Success cleaning the hood with new washing up brush!

J

jaynemc

Member
 Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
Hello,

I can report some progress with cleaning the soft top after asking on here for advice. The hood wasn't in a bad state but I could see several greenish patches on it as well as other lighter coloured marks. I did originally try the BMW soft top cleaner that the previous owner gave us with the car in conjunction with a nail brush - that didn't seem to make any difference at all ..... in fact the other half commented that he thought it looked worse! :cry:

So it was back on this Forum where I followed a link to the Detailing World web site - some really great write ups on there and one in particular of a guy going to town on a very dirty Ford Ka convertible which had a small garden growing on the hood! He went at it with a general purpose cleaner (from the supermarket) and a scrubbing brush! He obviously knew what he was doing I wouldn't have dared ..... :o

Anyway that gave me a bit of confidence so whilst doing the weekly shop at the local supermarket I found the washing up brushes - a few to choose from so I selected a good quality one with plenty of bristles and reasonably stiff! So back home with my new washing up brush and the BMW soft top cleaner again. I tried just one green patch to start with and it lifted straight away. You see the cleaner turning from white to dirty green as the dirt lifts out. I found the best way to use the brush is stood at one side of the car or the other using gentle back and forth brushing - it seemed to be less aggressive than using circular motions which I feared might bring up the nap on the hood and leave permanent circular marks.

It needs good rinsing and I gave the whole hood 2 goes all over. The experts on Detailing Word have a vacuum like machine to suck out all the water - I used a blue dish cloth / washing up cloth which you buy in packs of 10 from the supermarket - good as they are very absorbent and don't leave any fibres on the hood.

So I'd say the hood is looking a good 50% better and much blacker overall. I was originally thinking I would have to use the Renovo hood dye but I don't need to now. Its a work in progress, Not doing anything with it today as its bright sunshine and this job is definitely better done when its cloudy or damp which they have forecast for later in the week so I will tackle just the small areas that look like they need it.

Happy motoring ..... :driving:
 
Glad to hear of your success. I've had 2 zeds now and both have had fold marks in the hood. No cleaning gets rid of them and other zeds I've seen ul close all have them too. Still not heard of anyone curing this and have heard the renovo dye not leaving a factory finish, like a plasticy top coat which I don't want. So is there a way to restore the hood to a factory finish without spending a grand on a new one?
 
Good question - totally agree with you on those fold marks. Luckily don't really have them on this Z4 but have certainly had them on convertibles in the past. That was some time ago and now a couple of decades on still can't find anything other than Renovo when it comes to searching for hood restoration products. I've used the Renovo dye before and didn't want to go there this time! There just doesn't seem to be anything else out there - if you are a product inventor surely there's a gap in the market to be filled here?

Did find some valeting companies who offer a 'Hood Restoration, Weather Protection and Cleaning Service' - not spoken to any so not sure what they are using.

When my shoes look a bit tired I polish them with a coloured shoe polish. After cleaning the hood I'll apply some proofer spray so why not put some colour (black dye) in the hood proofer spray? That would help it look fresh and sure it would need re-application but so does the Renovo dye stuff and oh what a mess you can make with it! :rofl:
 
My current zed Isn't as bad as my last one. But they're still there and it does annoy me. Might have to find a hood specialist and see what they say!
 
That would be interesting talking to some of these hood restoration specialists. A search on Google throws up quite a few of them - from a quick look through most of them are talking about a deep clean, re-colour and water proofing. Cleaning is one thing but getting rid of fold marks is another thing entirely and can't see any mention of fold marks! If you do call a few up it would be useful to hear what they have to say - the condition of the hood is clearly a negotiation point when buying a car but it all depends how much it can be sorted and for what price.

Happy Z4 motoring ....... :driving:
 
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