Hood Joys & Woes

[Bazzajay]

Last week I decided to give the hood of my 2000 MGF Wedgwood a well deserved clean. I bought the Auto-Glym Hood Cleaner & Restorer, which was easy to apply and has worked very well. The water now beads on the hood and runs off easily.

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Then, early yesterday morning the alarm sounded. I couldn't see anything when I looked out of the window. However, daylight showed a different picture. Someone had slashed the hood on the near side front.

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I called the Police and someone came to see me, mind you they didn't seem too surprised; although my everyday car, a Peugeot Partner had had paint sprayed on the front passenger door a couple of weeks ago.

And I had always thought the Isle of Wight was a nice place to live!

[talkingcars]

I feel for you, ours was slashed on the first night of our Euro 2016 road trip.

[Bazzajay]

That was very difficult for you, just at the start of a long trip. At least mine's at home where I have the opportunity to repair it. I'm also lucky in that I have a spare, albeit a bit tired and with a badly deteriorated rear window. I think I'll try a repair first off, as I will need some assistance to change them over. I'm sure I can manage to swap the rear windows over, if I can locate some of the correct blind rivets.

[talkingcars]

My hood was only 18 months old

[Bazzajay]

My hood was only 18 months old

That's a real bummer! Was it repairable?

[David Dixon]

Grockles or locals do you suspect ? Whoever very, very annoying.

[Bazzajay]

Grockles or locals do you suspect ?

Not too many grockles around at the moment so, I suspect I must have annoyed a local.

[talkingcars]

I managed to do a reasonable repair but it was on the side just behind the passenger side window so less likely to leak.
I have a spare bit of hood fabric here so plan to put a large patch over it.

I think it was a local low life, I heard a car alarm going off 6 floor below at 2am but as the car was out of sight of the hotel room and there wasn't much I could have done I ignored it. Would have probably meet a local wielding a large knife.........

[Bazzajay]

I have a hood cover, so I'm alright for the present. I plan to tack stitch the cut closed and then stick a piece of fabric underneath using wetsuit adhesive. I'll then leave it for a day and run some Plastidip along the cut to seal it. If it works, all well and good. If not, I'll get some blind rivets, fit the spare hood, and change the rear windows over.

However, everything is on-hold for a week as the car is going into a local garage for the displacers to be removed and sent to Telford for re-gassing. Should have nice suspension again in time for Summer!

[Bazzajay]

Well, I got the car back with the re-charged displacers fitted, what a difference they make. Corners really well and all the crashing and banging has gone.

So yesterday I got round to doing the hood repair. First the kit, self explanatory really:

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I then started on the stitching, with three stitches before the cut to secure the thread, I was being careful so it was a relatively slow process:

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I then completed the stitching, with three stitches after the cut to secure it.

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Finally I stuck a patch underneath with a good inch overlap on either side of the cut:

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I'll leave it for a couple of days and then cover the stitching, couldn't get any Plasti-Dip, so I'll use the Wetsuit adhesive as a second best, should do the trick though.