How To Repair Convertible Top

Story by Marianne Brunson Frisch • Photography by Tony Christy

PROBLEM: You're driving along, enjoying a top-down kind of 24-hour interval, perhaps listening to Irving Berlin'due south tune crooning "Blue skies smilin' at me, Nothin' just blue skies practice I see," on the radio equally you meander along. Nail! A storm approaches. Summit up, off yous go. Drip, baste, drip-the rain sneaks its way through a canvas tear worn from raising and lowering the summit.

SOLUTION: A repair that's a cinch with hands procured supplies and instructions from the crafts people at Automotive Restorations Inc.

Step 1:

Offset upwards, move your auto to the garage and away from sunlight. Thoroughly remove any surface dust surrounding the tear, both within and out, and be sure the area is completely dry out.

Step 2:

Now you lot're set to make your patch. Cut the canvas into a round or oval shape large enough to comprehend the hole. On the interior of the convertible acme, place your patch over the pigsty and lightly draw an outline just smaller than the patch, indicating where it will later be adhered.

Pace 3:

Lay the patch on your worktable. Evenly brush a glaze of adhesive on 1 side of the patch and also on the area you outlined on the interior of the convertible top. Let the patch and convertible height gear up for about 10 minutes until completely dry out.

Stride 4:

Reapply adhesive to the same side of the patch and your outlined area on the convertible peak interior. Expect until those areas are slightly tacky just not clammy. Touch the patch–information technology's prepare when it drops off of your finger, leaving no residue. Align the ii edges of the convertible top textile along the tear line and place your patch over the outlined spot on the interior.

Step 5:

Use pressure to both the interior patch and the corresponding outside area until they have set up. Ta da, your top has renewed integrity and is now waterproof.

Pace vi:

Follow-up step for vinyl tops: Make the repair nearly invisible and even more than waterproof. Get your tools handy, instructs Automotive Restorations quality control technician and glassman Craig Cronin Sr.: silicone sealant in a color matching your convertible meridian, a caulk gun, spray glass cleaner and a rubber duster, all bachelor at Dwelling Depot or Lowe's. Load your caulk gun with the sealant and sparingly employ an even line of sealant on the original tear line on the exterior of the convertible top.

Follow-upwards step for cloth tops of diverse materials: Kickoff, follow the same steps equally outlined for vinyl tops. Then edge trim a bit of your canvas or Stayfast top material and create a pile of short cut fibers. Using a modelers pigment brush, which can be purchased at a craft or paint shop, apply a bit more sealant just at the exterior glued repair seam and insert your trimmed material "loose ends" to further hide the repair. This can also be done with a nicely practical bead of silicone clear adhesive sealant, then covered with the fibers.

Step seven:

Spray the entire area with drinking glass cleaner and wipe off the excess with a duster.

Step viii:

Patience now: Leave the top up and allow it to dry for 24 hours. Then go back on the road, pelting or blue skies.

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Source: https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/diy-convertible-top-repair/

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