When
the hood gets old it begins to split on the sides above the
window.... at this point it should be changed! By trying to
get an extra year out of your hood, it will split even more
allowing water into the seals causing damp, mouldy and wet
seats. The hidden damage is the rust which is killing your
frame and causing the tension cables to break.
"Trying to extend the life of your hood reduces the life
of the frame"
A new frame from mazda costs £800!
Any splits on the hood can cause the rubbers to fill up with
water and as lots of you probably know, when you go round
that corner or round-about it ends up all over your leg, so
now you know the reason why this happens.... its not the rubber
but the small cracks in the hood.
Hard tops reduce the life of a hood...
They make the hood shrink when the hard top is on the car.
It's like leaving a pair of jeans in a garden shed over the
winter, hot, cold and damp, would you expect them to fit nice
and snug as they did last summer?
The best position for a hood is stretched up over
the frame.
Also the difference between vinyl and mohair apart from the
obvious appearance is that the mohair cloth does not suffer
from splitting in the usual places.
PLEASE remember do not take your hoods down below 8'C, i.e.
no hats and scarves on the motorway. At this temperature your
hood will split.
General care of the hood when taking down or putting
up:
1 - unclip
2 - unzip the rear window
3 - lay the window flat and if you can protect with a towel
or cover
4 - put hood down
and in reverse
1 - pull hood up
2 - zip up rear window
3 - tension clips on last
Always remember tensions off first and on last.
If you don't do it in this order your zip on the window will
break or the stitching will come away from the window or if
you don't unzip your window it just simply will split.
If you don't protect your window you will end up with scratches
and scuffs, never put through a car wash.
To clean the rear window, use white spirit to get rid of the
dirt and rubbish. To clean off the white spirit and get that
nice window back, use a liquid window cleaner and finish with
a polish like Sparkle/Pledge and always use a clean non abrasive
cloth! |
