Postby Hasbeen » 16 Jan 2012 00:32
Nigel I have 3 convertibles, all with black hoods, [roof], & am leaning towards the vinyl myself.
The 8 has a mohair hood, probably about 10 years old now. Very little exposure, the thing was mostly down, [for years at a time], or in the shed. When I got caught twice, once it took me the help of 2 strangers to get the damn thing up in the cold. The next time we got a quick 3/4" of rain, when I was picking someone up from the airport. It leaked enough through the side gutter seams to make the seats swimming pools.
Used "303" water repellent treatment, & it is watertight, but the stuff made it slightly shiny, & slightly different in different places. It looks good, but not great.
The Honda S2000 has a double duck original hood, also 10 years old. It also has had little exposure, with only 30,000 Km mileage, & a life sitting in a shed. It works great, & is watertight, but is developing lines of lighter colour over the bows. I have been unable to find anything that comes well enough recommended that I'm game to use to try to address this.
The Ford Capri, [Mercury Capri in the US], a 94 model, has a vinyl hood of unknown age, but required a new tensioning cable, so probably pretty old, & is watertight. Being the rough car it gets much more exposure, & less care. It got a pile of sanding dust, & I think a little over spray of undercoat from a nearby job at a local shop recently.
5 minutes with some Armorall vinyl & tyre protectant, & it looked shinny & new. Some might say it looks cheap, but I get admiring comments on the the thing, when the hood, [top] is freshly "Armoralled", which I don't when it's not.
Hope this helps,
Hasbeen
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