What's the best way to clean the pop top?

[mathew.smith]

We just bought an '85 Westfalia and there is some mildew on the pop top, both on the canvas and the ceiling. Can anyone recommend a good way to clean it? Should we use a steam cleaner or a cleaning solution? Even advice on what NOT to use would be appreciated.

Thank you!

Dar

[Randy in Maine]

Perhaps this will help?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58119&highlight=cleaning+poptop

[jamezzz]

Did you just buy that west for $500 ? I am tryin to get one in portland listed can't get ahold of them , maybe your the reason why !

[Ragman]

I cleaned my poptop (fiberglass outside, not the canvas) with Simple Green and a brush, plus lots and lots of elbow grease. Just make sure to be careful with the simple green on the paint. Don't let it sit on it long at all, keep rinsing with a hose as you clean.

Not sure about cleaning the actual canvas....

[msinabottle]

When I got Winston, his poptop was a splotchy gray with a LOT of gunk on it. It has been a long journey to get it into the gleaming white it is now.

I used a lot of Simple Green and a scrub brush in the early stages of the first cleaning, which worked pretty well--kept washing and scrubbing, got off the old dirt and gunk.

At a West Marine store I lucked into a close-out of two products, 3M Fiberglass Restorer and Wax, and 3M Fiberglass Wax. The former is a very thick Assuan Brown paste, which you rub into the chalky, gunky surface and scrub in vigorously. It got rid of the worst of the gunk and left a gleaming, shiny surface that lingered. There were still dark BLACK specs in the pores of the top. The other stuff is a white creamy rub-dry-and-buff wax, leaves a very gleaming surface behind. Both are supposed to protect against UV, we have... a LOT of that up here.

Winston sat for two years under the pine trees along the front walk, and under pine trees at the campground. As well as the black gunk, there were big large globs of sap on the top--on the metal--on the windows... Gad, I hate the stuff.

Soap-based cleaners didn't do much against the sap. Turpentine worked fairly well... Denatured full-strength alcohol was and is da bomb. On old, huge globs of sap, you have to let it soak a bit, but if you manage that, it will get rid of the stuff. I suggest using a paper towel, since the sap will harden again as the alcohol evaporates, you want something you can throw away.

Today... With Winston in the garage, and likely to remain there, I decided that it was finally time to get the top completely clean, in the hope that it would remain so, or at the least so there'd be a layer of wax in between the top and new and exciting deposits of gunk. I have been monitoring the Samba for ideas...

Terry K and those who have used it have made a GREAT case for Penetrol. Easy, brushes on, renews the fiberglass, cheap...

But it yellows. Over the course of a year, it will yellow. On a colored top, I suppose it's not at all noticeable... But I don't want Winston's vintage white top to yellow. The 3M Stuff has never yellowed a bit. It's dried and weathered off, but that white, reflective surface that's supposed to keep the van that much cooler should not be yellow. I also wasn't in the mood to deal with a can and brush and a sticky substance on a rickety ladder in a hot garage.

Terry had also mentioned that a steam cleaner will remove gunk from a fiberglass top. Had one! Used it to remove the horrible purple tint from Winston's windows over two horrifying days. Verdict after using it today--it cleaned off the surface dirt and black gunk, but it didn't touch the !@#~$#~! pine sap, and it left the black spots in the fiberglass pores. More trouble than it was worth, all due respects to Terry.

With rubbing... and rubbing... and rubbing... After the Simple Green and sponge had gotten most of the surface gunk off, the 3M Fiberglass Restorer and Was would get NEARLY ALL, but NOT all, of those cursed black dots. Using a toothbrush with the Simple Green worked somewhat better. Progress was slow... and the garage got very warm when I had to close the door to get at the front of the van.

I was getting very tired, very grim, and very gunky. There was... a LOT of old sap on that top. It's all gone now, but it took a lot of alcohol and paper towels, and the bottles and rags and everything else kept flying off the top of the van. Finally I started experimenting.

There's a product called 'Oops!' which is GREAT for removing spilled paint, or, just today, black rubber marks from the paint on Winston's rims. It didn't work particularly well on Winston's top or the sap. Then I had an inspiration, using, of all things...

Bon Ami.

Bon Ami on a Dobe sponge encased in a nylon net. BOY did that work. Didn't have to use a lot, just got the top wet, scrubbed with a small amount of Bon Ami, and the black, spots and all, just... MELTED off. Had to go back do areas I'd done earlier, since I wasn't in the mood to settle. I didn't scrub that long or hard, didn't have to, and the fiberglass was glossy and smooth where I'd scrubbed. The only thing rinsing off under my sponge was the Bon Ami.

I put the 3M Fiberglass Wax on after I scrubbed, and I rather think the results were excellent. I NEVER thought I'd get that black gunk off and out.

Bon Ami.



Who'da thunk?

Those wishing to check my results may inspect them this Sunday at VW's on the Green. Winston will be the best-groomed beat-up '84 Westy there.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."

[shenan-agon]

Assuming you're talking about the fuzzy underbelly of the poptop, the only thing I've really found to work well is bleach (diluted!). A mildew remover like X10 will also do the trick, but that's also basically just bleach, as far as I can tell.

[Fuzzrence]

For the flocking on the inside I used a borax solution and a decent bit of scrubbing. Haven't had any mold/mildew since. If I used it on the canvas I'd spend a good amount of time rinsing it off since I don't know the long term effects, however on the flocking, a minimal wet towel rinse was all I did. That was 2+ years ago, and I'm not in mildew land (socal coast- damp, but not that damp).

For the fiberglass, the only places that had gunk were the scrapes and scratch outs. There I used a good strong scrubber and general car soap, and then penetrol'd the whole thing.

[msinabottle]

I was talking about the outside.

Not a lot of pine sap falling upwards on the inside.



I like to 'freshen up' old threads rather than to keep starting new ones. 1st Independent review of results positive.

Best!
_________________
'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence."