Cleaning a fabric convertible roof

[bitchstewie]

Steve Devaney said:

Why are some chaps complaining that the stiff brushing has ruined the finish on their hood?
Should gentle power washing ever be used or avoid it like the plague??

YMMV but I can only say with my Boxster I used a stiff brush and a pressure washer regularly and had zero issues (other than the expected odd drop of water being blasted in), admittedly that was from new so I was never faced with trying to revive something that was a total mess.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Well my hood was in pretty good shape. I used a fairly stiff brush and damaged the fabric and tore through some stitching - and I did notice that there were still some slight shadows from grime on the roof after I had finished. So I'm not sure what the answer is.

BTW, the guy who fitted my new roof last week told me never to use a pressure washed on it.

[mikey k]

Always use a pressure washer on my roofs for the last 15 years
Only on a low pressure setting though

[Dywalgi]

I had lots of issues with algae/ mould on my roof after the constant wet weather and also living by the beach. Most application I have seen prevent it but don’t remove it so I was at a bit of a loss so I have a 3 point method for my roof - I am on point 1 at the moment.
Remove algae - I use CIF perfect finish mould remover and it has removed ALL the green algae. I need to wait to add the Renovo Ultra proofing as I don’t know if the water proofing has been affected so will wait 24-48 hrs to apply. I don’t require colour renovation yet on my A5 cab but will wait until I see the end result.
All the algae/ mould has gone and this hood is 100% waterproof no damp in the car yet the weather and environment is a factor I believe. Only started a month - 6 weeks ago and spread to top of roof, it was worse under the rear window area.

[droopsnoot]

Has the mould gone even after the roof has dried out?

I've got a Mk1 Audi TT and have a lot of green, white and yellow mould over it. It's always been a bit mouldy but, like yours, it's got worse recently because of the wet weather. I've tried the Autoglym stuff, Milton tablets, various other "proper" car roof cleaning kits, but never got it anywhere near clean enough to seal. I did try sealing a bit, in case that would kill the mould, but it didn't.

[droopsnoot]

To answer my own question, I got some of this Cif mould remover at the weekend and it does seem to be having an effect. It hasn't cleaned it perfectly, I need to do some more (perhaps a couple more applications) but it is much better than most of the products I've tried at removing mould.