Review: Meguiars Convertable Top Cleaner

[Eldorado2k]

I tried this for the 1st time today and I'd like to share my thoughts on this rarely mentioned product.

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Meguiars Convertible Top Cleaner, fabric convertible top cleaner, vinyl convertible top cleaner

Here's what my top looked like before. Lots of various spots and bird droppings all over.

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The directions say to work in the shade on a cool surface and pre rinse any dirt and debris from the surface. I went above that and vacuumed the top with my soft nylon bristle attachment to remove alot of dirt, then I thoroughly rinsed with water. Then I began to spray the product liberaly on the top.

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I worked in sections, split the roof in half, then did the rear area last. Lightly scrubed with a nylon brush. This stuff foams up really nice as soon as you start brushing.

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Immediately began rinsing once I was done with the brushing. You really want to make sure to do a thorough rinse anytime you're cleaning a fabric top. This is how it looked immediately after rinsing.

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I followed up by washing the entire car, then I pulled the car into the sun to allow the top to dry.

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Final results:

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Pictures don't do it justice. I honestly can't remember my top ever looking this good. It's perfectly clean.

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Does it feel like diluted Megs APC in the bottle? At 1st I was inclined to think so, but I've cleaned my top with APC before and it didn't look this good afterwards. I give it the thumbs up. Thx for reading.

 

[The Guz]

Nice review. Did you put any protectant on it after?

 

[Eldorado2k]

Nice review. Did you put any protectant on it after?

Not this time around.. I've tried 303 Fabric Protectant in the past and was pretty disappointed in it when applied to the top. Plus I figure if and when it becomes re soiled with bird bombs I'll still have to re clean it as the fabric protectant doesn't magically prevent bird bombs from landing on the fabric.
But it feels good to know I have this cleaner on my shelf. I still have a bit more than half of the bottle left.

 

[MPBGT]

I work for 303, the top looks great and the Megs is a good product. I just had a couple questions and comments.

With the Megs product, foaming has nothing to do with cleaning power. Sometimes it makes it harder to rinse.

What made you disappointed by the 303 Fabric Guard?

Your top has an added element that makes it a little trickier to Fabric Guard. Before you FG not only do you have to clean really well, like you just did, and use a cleaner that rinses residue free( I'm not sure on the Megs product). Since you have a faux convertible top, most of those I have seen are a fiberglass cap with the padding and fabric glued to it. Fabric Guard has a solvent based carrier chemical that if over applied could potentially loosen that glue.

Many light coats would be the best route. Also it's not just 303 that that warning applies to. It would be pretty much all the fabric protectors that carry any high recommendation.



Again top looks good, you don't see many well Maintained ones around anymore.

 

[Eldorado2k]

I work for 303, the top looks great and the Megs is a good product. I just had a couple questions and comments.

With the Megs product, foaming has nothing to do with cleaning power. Sometimes it makes it harder to rinse.

What made you disappointed by the 303 Fabric Guard?

Your top has an added element that makes it a little trickier to Fabric Guard. Before you FG not only do you have to clean really well, like you just did, and use a cleaner that rinses residue free( I'm not sure on the Megs product). Since you have a faux convertible top, most of those I have seen are a fiberglass cap with the padding and fabric glued to it. Fabric Guard has a solvent based carrier chemical that if over applied could potentially loosen that glue.

Many light coats would be the best route. Also it's not just 303 that that warning applies to. It would be pretty much all the fabric protectors that carry any high recommendation.



Again top looks good, you don't see many well Maintained ones around anymore.

Thanks for the highly informative reply.
What you say makes alot of sense now that I you mentioned those details.. I think you could be right because I cleaned the top with Meguiars APC @10:1 and rinsed thoroughly, but you never know... Then I allowed the top to dry for hours in direct sun prior to applying the 303 Fabric Guard.

I taped off the surrounding area and applied 2 somewhat heavy coats in a criss cross pattern about 10min. apart. Each coat was liberal but not to the point of saturation. But once I was done I'd say I sprayed about 25oz. on the top and it dried and looked good..

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The next day [evening] I poured a bit of water from a bottle to test if it was working and it appeared to be a success.

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But the following day we had rain and the top was totally soaked and not able to repel/bead water at all.

Based on what you said about my top having a fiberglass cap with the fabric glued to it, I'm lucky I didn't cause any negative effects to it. I had spoken to the Cadillac people about this subject before and I had been warned to stay away from any protectants claiming to waterproof the top. [however they never exactly mentioned why]

Once again, thanks for the information. Makes perfect sense. And thanks for the compliment, I've had several people who are surprised it's the original 20yr old top. Some people even ask if the car is a convertible. [I always get a good laugh at that 1] lol.