Restored my hardtop

Just wanted to give an update on restoring the hardtop. Its been over 4 months now and the hardtop still looks like the day I cleaned and applied the Penetrol.

I generally wash the Jeep every weekend so its had about 15-16 washes since it was applied. (I missed 2 or 3 washes due to being busy)

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I'm still very happy with how it turned out. Before it gets too cold the Jeep will get a good washing, clay bar and then waxed. I believe I'm going to try the Turtle Wax Ceramic spray and see how it does.

I'll give another update in a few more months to show how it fairs during the winter months.
 
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That turned out looking sharp as hell! Well done! That paint looks like a perfect match too.

Definitely keep us posted on how it holds up.
 
Bionic_Scorpion - I took your advice on the Penetrol and it worked great and still looks great.

Regarding Ceramic I will share my new impression. Ceramic coating is new to the paint treatment world. I have been reading so much about it on a new vehicle that I should be receiving next mouth. I have always been a fan and user of Adams Polish products and they just came out with there Ceramic products. I ordered there Graphene Ceramic Spray Coating and have so far applied it to 3 cars. I did my Jeep this morning and as you know old Jeeps are not quality grade condition. I now have 3 CHROME cars. You cannot believe how simple this is and the end results. It took 10 minutes to do the Jeep. I did not do the top. I will do the rest of my cars and one next month.
 
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5632 said:
Bionic_Scorpion - I took your advice on the Penetrol and it worked great and still looks great.

Regarding Ceramic I will share my new impression. Ceramic coating is new to the paint treatment world. I have been reading so much about it on a new vehicle that I should be receiving next mouth. I have always been a fan and user of Adams Polish products and they just came out with there Ceramic products. I ordered there Graphene Ceramic Spray Coating and have so far applied it to 3 cars. I did my Jeep this morning and as you know old Jeeps are not quality grade condition. I now have 3 CHROME cars. You cannot believe how simple this is and the end results. It took 10 minutes to do the Jeep. I did not do the top. I will do the rest of my cars and one next month.
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I'm glad to hear you had a great experience with the penetrol and thanks for the heads up on the ceramic spray. I've been reading reviews on it and it sounded too good to be true for something so simple to spray on and wipe off but I figured I'd give it a try.

It making your vehicles shine like chrome sounds like a no brainer for me to try it. Thanks brother.
 
You can use the 10 and 15 dollar sprays and you will get a result. A 2 dollar result. Griots has a nice catalog but to me there products do not match other companies.
 
@Bionic_Scorpion any update on how the color has held up? I sold my Sahara last December but I've seen it passed around on CL and FB a couple times and the hard top still looks fresh imo.
 
I use Meguair's Mirror Glaze Show Car Glaze #7 on my black hard top followed by a coat of Mequair's Mirror Glaze Hi-Tech Yellow Wax #26 whenever I detail my Jeep. It is very easy to work with and it makes my hard top look like new again.

It lasts as long as the wax on the regular paint.
 
Jamison C said:
@Bionic_Scorpion any update on how the color has held up? I sold my Sahara last December but I've seen it passed around on CL and FB a couple times and the hard top still looks fresh imo.
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The hardtop still looks the same. I dont think the penetrol covers up anything, I think the magic eraser and penetrol removes the white film from weather and sun damage. So as long as you keep it clean, it should stay looking new.
 
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Do you think it would take care of the slight discoloration patches in my top? Think they were made by the PO letting mud sit on it.
 
I put the stuff on a black hardtop that had gone grayish last spring and it is glossy black yet today, about one year later. Wipe it on with a rag and buff out with a soft cotton or microfiber towel. It will vastly improve the look of your top.
 
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Bionic_Scorpion said:
I read on here about using penetrol to restore the paint on your hardtop so I picked up a can at Lowes for under $11.00

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The day before I used the penetrol, I used warm water and several magic erasers to clean the hardtop. I paid special attention to the rubber around the side windows since they were white and oxidized looking. The magic erasers removed some of the fading from the top and made the rubber around the windows look black like new again. I gave the top 24 hours to dry before applying the penetrol.

I have read about different ways people apply penetrol, with a roller, foam brush, rag, etc. so I chose to apply it with a cotton rag. First I used painters tape to mask off the rubber around the windows. I then applied penetrol to half the top, waited about 3 mins and used a microfiber cloth to wipe the excess off. I then completed one side, the other half of the top, the other side and then the rear. I didn't want to do too much at one time because I didn't want the penetrol to stay on too long because it gets stickier as it dries. I buffed the hardtop several times with the microfiber cloth to make sure there were no streaks or swirls.

Here are some before and after pics. The top looks like new again. I couldn't believe the difference it made.

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I also did the hood latches with the penetrol and they look like new again as well. I taped off around the latches and applied the penetrol with a small foam brush, waited about 3 mins and wiped it off with a microfiber cloth.

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I'm very happy with the results and if you're wanting to make your hardtop look like new again, I would highly recommend this.
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Thanks for this. I'm in the early stages of taking this same approach. How much of a difference did you see after using the Magic Erasers, versus after applying the penetrol? So far I'm not seeing much different from the eraser, so I wonder if the bigger change comes after applying penetrol.

@Jamison C , I'd be eager to hear your experience too.
 
SSTJ said:
Thanks for this. I'm in the early stages of taking this same approach. How much of a difference did you see after using the Magic Erasers, versus after applying the penetrol? So far I'm not seeing much different from the eraser, so I wonder if the bigger change comes after applying penetrol.

@Jamison C , I'd be eager to hear your experience too.
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I didn’t go the magic eraser route. I doused the top in penetrol, then used some meguires ultimate compound to buff out the streaks and imperfections.

I slathered penetrol on the top to make sure the paint was soaking up plenty of it, but I hate buffing the excess penetrol with a cloth, which is why I used the buffer after. It looked really good and stayed that way until I sold the Jeep. The only thing I would do different is jump right to buffing. I waited a few days in between the jobs and the penetrol was really stiff. There were a couple of small streaks I couldn’t eliminate.

Before and after with Penetrol.
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And then after buffing.
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