If your convertible is going into storage, most of the preparation follows the same steps as any other car. The roof doesn’t. A soft top and a hard top fail in completely different ways when they’re left alone, and they need different things to come out the other side undamaged. Here’s how to handle each one properly.
Why the Roof Type Changes What You Prepare
A soft top is canvas, mohair or vinyl stretched over a frame, and some cars still use a flexible plastic rear screen instead of glass. All of that is porous, all of it takes a set if it’s held in one position, and it will hold moisture against itself.
A folding metal roof is a set of painted panels moved by hydraulic rams, electric motors, hinges, microswitches and several sets of rubber seals that clamp tight when the roof closes. Nothing there absorbs water, but plenty of it seizes, weeps or loses its memory when it hasn’t moved for months. Soft top faults tend to be material faults, and hard top faults tend to be mechanical and electrical ones.
What Both Roofs Need Before Storage
Before we get into the differences, a few things apply regardless of whether the roof is fabric or metal. These are worth getting right on any convertible before it goes into storage.
- Store the car with the roof up and latched. A fabric top folded into its well for months will crease permanently, and it will rub against the frame and itself the whole time. A metal roof stowed in the boot will leave every seal compressed and the mechanism under load. Closed is the right position either way.
- Never close a wet roof. Damp fabric that’s folded or clamped shut will discolour, shrink and go mouldy, and trapped water on a hard top will find the roof well and the electrics. Let the car dry fully before it goes anywhere.
- Clear the drain channels. Every convertible has drains behind the roof to carry water away, and leaves and grit block them. On a hard top, blocked drains are one of the most common causes of roof electrical faults, because water backs up over the control module instead of draining.
Don’t operate either roof below about 5°C either. Cold fabric, seams and plastic screens crack, and cold seals stick and drag on a metal roof.
🚗 Related Read: How to Store a Convertible Car Properly
Extra Care for a Fabric Roof
Clean the top with a product made for convertible fabric, using a soft brush and no pressure washer. Household detergents strip the waterproofing, and silicone-based dressings will damage the material and leave it shiny. Get bird droppings and tree sap off before storage too, because both are acidic and etch fabric faster than paint.
Once the roof is completely dry, reproof it. A water repellent will give the fabric something to shed while the car stands still, and it’s far easier to apply now than to rescue a stained top later.
Then make sure nothing presses on it. If you use a car cover, it needs to be breathable and soft, and a thin cotton sheet laid over the fabric first will stop lint transferring and stop the cover from rubbing. Don’t stack anything on the roof, and remember that rodents treat a fabric top and its well as both a food source and a nesting site.
Extra Care for a Folding Metal Roof
Hydraulic roof systems fail at the rod seals in the rams, and those seals last longer when they’re kept wet with fluid. Specialists generally suggest cycling the mechanism about once a month for that reason, so ask your storage provider whether that can be added to their routine checks.
Voltage is the other half of it. These systems need a healthy battery and will stop partway through a cycle without one, which leaves you with a roof that’s neither up nor down and a car you can’t secure. Check the battery before you touch the switch on a car that’s been standing, and keep a conditioner on it in storage.
While the roof is open, empty the boot so the panels have room to fold, look for oily residue around the rams and hoses, and wipe a rubber conditioner over the seals. Seals that dry out will stick to the paint and take a set, then whistle and leak once the car is back on the road.
Where Humidity Does the Most Damage in Car Storage
Damp is bad for any stored car and worse for a soft top than for almost anything else. Mould takes hold in the layers of the fabric instead of on the surface, so by the time you can see it, cleaning often won’t remove the staining, and a replacement top is a serious bill.
Keeping relative humidity below around 55% is what prevents that, which is why professional facilities run industrial dehumidifiers instead of relying on a closed garage door. Hard tops are affected differently, because damp attacks the motors, connectors and hinges before it touches the roof surface.
At home, a garage dehumidifier and moisture absorbers in the cabin will help, though neither matches a controlled environment.
🚗 Here’s more on how to keep moisture out of a stored car if you’re doing it yourself.
How to Store a Detachable Hard Top on Its Own
Plenty of roadsters came with a lift-off hard top for winter, and the panel needs looking after as carefully as the car. Use a purpose-made stand or wall bracket, keep it off the floor, and drape a soft blanket over it. A panel leaned against a wall will get scratched, can distort at the corners, and will eventually fall over.
The panel is painted metal and glass, so the same paint protection that applies to the bodywork applies to it. If the fabric roof is stowed underneath a fitted hard top for months, lay a soft towel inside the fold of a plastic rear screen so it doesn’t crease.
Check with your storage provider before you arrive, too. Some will take the panel alongside the car, and others charge for the extra space.
Which Roof Needs More Attention?
A soft top will almost always ask more of you before storage. Cleaning, reproofing and keeping pressure and damp off the fabric are the whole job, and getting it wrong shows up as permanent marks on the most visible part of the car.
A folding metal roof asks more of you during storage. It wants voltage, occasional movement and seals that haven’t dried out, and neglect there turns into a hydraulic repair instead of a cosmetic one.
Get the roof up, dry and latched with the drains clear, and you’ll have covered most of the risk either way.
