Essential Tips for Cleaning Your Jeep's Soft Top

Soft Top Care Collage

When it comes to maintaining your Jeep's soft top, investing in quality cleaning products is crucial. While there are many cost-saving techniques out there, it's worth spending a little extra on specialized products designed to keep your soft top clean and long-lasting. After all, we invest thousands in our Jeeps, so why skimp on proper care?

Check out my YouTube video Top 5 Cleaning Hacks for more tips to keep your Jeep clean. 

Choose the Right Cleaning Products

Trusted brands like Bestop and Mopar offer excellent cleaning solutions for Jeep soft tops. I've personally used Bestop Vinyl Cleaner Pack on my Jeep and found them to be simple and effective. Their kit typically includes a cleaner, protectant, and polisher.

Bestop Cleaning Products

Focus on Key Areas

When cleaning your soft top, concentrate on three main areas: the fabric, windows, and zippers. Regular cleaning and inspections of these components will significantly extend the life of your soft top. For more on zipper care check out my YouTube video on Soft Top Cleaning Tips. 

Read More ➤➤ How to Properly Fold Back Your Soft Top - The Jeep W 

The Jeep W

Protect from the Elements

Whenever possible, park your Jeep in a garage to reduce exposure to harsh elements. Sun exposure can cause fabric fading, thread failure, and yellowing or cracking of vinyl windows. Proper care and storage can add years to your soft top's lifespan. The winter months can wreak havoc on your Jeep. My YouTube video Tips to Protect Your Jeep from the Winter Elements can help you prolong the life of your Jeep. 

Use Appropriate Cleaning Methods

Avoid using bleach, detergents, ammonia, or alcohol-based products on your soft top. Stick to products specifically designed for soft tops. Clean monthly, and don't forget to clean the inside as well. While some may recommend using Pledge spray polish on Jeep windows, it's best to avoid this tip as it can cause yellowing over time.

Avoid Automatic Car Washes

It's tempting to take your Jeep through an automatic car wash, but this can cause significant damage. High-pressure sprays and rotating brushes can force water into the vehicle, scratch the windows, and even tear seams. Some chemicals used in car washes can also cause irreversible damage to the vinyl. More on Jeep Wrangler Vs Car Wash. 

Zipper Care

Don't forget about your zippers! Regular cleaning with mild soap and water will prevent dirt buildup. Some Jeep owners use zipper lube, but be aware that lubrication can attract dirt and grime. Check out my video on Zipper Care. 

Consider adding zipper pulls to your Jeep's windows for easier handling – you can even match them to your accessory color for a personalized touch.

Zipping off window collage

By following these tips and using proper cleaning products, you'll keep your Jeep's soft top looking great and functioning well for years to come. Remember, a little extra care goes a long way in preserving your investment.

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Garbanzo Bean Flour VS. Cornstarch

Healthy Eating Tip 

Garbanzo Bean flour vs cornstarch

When you are trying to clean eat Eat Garbanzo bean flour is a great thickener of soups and gravies. It's an excellent replacement for cornstarch. Gluten and grain free it adds a rich dense texture. It cuts the fat when used in place of cream or cornstarch. 

Check out my What is Clean Eating post for more tips on healthy eating. 

Cornstarch is made from corn kernels. It is a highly processed carbohydrate, about 30 calories or 7 grams of carbs per tablespoon. When you add it to soups or gravies you are adding significant calories and no nutritional value. There is no protein, fat, vitamins, minerals or fiber.

Check out my Garbanzo Bean Pizza Crust Recipe 

Here are some other ideas for you to try as a replacement for cornstarch if you have a hard time finding Garbanzo Bean flour. 

Heat reduction: Simmer sauces uncovered over a low to medium heat over time and your sauce will become thicker.

Pureed vegetables: Tomato paste, zucchini, eggplant, cauliflower, squash and pumpkin are easy to puree in a blender once cooked. These pureed veggies are great for thickening sauces and homemade soups. They add a nutritional goodness to your recipes since they are full of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. However remember squash and pumpkin have a higher starch content then the others.

Sour Cream or Greek yogurt: These are already thick. You will do much better with sour cream in hot recipes like soups. 

Flax seed meal: Ground flax seed works better as an egg substitute because it can be gritty.  It is great to add to smoothies, oatmeal or other baked goods.

Don't forget to read your food labels, cornstarch is sometimes added.  

Tips to Keep Your Jeep Salt Free

Winter's Arrival: Road Conditions

With the arrival of Old Man Winter, our roads are becoming nasty, dirty pathways turning our Jeeps into salt-coated crawlers. 

Road Salt on Jeep

The Corrosive Nature of Road Salt

The salt poured on our roads each winter is corrosive, and can cause extensive damage. 

   

The Culprit Behind Road Salt

Magnesium Chloride is poured onto our roads in the winter in several states. This chemical concoction is called road salt. Road Salt is bad for our vehicles. Road Salt can eat away at your Jeep in the form of rust. the threat salt poses to your vehicle is rust and accelerates with repeated exposure. Extra care must be taken in the winter months. It takes more than just a spray from the hose. 

Tips to Keep Your Vehicle Salt-Free

Road Salt on front of Jeep

• Wash your vehicle as soon as possible after the snow.  Wax and Re-Wax

• Wash the underside of your Jeep often during the winter months.

• Avoid driving through large puddles of standing water where road salt collects.
  
  
• A power washer is the best to use because you can spray water into as many nooks and crannies as you can find because salt and road crud hide everywhere.

Watch More Jeep Momma Tips to Keep Your Jeep Clean

➤➤ Tips to Keep Your Jeep Salt-Free  

➤➤ Jeep Momma's Jeep Cleaning Hacks 

➤➤ Top 5 Spots You Must Keep Clean on Your Jeep 

Road salt on fenders

• Extra pressure washing on the backside of inner fender wells is a must.

• Keeping your vehicle cold when dirty is better as well, meaning a cold garage or outside rather than parking it in a heated garage which will keep the rock salt active.

• The frame has holes in the side that get filled with dirt, mud, and salt. Keep it clean put the hose in the holes to get all that yuck out. 

• You should avoid washing when the temperature is below freezing because the water will immediately freeze. Door locks could freeze and your windows could be hard to de-ice.

• If you can't take the nastiness of the salt, and you need to wash your Jeep, drive it around the block a few times to warm the hood. Turn the heater on high to warm the inside of the Jeep. This will help keep the water from freezing while you wash it. 
  
  
• Pay extra care to your soft top. Avoid an automatic car wash if you have a soft top. The brush-type car wash can easily scratch the vinyl windows. Or the dirt left on the brushes from another vehicle can scratch the windows too.
  
  
• A touchless car wash is unlikely to damage your top, but you could get some leakage due to the high-pressure nozzles from various directions. A Jeep Wrangler vs an Automatic Car Wash can lead to unwanted leaks. 

• The harsh chemicals in the soaps are also bad for your soft tops. The best way to clean your soft top is by hand, or in a manual car wash.

Road Salt on soft top window

More Cold Weather Jeep Tips

• Vinegar/cold water on your windshield will also melt ice or prevent it from building up if applied the night before. 

• Keep more fuel in your tank to reduce air inside the tank that can condense and freeze in your lines. 
  
  
• Squeaky wipers annoying? Straight up rubbing alcohol on a rag clean the blades themselves to quiet them. 
  
  
• Light oil (Pam spray or cooking oil or something similar) on your weather stripping to stop your doors freezing shut.
  
  
• Don't let your vehicle idle for an extended time warming it up. Engines aren't really designed to idle, it's not good for it.
  
  
• Alcohol-based hand sanitizers in personal carry-size squirt bottles can help free up a frozen door lock if you squirt it in the keyhole.