Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

[Gerald C.]

To all,

My car had it's hard top on and the soft top was folded in the car. I had the car at a classic car dealer and apprarently he left it outside in the rain. The car is back home now!

When I took the hard top off to put the soft top up, there were water stains in the folded areas among other places. I used convertible top cleaner to no avail. I also used a soft bristle brush with car wash liquid and that didn't work!

The top is about 2-3 years old but is really brand new as my cars are always garaged (until I left it at this dealer)!!

Any thoughts for cleaning these? They are not white stains, just plain old water marks.

Thanks,

jerry

[Timothy B.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

Jerry,

If the top is white I would use soft scrub with bleach. I might try it on another color but test somewhere first.

[Edward B.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

Erect the top, get it very wet, wash with soap and brush, allow to air dry.

[Duke W.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

The water spots are probably calcium or other mineral deposits. I agree with Edward, but it sounds like you may have already done this.

One thing you can try is Lime-Away or a similar bathroom cleaner that is designed to remove mineral deposits. Most of these are dilute phosphoric acid. Do a small test first and go very slow as it may leave permanent discolorization. I've used Lime-Away to remove mineral deposits from glass and painted surfaces, but I've never tried it on a fabric.

I would definitely not recommend bleach as it will likely result in permanent discoloration. Even though your top is "white" is does have pigment in it that bleach will likely attack, and bleach is not very effective at removing mineral deposits.

Duke

[Jerry G.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

Try a product called Spray Nine from home depot or advance auto parts. It works great. It comes in a quart or gallon size. Only 10 bucks for a gallon. My '60 top was folded up for 20 yrs and it really made it look 10 times better.

[Gerald C.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

Thanks my top is black and hopefully that spray nine will work

[Gerald C.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

Jerry
What color is the top on your 60?
Jerry

[Jerry G.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

White and its original

[Jeff P.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

Gerald, I seem to have the same problem when it Rains. The Soft Top when it dries, is to say the least Water Stained. I Tried soaps and soft scrub brushes still looked the same. Once at a car show it started raining and when I dried the Corvette,the top had water stains. There was a man selling Jax Wax so I asked what type of cleaner he had for Water Stains on Vinyl Tops. He handed me a bottle of Jax Wax Shine All water base dressing and a cloth, said try this, if it doesn't work you don't have to pay for it. Worked great haven't had problems with water stains again. Hope you can try this product.

[Santo S.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

I used "Mothers All Wheel cleaner" on my white 63 top, it was 20 years old and it came out looking like new with no harm to the paint.

[Duke W.]

Re: Water Stains on Soft top for my 1963

I think the active ingredient in most aluminum wheel cleaners is phosphoric acid - same as Lime-A-Way. Also, phosphoric acid is the active ingredant in PPG Alumiprep, which is the first preparation step for painting new or clean used aluminum.

Anything with phosphoric acid has a unique odor unless they add some kind of perfume to mask it, so a sniff test will usually reveal the presense of phosphoric acid.

Duke