Zh vinyl roof

[Bazza J 1]

hi everyone, i have decided i want to remove my vinyl roof on my ZH, but i am abit worried, i cannot feel any rust spots arpund anywhere exept on the top of the gutter on the drivers side, and its only a small bubble at the moment, i know the car has been resprayed 6 years ago and the vinyl roof is only about 4 years old, has any one had any experience removing the vinyl without damaging the paint underneath?

i assume the roof is painted as the paint is only 6 years old and the vinyl on the pillar has started to lift abit and i can see that it is painted there so im hoping the rest of the roof is done too.

[steve mcqueen 1,796]

Mate, big job. If it was mine id leave the vinyl roof. I believe they are glued on all over so peeling it off your only going to find the old glue has stuck to the metal roof

so painting will be required again. Unless the roof has rust holes but of cause its up to you.

Who else has removed a vinyl roof and found this?

[GspecZL 979]

hey Bazza. In my experince with the ZH vinyl roof there isnt really any paint worth protecting. If there is some rust there is bound to be either more than you expected or bog. I know you have experience with body work on these things so you should be ok.

 

I also reccomend being very carefull with your chrome trims when removing the vinyl roof.

[78xcgxl 241]

One thing to keep in mind is that if there is bubbles it means the rust has gone through and is a hole. I hate when people say yeah the car has very little rust just a few bubbles here and there.

[Thom 6,654]

I

<br /><br />hi everyone, i have decided i want to remove my vinyl roof on my ZH, but i am abit worried, i cannot feel any rust spots arpund anywhere exept on the top of the gutter on the drivers side, and its only a small bubble at the moment, i know the car has been resprayed 6 years ago and the vinyl roof is only about 4 years old, has any one had any experience removing the vinyl without damaging the paint underneath?<br />i assume the roof is painted as the paint is only 6 years old and the vinyl on the pillar has started to lift abit and i can see that it is painted there so im hoping the rest of the roof is done too.<br />

Mate the only person who could tell you what the roof was like underneath (if they are honest) is the person who fitted it, or you if you pull the vynyl roof off

[Bazza J 1]

i do relise it is a big job, and my main idea of removing it was to stop any rust getting worse or forming in the first place, as it had the full paint treatment 6 years ago by the previous owner, the small bit on the gutter is only about half inch long if that, and the rest of it feels solid exept for 1 small dint that was caused by a hail storm in january, i can see glue on the pillar that is lifting abit but i can also wipe that off with abit of effort, here is a pic of the pillar lifting at the front, and 1 of the rear after i removed the trim

as the colour of the car was changed in the respray and it wasn't a closed door job as when i remove the carpet and trims i can see the new colour painted on abit of the floor pan and behind the kick panels, that's why i was hoping and assuming that the roof would be painted like the rest of the car

[Thom 6,654]

It just may be, try somethimg like wax and grease remover on the glue, may move it may not

[Bazza J 1]

ok ill give it a try, i just dont really want to get half way and find that i need to repaint it as i don't have the money for that yet

[xdv8 11]

Last vinyl roof I removed was on my old gxl and it wasn't painted to the same quality as the rest of the car which was resprayed about 4 years earlier. The paint stayed stuck to the metal but the glue took forever to get of without damaging the paint any further. If I was to so it again then I would leave it till I was ready to fix the rust and paint the car.

[xdv8 11]

Sorry double post

[GspecZL 979]

I hope your C pilars are ok Bazza. I havent found one without some rust there. I had a go at removing the glue from my Marquis roof but it was a pain. Then i aborted the project anyway.

 

I wish these things had never had vinyl roofs. It is the death of so many.

[Bazza J 1]

the c pillars feel really good in this one, the only part that is worrying me is the gutter, the other parts car i have sitting at my parents place, u could feel patches under the vinyl and when it was pulled there was rust but it was only minor compared to what i was expecting, the roof gutters were rot to shit though, the roof was not painted on it as it was a factory vinyl roof that was ripping and cracked.

the only bit of rust i have to fix is the bit in the gutter, and that tiny bubble on the rear pillar below where the vinyl ends, the rest was done when it was stripped back and repainted by the previous owner before he died.

[xdv8 11]

The two sides of the coin I see from here are that you want to stop the rust before it goes too far but if you knew that you would be putting a vinyl roof on it would you paint the roof to the same standard as the rest of the car? You could try and remove the parts of the vinyl and repair then cover back up or take a gamble and remove and hope that it's painted but then you will have to match the paint once the repair is done. If it were me I would try the repair then recover would be neater in the long run.

[Bazza J 1]

Ive had a long think about it and ive decided ill remove the vinyl next year and get the roof resprayed and a few other things done when i save up, in the mean time I'm just going to try and look after the vinyl to try and minimize any damage underneath

[bear351c 10,273]

Smart thinking, Bazza. The vinyl is glued on with that sticky yellow contact adhesive. You may get it all off, but, if you're gunna cut out rust spots anyway, you'll need the paint and compressor anyhows.......... may be a small syringe with rust deoxidiser or fish oil for the time being.?  Or grab a sheep, hold it upside down and rub it on the roof, from side to side.