TheSamba.com :: View topic - chemical to clean the fiberglass pop top??

Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:34 am

Anyone know the name?? I think it started with a P.

Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:40 am

Penetrol

Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:24 am

under $10 for a quart at home depot in the paint section.

Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:35 pm

Will Penetrol really turn my white fiberglass top a yellow-ish haze if I apply it?

Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:03 pm

Come on....There's two dozen posts already on this topic.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/search.php?search..._chars=200

Fri Mar 06, 2009 1:37 pm

PDXWesty wrote: Come on....There's two dozen posts already on this topic.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/search.php?search..._chars=200

Still have never seen any actual examples of the yellowish haze that people mention. Anyone have pictures of white fiberglass with Penetrol applied to it?

Fri Mar 06, 2009 4:59 pm

It is safe to say that most if not all oil based products have a yellow cast
to them . This is due to the oil used in the product which in most cases is a soy oil.

Penetrol is a product that is added to oil based paints to allow the brush marks to flow into each other.

There is a seperate product for water based coatings and its called floatrol. It....just like penetrol is a conditiner and not necessarily a cleaner.

I was shopping at Safeway one afternoon and came upon a young man who was steam cleaning the shopping carts.
A few moments later a car who had just been dive bombed by a seagull drove up and asked the guy if he wouldnt mind quickly shooting the car to remove the seagulls droppings.
After a fin changed hands the guy drove away happy and the steam cleaner was richer by $5.00.

I showed him a $10.00 bill and he got a ladder and cleaned the poptop so it looked as if it just rolled off the assembly line.
It turned out whiter than white and Ive been able to keep it that way for the past few years.

I make it a point to blast the top real good when Im doing a twice monthly wash.
Nothing really beats a steam clean because it cleans every little nook and cranny of dirt or mold or the slightest bit of moss.

Fri Mar 06, 2009 5:55 pm

Quote, "Come on....There's two dozen posts already on this topic."

It's hard to do a search when you don't no the name of the product.

Fri Mar 06, 2009 8:59 pm

That was short and sweet---

Yea--how's a guy supposed to do some sniffing on a specific product when he doesn't know the name of the stuff?

That would be a difficult mission searching in the archives.

Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:17 pm

Tsk.tsk, Pee turns snow yella'.......

Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:44 pm

Steam cleaning? INTERESTING. I have the little steam cleaner I used to de-tint Winston's windows. Might be just the thing for top touch ups. I got good results with 3M Fiberglass Restorer and wax, which I bought at West Marine. Boats = Fiberglass. They know the stuff well.

Best!

Sat Mar 07, 2009 4:01 am

I used Mr Clean magic eraser and that seemed to work well.

Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:24 am

jrobewesty wrote: Quote, "Come on....There's two dozen posts already on this topic."

It's hard to do a search when you don't no the name of the product.

If you dont know how to spell xylophone, how can you look it up in the dictionary. :shock:

Sat Mar 07, 2009 8:53 am

search thread "poptop cleaning" or "cleaning poptop"

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/search.php?search..._chars=200

You would have to read a little.

Sat Mar 07, 2009 10:49 am

The comment wasn't meant for the original poster, but after that it gets repetitive.

Sat Mar 07, 2009 11:14 am

PDXWesty wrote: The comment wasn't meant for the original poster, but after that it gets repetitive.

Does it really make your life that much worse if there is another thread about Penetrol? Especially if there is an unanswered question?

If you don't like the conversation, don't participate.
You have that option.

Sat Mar 07, 2009 12:14 pm

It's not my rules man....

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=337245

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4

The original question was asked and answered in one response. It should have died right there.

Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:45 am

I like to power wash my top and paint it every couple of years too.

This is a great example of how the search engine sometimes just dont cut it...and the folks who constantly complain about it are not the people looking for answers..though you would think they would be? No..they just move on and ask the question...the complainers are the folks who want you to spend your valuable time looking for something that wont show up because someone used a weird title heading.

I searched "pop top"..."cleaning pop top"...and others and guess what came up..this thread. Before this thread it was very difficult to find anything regarding this topic unless you knew you were looking for "penetrol".

So lighten up folks who complain all the time...the rest of us are going to ask the questions we need to ask...and thats why we are all here anyway isnt it.

Tue Mar 10, 2009 12:49 pm

krimpoo wrote: ...the rest of us are going to ask the questions we need to ask...and thats why we are all here anyway isnt it.

Agreed. Some of the best stuff I've picked up here came from multi-page discussions that veer off in other directions. Often times it's the discussion, not the answer to the original question itself, where you pick up the best info.

By the way, I picked up that 'space age' pop top cleaner from go westy and I was underwhelmed. Never tried penetrol before. I mostly just use the high pressure thing at the car wash and a scrub brush with soap on it and it seems to work pretty well.

Tue Mar 10, 2009 9:51 pm

You used the Zud, & pressure washed the top--now what is going to seal it from the rath of the sun & the other Ca-Ca floating in the air?

Penetrol would be a perfect idea.
It's like re-oilng the top from what the sun has baked outa it over the years.