) - click here for details - don't forget the importance of maintaining the fabric itself (which Lotus don't do).

Apart from occasional washing with relatively pure soap (eg the stuff you put goretex jackets through in the w-machine before re-proofing them) and waterproofing with a UV-resistor to reduce fade, you can try out the following which I've just finished using:

http://www.renovointernational.com/

I got a kit from Eliseparts for less than £40 with half litre bottles of cleaner, reviver (colour) and ultra-proofer. Did one stage per night over the last 3 nights, allowing the whole day for each to dry before proceeding. The reviver stage is most nerve-wracking as you are essentially re-colouring the roof with dye (although if yours is black then less to worry about...mine is blue, but was worrying what shade it would turn out!!). Need to ensure even coverage to avoid streaking. They do green as well, not sure about red though. I applied the reviver to the edge seams and gutters etc first, using a 5mm art paintbrush. Painstaking but ensured what was often the most worn / faded area was treated thoroughly. All other applications are with a 50mm paintbrush, with the roof on the car (masking off bodywork etc during the reviver stage, although it wipes off OK in the main). Note, you'll need Hamerite Thinners or similar to clean the dye off the brush when done, white spirit doesn't work.

All in all, a very very worthwhile effort, my roof is 9 years old and although generally well cared for and not exposed to much UV or bird goo (as it's garaged), it does have some wear marks and blemishes.

It now literally looks brand new. And the cleaner has shifted the mildly foostie smell that had developed after I put the roof away wet (first time ever) after last summer's Kippford Campaganza. Sadly I don't have before and after pics, quite poor at that sort of thing!

So, even if the rest of my car is looking its age at KH this Sunday, at least those in the know will think I've bought a nice new roof for it!

Campbell

[tut]

Which of course you will not have up on Sunday as it is going to be a warm, sunny day.

And that is because it is the date of tuttowers weekends..................

tut

[campbell]

Which of course you will not have up on Sunday as it is going to be a warm, sunny day.

And that is because it is the date of tuttowers weekends..................

tut

True. Never thought of that. All my hard work will go unseen

[Scottd]

Oh my god, RENOVO do the reviver in green now!!! I emailed them about two(?) years ago asking why they didn't do green and they said there was no demand, I replied that I'd once seen a TVR with a green soft top and that I saw their point.

One question tho... do you get any run marks (I guess I'll have to wait till ur out in the rain for an answer to that one)? I used Fabisil and another top brand cleaner/proofer and they both left run marks down the car... which was essentially just the proofer washing straight off the soft top.

Cheers for the post my 9 year old not garaged soft top is lookin just a bit faded! But thankfully I'll not need it on Sunday as it'll be a scorcher because Tut says so

[mckeann]

Campbell. I saw your roof today at 5pm, and it looked stunning. One question though. why was it on in the blistering sunshine??

[ABZ-Elise]

Shame they don't do it for red roofs ...mines in a bad way. Its faded and most of the stitching has burst.

[nxy]

Campbell. I saw your roof today at 5pm, and it looked stunning. One question though. why was it on in the blistering sunshine??

Well he is getting old

[campbell]

Campbell. I saw your roof today at 5pm, and it looked stunning. One question though. why was it on in the blistering sunshine??

Well he is getting old

Well that's the beer fridge locked against you this weekend, Mr Nxy

In my defence, I've had the roof on for a couple of days to complete the drying out process (the roof, not me) for exactly the reasons Scott mentions - want to ensure all the fluids are well locked-in to the fabric. It's raining on it now in fact, so we'll see how the bodywork looks in the morning!

As for red restorer, it might be possible to locate the right generic dye product by other means? I'd have a word with soft top repair specialists like David Hannen in Musselburgh, for example.

[graeme]

Campbell. I saw your roof today at 5pm, and it looked stunning. One question though. why was it on in the blistering sunshine??

Busted!

[woody]

With the 160 just back from a full respray and the roof being a quite vile combination of washed out grey and green mould, I thought it time for full refurb of the fabric. I've just finished the Renovo 3 stage treatment tonight. I used the cleaner inside and out as the roof had some whitish salt like marking on the inside, which is now gone. The outside was dyed twice with the roof on the car so it now sports a lovely even matt black finish all over. Any dye on the bodywork wiped off no bother, even when dry, with some Isopropyl.

To apply the final ultra proofer coat I brought the roof inside and ramped the heating up as it has to be thoroughly dry before driving the car or getting wet again. What has most impressed me is that the roof is now much tighter over the car; and should hopefully stay that way as it was always noticeably loose when wet. The dye has even coloured the Lotus trim shops's fairly shoddy and white stitching from the factory (everything but the fabric) refurb it had last year. The way it beads water now is awesome.

All in all, I'm very impressed for the £45ish. Campbell; Not sure why you had to use hammerite thinners, I used one of my good brushes and found all solutions washed from it with only tap water.

[campbell]

Good stuff Woody.

I probably reached for Hammerite Thinners because I never thought to try soap and water first

I have since noticed that if the roof rubs on anything, the colour can "chafe" a bit so worth taking care to keep in the stowage bag when not in use. Will be easy to sort, though, just a dab in of dye here and there.