Gary has been cleaning convertible roofs for 30+ years. His verdict on recolouring products: in almost every case, it is the wrong product for the job.
Gary Wray has been cleaning and reconditioning convertible hoods for over 30 years. His advice on recolouring them is direct: in almost every case, it is the wrong product for the job.
What most people buy when they go looking for a hood dye is not actually a dye at all -- it is paint. Specifically, it is the kind of heavy-bodied paint used on lorry canvas. A true dye has no body to it; on a fabric roof with all its textures, seams and indentations, you need something with enough substance to cover the surface, so the manufacturers add body to it. At that point it stops being a dye and starts being paint -- and it behaves like paint. From ten feet away it looks fine. Get closer and it looks like someone has painted the roof, because someone has.
The reason it rarely works well on a modern car is the application process. To change a dark blue roof to black you need two or three coats to make sure none of the original colour shows through. Each coat makes it look more painted than the last. On a nice Audi or Mercedes, that is not the result anyone wants.
There is a narrow use case where these products genuinely work: very old vehicles -- a barn-find from the 1930s or 40s -- where the original canvas is so degraded that a replacement roof simply cannot be sourced, and having one made from scratch would cost a fortune. For a Triumph Stag or an old MG, you can usually get a replacement roof; it is worth doing that instead. For a 1934 something with a one-off body, the paint product can make a dramatic improvement and it is probably your only option.
For everything else, Gary's recommendation is thorough cleaning -- and then a clear protection product, not a coloured one. In his experience, most roofs that look grey and tired are not faded; they are dirty. Clean them properly, let them dry, and look again. If it still looks patchy, clean it again. Most hoods need four or five passes before they are genuinely clean. Once they are, a clear sealant restores the depth and the roof looks like new without looking painted.
New Again removes painted roofs -- where other people have applied these colour products -- two or three times a year. Gary estimates they take off roughly twenty times more paint than they apply.
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