Transition from Vinyl Top Removal to Repainting Top

[73 New Yorker]

Has anyone removed their vinyl top and painted the roof of their car rather than replacing the vinyl top?
I currently have a vinyl top that is in very good condition but would like to take the vinyl roof off and repaint the top of the car at some point.
My reasons for doing this are - 1) I like the way it looks, 2) Rust prevention
If anyone would be willing to post a picture of the finished product and maybe a brief description of their experience with the transition process from vinyl to paint it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[CBODY67]

On factory vinyl top cars, the top area got primered at best with OVERSPRAY from the rest of the car getting paint. Why should they do a normal shiny paint job on an area that will be covered with vinyl?

So, you'll need to quickly de-rust and prime the area as the top is removed. Might as well be prepared to paint it too, as you'll already be halfway there. Pay attention to how the vinyl is sealed to the pinchweld in the roof rail area! Might need to remove that sealer and reapply it, very possibly.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[thethee]

I did this very thing last year on my '75 Imperial and can give you some details tomorrow.
Spoiler alert, it was a pain.

 

[azblackhemi]

When you paint the top are you planning on painting the whole car? If not and as you say the vinyl top is good I'd leave it alone. Is there any signs of rust under the top? If not I'd leave it alone. Best case scenario removing the top is no major rust, however at the least you'll have a pretty major job redoing the C pillar seams. A lot of work for very little return IMHO.

 

[marko]

are you planning on removing the front and rear glass ? ive heard that the glass has to be removed to get all the vinyl out of the window trough so you dont get leaks later. and the person who told me that you dont got leaks years later..........

 

[57fury440]

I helped my friend remove a vinyl top from his 1974 Barracuda back around 1980-1981. His top did not go under the glass and all we had to do was remove the stainless trim around the front and back glass. It did go under the drip rails, but all he did was cut it close with a sharp exacto knife. Like said above there was only primer and under spray under the top. He removed it because he did not like the look of it on E bodies. He still has the car and hasn't had any problems since removing it. The biggest pain was getting all the glue off. He bought some solvent for that at the auto paint store , but it was still a pain.

 

[73 New Yorker]

Do you have pics of roof damage?

At this point, I have no evidence of roof damage.

 

[57fury440]

He said in his original post that the vinyl top is in excellent condition. He doesn't like the way the car looks with it.

 

[Justin Plant]

I did that on a 1975 Grand Prix. What a Pain in the ***! The glue took hours to remove, all the "hair" i burned off with a Bernz o matic propane torch. The transition from the roof to quarters isn't really finished, so that has to be done. The window trim didn't meet the roof in the corners, so that that had to be rectified. In the end, it looked damn good. I decided to reinstall the trim that went around the vinyl but I painted it the same maroon as the interior.
Don't get in a hurry, the roof will grow 3 or 4 times its size before you're done!

 

[ayilar]

See my Buttercup thread for how Wyatt did it on my car.

Your car is stored inside, and so I personally would leave well enough alone IF there is no evidence of rust (no bubbles). The main reason why I painted Buttercu’s top, is because the vinyl was shot and needed replaced, and some metal repair was needed as there was a bit of rust underneath — so I wanted to do it right and paint under the new vinyl so there’s be no rust for the next 50 years.

 

[cuda hunter]

Barracuda's have an option of V02 that was a painted top from the factory. (not sure about challengers)
I think they look great like that.
All the vinyl stainless stays in place, or gets put back on for the color transition.

Barracuda's aren't so bad but on the C's there is a lot more trim and areas that tuck the vinyl under. If it goes inside the window channel that would really suck and make that a much more difficult job.

 

[thethee]

This is what it looked like after I pulled the vinyl top off of my 75 Imperial. There was body color on the c pillars and above side windows, the rest was just primer. Like others have mentioned getting all the glue off is a pain. I ended up using some heavy sticker remover.

Big issue is what you do with the rear window plug.

But I'm a sucker for painted roofs

 

[73 New Yorker]

That painted roof looks fantastic!
You answered my question exactly. Thank you for posting the pictures.

 

[cuda hunter]

@thethee That looks amazing!

"Big issue is what you do with the rear window plug."

So, what did you do to achieve that good of a look?

 

[thethee]

I'm not a body man nor a painter, this was a first for me, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It's a decent 20 footer.

The rear window is bonded into a non metal frame and the gap between that and the roof is about 1" deep and 1/2" wide. Can't just slap some bondo on that, I knew that much going in. So I ended up using epoxy and fibreglass laminate to seal it and then several skim coats of filler. There was a  lot of sanding. The double curvature thats in that panel was really hard to get right since the plug and roof don't really line up from the start but that used to he hidden by the vinyl.

 

[fury fan]

My white 68 Fury had a decent vinyl top when I got it.
Within 5-ish years it was starting to split, so I peeled it and painted it.

My speculation of what I did 20 years ago -
IIRC it wasn't that terrible of a job, but it was a full day's work.
Peeled the vinyl, either by pulling or with putty knife.
Removed all the SS trim, and removed the vinyl around the glass as completely as possible. (needlenose pliers and small picks help here)
Scraped the glue as best I could, I suspect I used a DA sander to get some off too.

The seamsealer along your side roofline trim might have lots of cracks, I found a short/stiff rotary brush in the drill cleaned that away nicely.
I did not replace the seamsealer, I just put thicker coats of primer & paint along the edge, and it's been fine.

Sanded it as appropriate and put Rustoleum primer on with a 4" roller and quality paintbrush to trim the edges.
Let that dry, then did some coats of semi-gloss black Rustoleum - again with good brush and roller.
Semi-gloss will hide the flaws and draw less attention than gloss.

I used one of those rollers with the short hairs on it to allow some texture.

The end result will depend a lot on your skill with brush and roller - I had lots of practice from a job in my youth.

I have done it 3 times total, about every 5-7 years it deserves a re-do. I do not remove the trim for this, I just carefully sand the edges and lightly DA the main areas again.

Whether you do it this way or have a bodyshop paint with a gun depends on your budget and DIY skills.