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I....HAVE FOUND THE ANSWER...(vinyl tops)

tpodwdog

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maybe a week or so ago someone ( i cant remember who ),,,was asking about cleaning vinyl tops and what to use. I HAVE THE ANSWER

today i got a bug up my *** to clean my white vinyl top on the Road Runner. i looked for something that i thought would work ,,,,,and there it was....SIMPLE GREEN ... AND A STIFF BRISTLE BRUSH !:headbang:

i put simple green in an old windex bottle....sprayed it on the vinyl full strength...and scrubbed with one of those kitchen brushes that kinda looks like a peanut in shape....you know what im talkin 'bout.

did 1/4 of the roof ...sprayed it off with a hose...(i dont normally take a hose to that car , but how else was i supposed to do it ????? )....IT WORKED GREAT....just some elbow grease was all it took.

i kept the entire car wet as not to have that stuff get on the paint...(sometimes on old paint it will leave marks)

did another 1/4 ...and so on and so on.... and nothing got hurt !:headbang: ...and it got ALL the dirt out of the grooves in the vinyl !


so there ya go for the dude that was looking to clean his vinyl top.........WOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!:hello2:
 
Well done! How about a picture or two of that sparkling clean white top? My vinyl top is in pretty good shape, but I like the tips on how to keep it that way.
 
Marines might call such a brush a "scuzz brush". Glad to hear Simple Green worked for you, i'll be sure to keep that in the back of my head.
We used to use Simple Green to wash aircraft, then they discovered that it delaminated acrylic canopies and windscreens :eek: Pretty mild stuff otherwise.
 
Marines might call such a brush a "scuzz brush". Glad to hear Simple Green worked for you, i'll be sure to keep that in the back of my head.
We used to use Simple Green to wash aircraft, then they discovered that it delaminated acrylic canopies and windscreens :eek: Pretty mild stuff otherwise.

I remember my first flight as an observer on a P-3C Orion. During pre-flight, the flight engineer handed me a cup of coffee and some paper towels and told me to clean the windscreen. I thought he was joking, but hot coffee was what we used to clean with. It worked pretty well. :)
 
I would try and cut that stuff, Simple Green, as listed on the directions first. Unless your top is very dirty, a scrubbing with full strength probably isn't needed. I clean mine with a similar brush and Mequires #39 heavy duty vinyl cleaner. Then use a microfiber wax applicator and a leather protector for a finish. If you want a matte finish, don't leave it soak in the material, spray on the applicator, apply, and wipe off after a couple minutes. For a gloss finish , I apply directly to top, heavy, and leave sit for about 10 min, then wipe off. The hard part is keeping the sides wet w/o having it run down on to the paint. A couple old towels around the bottom of the roof help out. Gotta work inside or in the shade with this stuff...
 
Well done! How about a picture or two of that sparkling clean white top? My vinyl top is in pretty good shape, but I like the tips on how to keep it that way.

i detailed the whole car while i had it wet,,,,,washed waxxed,,,,you know,,,ill get pix tonight , coz i might go to a car show!:headbang:

OH.... i for to mention that i DID put a vinyl protectant on it... shines like a cats ***!
 
white vinly yop

here ya go PABSTER. i should have taken a pic of it halfway done, right down the middle.. then you could see how much dirtier it was compared to how clean it got.....but i was so damn EXCITED that it was coming clean that i didnt wanna go get the camera,,,,but here they are and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! it was kinda...dingie white...almost ...like DIRT . this will do until i get the car painted and a new top put on!

enjoy.... :hello2:
 

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I remember my first flight as an observer on a P-3C Orion. During pre-flight, the flight engineer handed me a cup of coffee and some paper towels and told me to clean the windscreen. I thought he was joking, but hot coffee was what we used to clean with. It worked pretty well. :)

Not with cream and sugar in it, I hope!
 
Simple green is the ****!!!

i mix it half and half with water, and it cleans everything great!!

used it to clean the white seats in the GTX'er, and it came out awesome!

and it's non-toxic and biodegradable. after i found out about it a few years back, i did a little more digging, and it is approved by the USDA for food contact surfaces...so i bought a 55 gal drum for my meat plant.
 
here ya go PABSTER. i should have taken a pic of it halfway done, right down the middle.. then you could see how much dirtier it was compared to how clean it got.....but i was so damn EXCITED that it was coming clean that i didnt wanna go get the camera,,,,but here they are and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! it was kinda...dingie white...almost ...like DIRT . this will do until i get the car painted and a new top put on!

enjoy.... :hello2:

damn i love your 70, dog, im stealin' these pics for my archive!!!

:glasses6:
 
Tpod, I never thought about that simple green, I use it hear and know how well it works so it sure isint hard to believe it would be great for that! Looks like a new top! Good thinking man.
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i have been using simple green for some years on the boat. it is great for getting the grunge off the hull and then i use a dilluted mix on the vinyl interior.
 
Tpod, I never thought about that simple green, I use it hear and know how well it works so it sure isint hard to believe it would be great for that! Looks like a new top! Good thinking man.
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i never thought about using it either Ron...until it was just staring me in the face... USE MEEEEE ,,,USE MEEEEE...it was telling me,,,,LMAO...( yes...inanimate objects talk to me all the time) :headbang:
 
Tpodwdog, not like I'm telling you something you don't know, but your car is INSANE. God damn, what a beautiful vehicle.

It's putting me one step closer to painting my Charger Plum Crazy...
 
Tpodwdog, not like I'm telling you something you don't know, but your car is INSANE. God damn, what a beautiful vehicle.

It's putting me one step closer to painting my Charger Plum Crazy...

thanx Pabster. i try my damndest to keep it clean. i drive in NOTHING but sunshine.

actually it needs painted...its a 20 footer. some yo-yo painted it a while back .. laid on some nice paint but didnt do a good enuff job for my picky taste. thanx for the comps... keep yours avacado green....its interesting and i actually like green !:headbang:
 
here ya go PABSTER. i should have taken a pic of it halfway done, right down the middle.. then you could see how much dirtier it was compared to how clean it got.....but i was so damn EXCITED that it was coming clean that i didnt wanna go get the camera,,,,but here they are and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! it was kinda...dingie white...almost ...like DIRT . this will do until i get the car painted and a new top put on!

enjoy.... :hello2:

Don't worry about spending money on paint! Your car is lookin' great with the paint and top as-is. Looks good man.
 
One more thing on the simple green - it's pretty good stuff for most things, but like the aircraft guy said, some of these liquids can crack or embrittle plexi-glass, which is polycarbonate. Same thing with IPA (iso-propyl alcohol), it cracks polycarbonate (same as Lexan or Plexi-glass or your safety glasses). For MOST things though, Simple Green is one of the most commonly used cleaning agents. It works great on vinyl. I've seen it used commercially and also in high tech machining for medical device and aerospace.

DO NOT confuse things and think that any 'ol green or blue liquid cleaner will work. I was doing a quality audit at a particular high tech machine shop and they were soaking their oil covered parts in Windex prior to the 3 step cleaning operation, which wasn't robust either. Windex contains ammonia, which can have adverse affects on some materials. We had them switch to Simple Green like most other shops use and the problems we were having went away.

I was in the Pep Boys store the other day and saw 3 different liquid cleaners with the name Simple Green on the label. Make sure you get the original formula stuff. They also sell Industrial Strength and one other one that was a blue similar to Windex. To find out the contents I think you would have to do a search online.
 
here ya go PABSTER. i should have taken a pic of it halfway done, right down the middle.. then you could see how much dirtier it was compared to how clean it got.....but i was so damn EXCITED that it was coming clean that i didnt wanna go get the camera,,,,but here they are and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! it was kinda...dingie white...almost ...like DIRT . this will do until i get the car painted and a new top put on!

enjoy.... :hello2:

She's looken' perty now...
 
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