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MG TD TF 1500 - Hood (Top) material question

Can someone tell me the difference and pros and cons of the different materials offered for a TD hood from personal experience? I'm talking about vinyl, stayfast, duck and mohair. Do the price differences justify one material over another?

Thanks

Tim
TD12524
TW Burchfield

Vinyl on a TD is non-original and is prone to stiffness in cooler weather along with possible cracking, but is the least expensive option.
Stayfast is my choice. It is colorfast and has none of the bad features of vinyl. It often has a waterproof inner liner so it very waterproof.
Duck (or its near cousin canvas) is waterproof - especially in the "double duck" version where there is an inner liner between two layers of duck. However, in the darker colors is prone to fading.
I have no experience with mohair, but most have a twill liner which may not, to many, look original.
Lew3

Stayfast is my choice. And is what I have on my car. Has the look of canvas, easy to clean, folds really well, and is waterprooof. I have not noticed any fade in the colour, and although it is not as Pale as the original canvas, should last as long as I want it too. Mohair that I have seen is thicker, very expensive and just does not look right in my opinion.
... CR
C.R. Tyrell

Hi Tim, I installed a Stayfast I purchased from Moss. Installation was straightforward and I am happy with it.

TD 24570

Bill Brown

Thank you gentlemen. Satyfast it is then. I appreciate your responses. Lew thanks for the detailed explanation. There was a similar discussion in the archives but it was four years old. Glad to get current info.

Tim
TW Burchfield

Hi Tim,
Vinyl is my choice although Lew is right saying that it is non-original. Considering that I drive the top down most of the time, I chose vinyl because it was cheaper and really waterptoof. The color will not fade and it looks quite right in my opinion.
C.M. groucho

C.M I certainly agree on the price issue. I did install a vinyl top on an MGB I restored and it was not a bad solution. Although it was very sensitive to the weather when installing it. I had to wait for a sunny, hot day to get it to install properly. I wonder if stayfast is as prone to stretching and shrinking due to temperature. Thanks for the input.

Tim
TW Burchfield

Be advised that if you buy a hood from TopsOnline the rear window opening is much larger than originally cut. I was not aware of this when I ordered it. They have a very good price over Moss and the quality is very good in my opinion. That said, I instructed the fitter to leave my bows in their original position on the tub when they did my interior. The fit to the curtains is lousy and will require much work before they will look more proper. There is info somewhere buried in the archives re bow height to get a proper fit on the curtains.

Bill Chasser
TD 4834
W. A. Chasser Jr

I bought a Mohair top for the 72 MGB from Prestige in the UK and was very pleased with it. A noticeable reduction in outside noise, looked great, but as being thicker when folded, a little more effort was required to get it to lay low enough for the tonneau cover to snap in place. Only, not so bad problem with Mohair is, it picks up every piece of lint from the car cover. I had to use a lint roller on the top each time I uncovered it, but it did look great and got a lot of compliments on it's look.
I used Stayfast on the TF, at the time Prestige didn't make a Mohair top for it. PJ
Paul161

I have Stayfast material with matching edging on the current TF. A fantastic material that fits well. The material for the hood,side screens
and half tonneau was purchased from an informed and efficient supplier in Melbourne who specilases in upholstery and wet weather material for classic cars.

I carefully set up the hood frame and side screens on the car after having them painted, The accuracy of your body tub rebuild will
be evident when you apply the material. It is nice to see the same and even gapping between the hood/side screen frames for both sides of the car.

if the side screens are set up in the correct place during the tub rebuild,it saves a fair deal of frustration later!

A competent local area car upholsterer made up the hood,side screens and half tonneau with guidance from supplied Factory photos, used patterns etc. The Stayfast has held up well over 12 years. I supplied all hardware required including the flanged washers and Phillips Head wood screws,(attachment of hood at rear),pins, frontal hidem binding(in same material as the hood), rear sidescreen
aluminium solid rivets and washers, and trim pieces for the end of the frontal hidem binding. Slot head,countersunk bolts(2) and a pair of cadmium plated flanged washers for the rear most hood bow.

Some friends over the years have gone down the path of purchasing an already made up hood and sidescreen kit. In many cases however,the pre done work has to be unpicked,recut and restitched to have any chance of fitting satisfactorily.

Rob Grantham
TF3719('Aramis"),TF9177("Athos").
R GRANTHAM

Hi:

I bought a double duck top for my TC. I drove it for 37 years and the top as still like new . . . of course it was still in the box; I never did get around to installing it.

:-)

Godspeed in Safety Fast
Jc
John Crawley

That sounds like my college text books. They were all like new when I sold them the next semester.

Tim
TW Burchfield

This thread was discussed between 05/03/2016 and 07/03/2016

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