A BMW 3 Series 325 CI brought in for roof cleaning and ceramic coating. The owner's friend is seriously ill; once the car is done he plans to take him out in it -- it might be his last summer. The bonnet had a previous respray that had gone flat; wet-sanded back and polished. Matrix Blue ceramic coating and a two-year roof nano-coat.
A BMW 325 CI brought in primarily because of the roof -- it was going green and the owner was worried about it. But there was also the bonnet: it had been resprayed at some point and had gone flat and slightly ripply over time, the way resprayed panels sometimes do when the paint sinks and the sun gets on it. We wet-sanded it back, machined it up, and it came out as one of the shiniest bonnets James had done in a while.
There is a nice reason behind this one. The owner has a friend who is seriously ill. He has a car like this and Gary is told it might be his last summer. Once it was done, the owner was going to go and pick his friend up and take him out in it -- spend a few hours together, going out in a car that looks like his old one. As Gary puts it: that is a very good reason to have your car made like new again.
The Treatment
The roof was cleaned, gutters flushed, and given a two-year hydrophobic nano-coating. The bonnet got paintwork correction -- wet-sanded to flatten the paint, then machine polished. The rest of the car went through the four-stage buff and came out with Matrix Blue three-year ceramic coating. James is polishing in the video; random orbital to avoid leaving buffer marks.
On how the roof waterproofing works: after treatment the water beads and rolls off. That effect reduces as dust settles on the fabric and breaks the surface tension. But the fibres themselves remain waterproof -- water soaks through the outer layer and drops onto the neoprene membrane underneath rather than penetrating into the car. When the fabric feels sopping wet after rain, the waterproofing has gone; when it feels damp but not saturated, it is still holding.
Should You Use Roof Dye
We are sometimes asked about products like Renovo Reviver or Back-to-Black for faded convertible roofs. We almost never recommend them.
These products are not dyes -- they are essentially paints. You can only really dye a fabric once, and even then dyeing does not take consistently on automotive hood material. What you get is a painted finish, and it looks like a painted finish. We had a customer contact us who had tried to change their roof from black to red. It did not work. The roof was ruined and they needed a new one.
What you actually need, in almost every case, is a thorough clean. A faded roof looks much darker once all the dust and grime is out of the fibres. It darkens again when the waterproof coating goes on -- the coating is clear but it deepens the colour noticeably. You do not need a blackener. A proper clean and reproof will do the job.
See our convertible roof cleaning and restoration service and Matrix Blue ceramic coating.
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