Step 1: The Deep Clean
It's important before you apply any type of protection that you give the fabric a real good deep clean. You'll want to do this job on a warmer, dry day. Begin by parking outside in the shade, and thoroughly rinse the roof down with your hose.
For this job we use our Sublime Clean, which is a pH neutral, bleach free and environmentally friendly exterior fabric and vinyl cleaner. It was formulated to help clean, brighten and importantly not bleach the colour of the fabric it is used on. It also has a nice level of deep cleaning power as well as being free rinsing too, so it will easily wash out and not leave any residue in the fabric.
Use Sublime Clean with a super soft bristle brush like our Plush Brush. Work on a section at a time, spraying the Sublime Clean liberally into the wet roof and very gently scrub the roof in a side to side motion, east-west and then north-south directions. Never use a circular motion or be overly aggressive on the material as this can fray and permanently affect the look of the roof's fibres.
It’s important to pay extra attention to cleaning all the stitching and seams of the roof as well, get right in there with a nice soft bristle detailing brush like our Big Boy Brett brush. This brush is part of our Foursome round detailing brush set.
After you've done the section, quickly rinse it down with the hose and then move to the next section of the roof. We like to split the roof into quarters on bigger cars, or do one side and then the other on smaller sports cars. Biggest thing is to not let the Sublime Clean dry in the fabric.
If your roof is one that’s been poorly looked after with lots of embedded grime, or affected by mould and mildew, the Sublime Clean and Plush Brush combination will safely clean it from the fabric. If the roof is in really bad shape you may need to clean it twice.
Once you’ve finished the roof, give it a final thorough hose down, so there are no signs of any suds coming from the fabric anymore.
Rinse your brushes out with fresh water and then we move onto our subtley different way to dry it.