308 Cleaning Cordlike Material

You could try Resolve Spot cleaner. It is pretty much the same as carpet cleaner found in auto parts stores and can be found at most grocery stores, that or get a pro's recommendation

 

I was told to just leave it alone by the Philadelphia dealer. Some spot removers might be too harsh and damage the material. The same material runs along the side windows, it turns yellow or sometimes brown. It has not cost me any points at a National FCA Concours. It just doesn't look so good.

 

I remember there being a thread in the old F-chat archives. Check there because somone posted a way of cleaning the material that was very well received. My earlier car has vinyl there so I have not recorded it in my bag of tricks.

 

I've had great results with Zymol's fabric cleaner. Mix it with salt-free seltzer as directed, spray it on, then sponge off. I had water stains on the rear shelf of my 328 GTB, and the Zymol removed them without a trace.

 

Woolite spray carpet shampoo works very well. If you have bad stains, diluted "Oxy-clean" works well on those.

www.fca-se.org/concours.htm

 

The original fabric always struck me as an inexpensive (i.e., "cheap") detail in an expensive car. Tried to clean mine, to no avail, as the foam beneath was also in poor condition. Ultimately removed the lot and went with a padded creme leather. Well worth doing, in my opinion, and leather cleans up much easier than the fabric ever could hope to do.

Also did the underside of the targa top to match.

Cheers - DM
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That's a really good idea. Looks great.

 

Dave80gtsi...would probably get points off at a concours, BUT that looks amazing. That is what Ferrari should have done from the beginning. Do you have pics of the roof panel? Who did this for you? Was it a regular interior guy or a specialist of some kind. I LOVE IT...it looks amazing. I never plan on selling my 308, so if it gets to the point of needing to clean it or replace it, I would be leaning towards doing exactly what you did. Please either post more pics from different angles or e-mail me pics. Thanks

 

There's a number of folks here who have also replaced the OEM cloth with leather. Pretty easy job once the various small parts and pieces of the rear deck are removed. Local car upholstery place did the work, after I brought them a big box with all of the pieces.

Sorry, don't have an inside targa top shot to share at the moment, but here's a shot of what the various OEM pieces looked like "before", and then a couple more "after" shots.

By the way - I doubt that I will ever enter the car in a Concours, so deviation from OEM is not an issue for me.
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I considered that, but I get water seepage around the rear quarter windows and soaking of the nearby cloth when the car has been out in the rain overnight (like when parked at a hotel for a Ferrari Club event). I can get the water stain out of the cloth when that happens, but I'd have more trouble with leather.

 

Not to sound like a wise guy, but why don't you fix the leak? PO did mine in leather too...and I didn't realize it wasn't stock!

Birdman

 

I like concourses, but I like the leather better. I'll just tell the judges that it was a rare option and I'm surprised they did not know about it. Looks great...damn I'm jealous. My decks still look great though..no staining or discoloration. If and when it happens though...leather it is.

 

You would be surprised at some of the things the judges do not know