Drying
Drying is an essential part of re-weatherproofing a fabric soft top, for a number of reasons.
Firstly, you can't really tell if the roof is totally clean until it's dried. When the hood is wet, it is dark, and this can hide dirt and stains that might have been missed during the cleaning process.
Pushing the water out of the hood, inch-by-inch, not only helps dry the hood but allows us to inspect it in detail, ensuring nothing was missed. If we did miss something, the car may have to go back to the wash-bay for another wash and scrub.
The second reason it is important to dry the hood is that our waterproof coatings are hydrophobic! They repel water, but conversely are repelled by water. They just won't go onto a roof unless it's bone dry.
It's also very important that once the weatherproof coating is applied, it is allowed to dry and cure before the car is driven in case it rains.
We use oil based products and oil and water, famously, don't mix, and so drying is a vital part of our process, and it should be part of yours too, if you are planning on cleaning and weatherproofing your car using a D.I.Y. kit. You should do everything possible to ensure the hood is dried properly between stages. This either means doing in a garage with heating, or during very favourable weather.
Written by Danny Argent. Last updated 30/07/2022 16:23