Owning a classic British convertible requires a specific optimism about the weather that is either admirable or delusional depending on the day. The hood goes down in April because the sun is out and summer is surely imminent. The hood goes up in May because it is not. It goes down again in June, up in August during a week of rain that arrives precisely during the Goodwood Revival, down again in September for a brief golden fortnight, and up for good in October while the owner assures everyone that they will get another run in before Christmas. (They will not get another run in before Christmas.) The hood will spend four months in the folded position accumulating moisture, tree debris, and the specific kind of mildew that appears specifically in the corners of classic car hoods and nowhere else in the natural world.
A properly maintained soft top lasts considerably longer than a neglected one and looks considerably better throughout its life. The difference in effort between the two is modest. This guide covers everything from identifying what your hood is made from to cleaning, reproofing, frame maintenance, dealing with the specific misery of a fogged plastic rear window, and the Webasto sliding sunroof fitted to a wide range of classic British saloons that is also fabric-based, also frequently neglected, and also perfectly restorable with the right approach.
What is your hood made from?
The care products and procedures differ significantly depending on the hood material, and using a product designed for one material on another produces results ranging from disappointing to actively damaging. Identifying the material before buying anything is therefore the essential first step.
Mohair is a woven fabric made from the hair of the Angora goat, which sounds like something from an entirely different industry but produces one of the finest hood materials available. It has a soft, fine texture, drapes and folds without creasing, resists UV degradation better than most alternatives, and looks correct on any classic British convertible from an era when the original hood was also woven fabric. Most quality replacement hoods for MGBs, TR series, Spitfires, and Austin-Healeys are mohair. Run your hand across the surface: mohair has a smooth, dense woven texture. It is not shiny. It does not feel like plastic. If it is also expensive, this is consistent with being mohair.
Everflex is the trade name for the coated vinyl fabric used as original equipment on many British classics from the 1960s onwards and still available as a replacement. It has a slightly embossed or grained texture, is shiny or semi-shiny in appearance, and is noticeably heavier and less supple than mohair. Original MGB hoods from the factory were Everflex vinyl. Everflex and other vinyl hood materials require different cleaning products from mohair: the two ranges are not interchangeable.
Stayfast and Sonnenland are high-quality woven hood materials used on many modern convertibles and as premium replacement options on classics. Care procedures are the same as for mohair. If in doubt about whether a hood is mohair or another woven fabric, the mohair care products work on both, which makes the decision straightforward.
Double duck is a tightly woven cotton canvas that was used on many postwar British hoods before mohair became the standard quality replacement fabric. It is heavier than mohair, slightly coarser in texture, and very durable when maintained. Renovo’s fabric products cover double duck alongside mohair and canvas.
Cleaning a fabric or mohair hood
Start with a thorough rinse of the hood with a hose to remove loose surface debris. Do not use a pressure washer at close range: high-pressure water forces dirt into the fabric rather than removing it, and the seams in particular are not designed to receive water at 130 bar. A garden hose at normal pressure is the correct tool. Remove any leaves, seeds, or other organic material that has found its way into the folds: organic debris holds moisture and promotes the mould growth that, once established in the seams, is a lot harder to remove than it would have been to prevent.
Apply a dedicated fabric hood cleaner. Renovo Fabric Soft Top Cleaner is the market standard in the UK: work it into the fabric with a soft brush in circular motions, allow it to dwell for the period specified on the product, then rinse thoroughly. Autoglym’s Convertible Soft Top Clean and Protect kit is a capable alternative. Do not use household carpet cleaner, washing-up liquid, or anything containing bleach: all three damage the hood fabric, strip whatever waterproofing remains, and leave residues that attract further soiling. The cost difference between a dedicated hood cleaner and a bottle of washing-up liquid is approximately ten pounds. The cost difference in outcomes over five years is considerably more.
For mould in the seams, which is the specific problem that develops in hoods that have been stored folded with any moisture present, a diluted solution of Renovo Fabric Soft Top Cleaner applied with a small brush and left to work longer than the standard dwell time addresses most cases. Persistent mould requires a soft toothbrush and patience rather than more aggressive products: the seam stitching is the component most vulnerable to damage from vigorous scrubbing, and a seam that fails structurally as a result of over-enthusiastic mould removal requires a hood maker rather than a bottle of cleaner.
Colour revival and reproofing fabric hoods
A fabric hood that has faded significantly from its original colour can be revived with a colour restorer before reproofing. Renovo Soft Top Reviver is applied to the clean, damp hood with a brush, working quickly from the centre outward to avoid tide marks at the edges of wet-join lines. A second coat gives deeper colour on severely faded hoods. Allow 24 hours to dry before reproofing.
Reproofing restores the water-repellent treatment that causes rain to bead and run off the hood rather than soaking through. A hood that has lost its proofing does not fail immediately: it absorbs water gradually, becomes heavier, dries more slowly, and accumulates the damp conditions that cause mould and premature fabric degradation. Renovo Ultra Proofer, Fabsil Gold Universal Protector, and 303 Fabric Guard are all effective options. Apply to the clean, dry hood and allow to cure fully before folding the hood: proofing product that is sealed in folds before it has cured can cause the fabric to stick to itself.
How often to reproof depends on use and exposure. A car that is used regularly and parked outside should be cleaned and reproofed at least twice a year: once in spring before the driving season and once in autumn before the car goes into storage or winter use. A car used only in summer and garaged when not in use can manage with annual treatment. The test is simple: run water over the hood. If it beads and rolls off, the proofing is still working. If it soaks in and darkens the fabric, reproof as soon as the hood is clean and dry.
Cleaning a vinyl or Everflex hood
Vinyl hoods require different products from fabric ones. Renovo Vinyl Soft Top Cleaner is the product for the cleaning stage, applied and rinsed off in the same manner as the fabric cleaner. Autoglym’s Soft Top Clean and Protect kit works on vinyl as well as fabric. Do not use the fabric Renovo Soft Top Reviver on a vinyl hood: it is not formulated for vinyl and the results will be inconsistent. Renovo produce a separate Vinyl Soft Top Ultra Proofer for the reproofing stage, which restores the water resistance of aged vinyl in the same way that the fabric proofer does for mohair and canvas.
After cleaning and proofing, a vinyl protectant applied to the surface extends the life of the treatment and provides UV protection. 303 Aerospace Protectant is the most consistently recommended product for this purpose: it does not add the exaggerated sheen that silicone-based dressings produce, which looks wrong on a classic car, and it provides genuine UV protection rather than temporary cosmetic improvement.
The rear window: plastic versus glass
The rear window is the component of a classic car soft top most likely to have deteriorated beyond the point where cleaning and care can address it. The plastic rear windows fitted to many classic British convertibles from the factory were not designed for UV resistance, and the combination of sunlight, heat, folding stress, and age produces a window that progresses from clear through slightly hazy to milky opaque over a period that varies from fifteen to forty years depending on care, climate, and which variety of PVC was used.
For a plastic window that is hazy but still translucent, a dedicated plastic window polish can recover significant clarity. Renovo Clear Plastic Window Polish, Autoglym’s Fast Glass (which works on plastic despite the name), and Meguiar’s PlastX are all effective on hazing that has not progressed to full opacity. Apply with a soft cloth using light pressure and circular motions. The improvement can be dramatic on a window that has been neglected but not yet destroyed.
For a plastic window that has gone milky or cracked, polishing will not help and replacement is the correct answer. Replacement windows in both plastic and glass are available for most common classic British hoods. A glass rear window is the upgrade worth considering if budget allows: glass does not cloud, crack, or scratch in the way plastic does, and the improvement in rearward visibility and appearance is significant and permanent. Many hood suppliers offer replacement hoods with glass rear windows as standard or as a factory option on the replacement hood.
One important care note for plastic rear windows: do not fold the hood when the plastic is cold. PVC becomes brittle in cold weather and can crack along the fold line that the plastic develops when repeatedly folded in the same position. In cold conditions allow the hood material to warm slightly before operation: ten minutes in a heated garage, or in the sun in the early morning, is enough. This is one of those pieces of advice that sounds slightly obsessive until the first time a rear window cracks during a fold on a cold morning.
The hood frame: rust, bent bows, and seized pivots
The frame that supports the hood is usually made from steel, which rusts, or aluminium alloy, which corrodes in its own way, and both are subject to the pivot joint wear and seized mechanisms that develop when lubrication is neglected and water ingress is not addressed. A hood frame that operates smoothly lowers and raises without binding, does not require more than modest effort, and folds into its correct resting position without being forced. A frame that does not do these things has a problem that will get worse before it gets better and which the hood fabric is not designed to compensate for by stretching.
Lubricate all pivot points, hinge joints, and sliding mechanisms at least once a year with a light oil or silicone lubricant. Do not use WD-40 as a long-term lubricant: it displaces moisture in the short term and leaves no lasting protective film. A proper light machine oil or a silicone spray provides the lasting lubrication that pivot joints need. The catch mechanism at the windscreen rail is particularly important on cars where a poorly adjusted or stiff catch requires the hood to be pulled tightly against it: excess tension stresses the hood material at the front edge where it attaches to the catch rail, and the first sign of this stress is usually stitching that begins to separate along the front seam.
Bent bow frames, where one of the cross-members that gives the hood its shape has been distorted, are usually the result of the hood being raised or lowered incorrectly, of objects being placed on the hood in the folded position, or of the car having been parked under a branch that found the roof first. Bent aluminium bows can sometimes be carefully straightened using a former, but the more common remedy is replacement from hood suppliers who stock bow sets for common classic British applications. A hood with a distorted frame will not seal correctly at the sides and will allow water ingress regardless of how well the fabric itself is maintained.
Where hoods leak: finding the source
A leaking hood on a classic British car is sometimes the hood’s fault and sometimes emphatically not. Before treating a leak as a hood problem, check the windscreen surround seal, the door seals (which on many classic British convertibles seal not just against the door frame but against the hood rail), the seal between the hood and the windscreen header rail, and the drain holes in the sill area that should carry away any water that does get in. A hood that is correctly fitted and properly sealed but still admits water through the door seal is a door seal problem. A new hood fitted to an inadequately sealed aperture will leak in the same places as the old one.
Genuine hood leaks typically occur at the side seals, at the seal between the hood and the windscreen header rail, and at the corners where these seals meet. Automotive seam sealer applied carefully to a failing join can address minor leaks at the hood-to-windscreen junction. More significant seal failure at the sides of the hood usually indicates that the hood side curtains are no longer seating correctly against the body seal strips, which is a fitting and adjustment problem rather than a materials one.
The Webasto sliding sunroof
The Webasto fabric sunroof was a popular dealer-fitted option on a wide range of classic British cars from the 1960s through to the 1980s. Triumph 2000s, Rover P5 and P6s, MGBs, Ford Cortinas, Minis, and many others were fitted with them at the dealership or by specialist installers. The Webasto Hollandia 400 was among the most common versions fitted to UK cars: a fabric panel mounted in a frame within a cut aperture in the roof, operated by a hand crank or key mechanism that slides the panel backward to open, allowing it to fold back against the rear of the aperture.
The experience of driving with a Webasto fully open is genuinely different from driving a convertible: the roof structure remains, but the aperture above the occupants produces a wind blast that is entirely disproportionate to its size at motorway speed, in a way that is either exhilarating or alarming depending on one’s relationship with open-air motoring. At lower speeds it provides ventilation and a connection with the outside world that a conventional sliding glass sunroof cannot match. Many owners who have driven both prefer the Webasto.
Webasto fabric care
The fabric panel in a Webasto sunroof is a canvas or vinyl material that responds to the same care regime as a full hood. Fabric Webastos can be cleaned with Renovo Fabric Soft Top Cleaner and reproofed with Renovo Ultra Proofer. Vinyl versions use the Renovo vinyl range. The difference from a full hood is that the panel is smaller and easier to treat in place, and that the fabric is less exposed to UV than a full hood since the panel is typically folded or stored away from sunlight when not in use. This means Webasto fabrics often survive in better condition than full hoods on the same cars, provided the mechanism is maintained correctly.
The mechanism
The Webasto mechanism uses cables running in channels to slide the panel forward and backward. The cables are tensioned by the operating crank, and the mechanism as a whole is simple and reliable when maintained but becomes increasingly difficult to operate as the cable channels dry out and the pivot points corrode. Annual lubrication of the cable channels with a light wax-based or silicone lubricant keeps the mechanism operating freely. Do not use WD-40 or petroleum-based lubricants in the cable channels: they attract dust and debris that acts as an abrasive. The channels should run smoothly to the touch with a finger before lubricant is applied: if they feel gritty, clean them first with a soft cloth before lubricating.
A Webasto mechanism that has not been operated for a significant period will usually have stiffened cable channels, minor surface corrosion at the pivot points, and may have dried-out seals that no longer seat correctly. Operate it gently the first time after a period of disuse, applying light lubricant as you work the mechanism through its range of motion rather than forcing it through stiffness. The cable that operates the panel can be damaged by forcing a mechanism that has seized, and a broken Webasto cable requires either specialist replacement or a complete mechanism removal.
The seals and leaks
The perimeter seal that contacts the edges of the roof aperture is the Webasto’s primary waterproofing component. It is a rubber or foam seal attached to the panel frame that compresses against the aperture edge when the panel is closed. These seals harden with age, lose their resilience, and eventually fail to seal correctly regardless of how well the latching mechanism operates. A Webasto that leaks at the edges when the panel is closed almost always has a failed perimeter seal: replacement seals are available from sunroof specialists including Bristol Sunroof Centre, which holds parts for the most common Webasto and Hollandia units fitted to UK classic cars, and from Webasto themselves in some cases via their UK network.
Water entering around the mechanism housing rather than the panel edge points to the sealant between the mechanism frame and the car’s roof. This is typically a bedding sealant applied during installation that cracks or separates over time. Butyl sealant tape or a body sealant compatible with painted metal surfaces, applied around the mechanism frame after cleaning away the old sealant, addresses this in most cases.
When to replace rather than repair
The point at which a classic car hood should be replaced rather than maintained is usually clear from inspection: fabric that has gone thin and papery, seams that have separated structurally rather than merely cosmetically, vinyl that has cracked along fold lines, or a rear window that has progressed beyond any reasonable level of transparency. A hood in this condition cannot be saved by cleaning and reproofing. Cleaning a hood that is structurally compromised will simply produce a clean hood that still leaks, still tears when folded, and still allows weather in through the seams.
When replacing, the material choice matters: mohair for a car where originality and appearance take priority, Everflex vinyl for a car where maximum durability and easy cleaning are the main considerations. A good quality mohair hood fitted by a competent hood maker should last fifteen to twenty years with reasonable care. A replacement hood from a budget supplier in inferior material may need replacing within five years, and the fitting labour cost is the same either time. The economics of hood replacement favour the better material consistently across most scenarios.
Hood specialists for the most common classic British cars: the Hood Shop, Prestige Hoods, and AKS Hoods are all UK-based hood makers with experience on classic British cars. The relevant marque clubs maintain lists of recommended suppliers who have fitted hoods to club members’ cars and produced consistent results.
Folding and storage
The way a hood is folded affects both the fabric and the rear window. The rear window should always fold toward the outside of the roll rather than being compressed into a tight crease: most hood frames are designed to produce the correct fold geometry when the hood is lowered following the manufacturer’s sequence. Deviating from that sequence, or forcing the hood into its compartment without following the natural fold geometry, puts stress on the rear window and the hood fabric at points they were not designed to absorb.
Never fold or store a damp hood. A wet hood sealed in its compartment does not dry: it ferments. The mould that results is the most difficult to remove of all hood cleaning challenges and the most certain to repeat itself if the cause is not addressed. If the hood must be raised while wet, open it again as soon as possible and allow it to dry completely before folding. A hood cover, where one is available for the car in question, keeps precipitation off a stored hood and dramatically reduces the accumulation of organic debris in the fold.
For related reading: our classic car detailing guide covers the full detail process including hood care as part of a comprehensive maintenance routine, our rust prevention guide covers treating the hood frame mounting points and surrounding metalwork, our MGB buyers guide and TR6 buyers guide cover hood condition assessment as part of the purchase inspection, and our winter storage guide covers preparing the hood correctly before the car is laid up.