Hi
I have seen several mailings talking about the vinyl soft top. On my MY04, Nurb (AKA Lady Boy) Blue, the hood (also blue) definately seems to be cloth not vinyl. Have I missed something.

If it is agreed the hood id cloth, what treatment is recommended?

Thanks

 

My old man has an XK8 with a cloth hood and I have to admit it does look quite similar to my vinyl hood until you touch it - the cloth is quite soft whilst the vinyl feels quite plasticy IMO. I doubt Honda would fit a cloth hood to the lady boy cars and vinyl to the others - not really cost effective.

303 seems to be the weapon of choice to tackle the hood but autoglym vinyl cleaner is quite good - I have elected to use both

 

Definitely vinyl.

You can use just soap and water to clean it. Two or three times a year, you might want to treat it with something like 303 protectant to stop it drying out and also to preserve its colour.

 

Another fan, I'm slowly building a fan base!

G

 

although I could be tempted back into an XJS convertible

 

Hi
The soft top definately looks woven rather than solid vinyl. It is very much like the Z3 and not like the MX3 we have previously owned.

 

Just gone out and checked again - the hood is definately a matt fabric with stitching - well, being lady boy blue, you would expect it to be different wouldn't you!

 

DrC, I can't lay my hands on it at the moment but there is a recycling diagram supplied by honda that clearly shows the hood to be PVC. It is likely in the Tech FAQ.

You won't be the first to believe its cloth but I'm pretty sure you'll chnage your mind if you start treating it with Autoglym Cabriolet roof protectant and such.... many horror stories on this matter as the roof is not absorbent and the treatments pool in the weave effect leaving you a grotty looking roof.

Seriously, treat it as vinyl and all will be well.

Tif

 

I also seem to recall the instruction manual for the car mentioning its vinyl - check that as I reckon it will know best

 

If you REALLY maintain that it's cloth, have a search for previous threads relating to the mess caused when people used the Autoglym cloth roof cleaning stuff!

Listen to Tif - it's vinyl.