i had the same problem with rust below my vinyl top. i pulled up the vinyl top brought it to a shop and had them clean the roof and the rusted area and spray roof body color and paint the two stripes on the filler panel. cost me $1700 and peeled up the next summer lol

you get what you pay for

 

$50/hr. is not a bad rate at all. Start figuring in materials and you hit $2k quickly. What's their warranty?

 

Good question on the warranty. I suspect they will be hesitant to warranty it for too long with a vinyl top but I will check. The estimate doesn't state a warranty but their website says they warranty their work.

 

$50/hr is at the bottom of price ranges as many are in the $75 plus category! So great price if excellent workmanship! But here is another worry, Do not be surprised if this price balloons once the top is peeled back as most I've seen look much worse and require more after that view. Most restoration shops would give only a ball park price and tell the customer we have to see what we have once the top is removed, and I've not known how the top could be pulled back and then re-installed but I'm always learning. :grin2: Good luck!

 

2100 is not a bad price. Unfortunately 2100 can lead to 8100. Know who you are dealing with. You should be there to inspect each step, sanding,bare metal, primer, etc.

 

One cannot accurately provide a price until the top is removed , and known problem areas evaluated. No way to tell how the car was repaired the last time it was painted. Properly done, a vinyl top car will not fail again in your lifetime.

 

Thanks. I still have pictures when it was painted 20 year ago. I know that they stripped, prepped and painted the entire car before installing the vinyl top. I asked the shop if they would be able to tell why it rusted and prevent it from happening again. They said they would know more once they stripped it down. The shop is only 10 minutes away so I will stop by and check on it. As far as I can tell by feeling the top and looking around the edges, the rest of the roof is solid but you are right, we will see when they start peeling it back. The estimate is based on the assumption that they only need to focus on the rear deck but I understand we may learn more once they look at it. I was expecting them to say that they would have to replace the vinyl top but when I asked, he said they would just peel it back, repair it and put it back. This shop has a good reputation and was recommended by two different people so I am hoping for the best.

 

Let's assume there is rust along the trim line of the vinyl top. You will probably need new metal patched in.

If it is on the filler panel, it might be cleaner to just replace the panel itself.

If it is just around the lower edge, it will not be that difficult to patch. Hopefully they will butt weld. Be sure they seal the work from inside the car.

Is the paint single stage or dual stage. Enamel or lacquer?

Single stage lacquer is easier to feather in.

With a vinyl top you don't have to worry about blending to the roof. I would paint the complete quarter. Maybe both quarters and rear tail panel.

If it is 2 stage, you can fix affected areas with base coat and then clear the rest.

None of this is cheap. I would think the body work alone involving the vinyl top would be 2 or 3 k. Then add on the painting and finishing work For another 2 k.

I am a novice with body work and paint but I am also maticulous with what I do. I make sure a weld is not visible, minimal warping, level and done from both sides when possible. I would not try to blend a small spot as it requires blending agents. My buddy that paints high end aircraft for a living, said blending is a short term fix.

I tried blending on a car, it was ok but I could see it. It bugged me enough where I redid the whole panel and was much Happier with the results!

I would find out exactly what they plan to do once they get into the sheet metal. Don't be uninformed and unhappy with what you get.

Tell them exactly how you want it done!

I had small bubbles on my fenders and the patching was pretty trivial...but it required the fender to come off the car.

I had a few bubbles at lower rear quarter that required removal of 3 adjoined pieces. I think it would have cost 3 or 4 k to have someone fix it the way I did.

I hope you get a quality restoration or repair.

 

Well I dropped the Camaro off at the shop last Monday. In the office the owner told me that there was a chance that they would not be able to match the paint. I stayed and talked to the painter who used a camera and a computer to find a matching paint color. I told him that it was painted Corvette Millenium yellow about 20 years ago. He saw some colors and had some swatches and seemed pretty confident he could find a match. He planned on painting some samples and I could come back in a few days to look. I called back in a few days and he said none of them matched and they wanted to talk to their paint supplier and would get back to me. I called today and it sounds like they can't match the paint. If they were to do it he would need to sand off the clear on the rear quarters and trunk and blend the paint in and re-clear which he guessed would add about $1500.

I decided to bring it back home until I decide what to do. This was the only shop that was recommended to me but I guess I will call around and try to find someone else who will work with a vinyl top and can match the paint. They also suggested that if I could find a paint supply store that could match the paint they could paint it. I guess if all else fails I'll bring it back to them and have them blend it.

I was expecting it to be difficult to find someone who would work on a vinyl top but I never thought they would have trouble matching the paint color.

 

If they were to do it he would need to sand off the clear on the rear quarters and trunk and blend the paint in and re-clear

I've been in collision and restoration for decades. Sanding off the clear is not proper procedure. Perhaps you misunderstood what they were saying. Matching paint can be difficult but not impossible, it merely takes skill. You shoot sprayouts until a blendable match is achieved. Not sure why this is such a big deal. The camera that many mention is not a magic wand. Often it is just a starting point and toners must be adjusted. I've had cameras read a color so far off it was ridiculous.

 

Wow, I would stay away from that shop. They sound like they do not want the job. There is a Napa about a half hour from me, I bring him a sample of color (gas cap) usually , and he matches the color perfectly. This guy is good. As I said, find another shop.

 

Not sure where in MD you are but if you go to BAPS in York, Pa have them take a look. Ask for Dennis. If he can't match it no one can.

 

Same story on my 69 Hugger Orange Centari Enamel single stage painted in 1990. Bubbles under the lower part of the top around the corner of the window on my then 33k miles RSSS and the paint 15 years at that time. I removed the top as it was old and to dry and re glue it was not smart. . . . .a new one was $125 and $39 for spray 3M glue. I treated the minimal rust with Phosphoric Acid after sanding. Treated the rusted area, finished with polyester filler. It took a few mixtures to get a match to the single stage Hugger Orange PPG paint at the paint store. Cut the paint at the quarter window and the top of the fender line along side the trunk and the rear panel and the panel between the window and the trunk. . . all in all about 5 feet by 6 inches. Installed the new top. All said and done about 25 hours. 18 years later, and it was not garaged for 5 years and used as my wife's daily driver, it looks the same as it did the day it was finished. A body shop saw you coming. A solid color should not be difficult to match and all the welding and this and that usually is not necessary. My upholstery guy charges $475 to remove and replace the top. . . . paint and repair is another ? I would get a couple of estimates and referrals. Good luck on your mission. . . . many of us have been there done that, that is why I started doing this stuff on my own starting on my first one in 1978!! Just an old guy talking

 

I may have misunderstood what he said. I just know he said he would need to blend onto the quarter panels and trunk and then clear. I have stripes on the trunk and he said he would cover those.

He actually mentioned BAPS in York. He said if they can match it and I get paint from them then he can paint it. It's about an hour away so I may check with some other shops but also contact BAPS to see if they can match it.

 

You are bringing your car to a shop that does not specialize in classics or restoration. Prepare to embrace the aggravation ahead.

 

By prepare I’m assuming be prepared to bend over.

 

I went through the bubbles issue back in 2003. It ended up being a total replacement of the vinyl and off to the body shop. My guys did a great job of blending the paint from the small area above the doors all the way back to the end of the trunk. Those bubbles under your vinyl are a sign of much more rust than you can see. Maybe you are lucky and catch it early, I hope so. Good thing is that with the right painter/body shop its a cinch to turn out great.

 

The camera they are using gets them close and depending on the model it may get them really close or be way off as someone mentioned above. With metallics for example the amount of reducer, spray pattern, pressure and distance all impact how the paint reflects light and what it looks like to the human eye. Talent and experience is the difference between a good or bad job.
If this shop has good reviews then take a look at some of their work before you decide.

 

There is another shop close to me that did a good job on some paint work on one of our cars a few years ago. I wasn't sure if they would work on an older car with a vinyl top but it's a father/son business that has been around a while so I figured I would stop by and ask. They said they could do it. Similar to the other shop , they thought that the vinyl top looked new enough that they would be able to peel it back and make the repair. I asked about matching the paint and they agreed that yellow is a tough color to match. They said that if they can match it they might be able to get away with just painting the panel between the window and the trunk ( what the other shop wanted to do), but there is a good chance they may have to blend it onto the top of the quarter panels ( and maybe some of the trunk). Their estimate was cheaper than the first one and if it needs blending they estimated about an extra $300 vs an extra $1500 from the other shop.

I'm going to ask around a little more but I may go ahead and try this shop.

 

X2 on what others said regarding the color eye cameras. The one we have at work (newest Axalta formerly Dupont camera out there) will match things perfect sometimes. Other times it gives you a color so far off you don't even bother mixing the paint. Ideally you get a color that is close enough you can blend with it but any skilled painter should be able to tint it to get an acceptable material to blend. That filler panel would be extremely hard to blend out without hitting the quarters unless your spot is in the dead center of the panel.

For a reference, you can paint a panel on a car with the same paint you originally painted the car with (leftovers) out of the same gun with the same person spraying it and it may not match perfectly. A good painter will do whatever is needed to make it look right (blending etc.).

 

Greg - that Axalta camera is pretty cool. I have a Polaris RZR that I wanted to paint the top on but Polaris paint codes simply do not exist. A buddy of mine that has the camera scanned it and it came out almost perfect - not that I really cared for a perfect match - close would have been acceptable.
Where in Nebraska are you? I'm on the Wyoming/NE state line in Pine Bluffs.

 

I got mt car back yesterday and it looks good. There was rust around all of the rivets on the back panel. The largest rust circle was about 3" diameter but most were about 1" - 2" diameter rust spots around the rivet. They were able to peel the vinyl back and clean out and repair the rust spots ( it was just surface rust). The camaro is millennium yellow with black strips and they were able to blend the yellow onto the trunk lid and top of the quarters and repaint part of the stripes. It ended up being 8 hours body labor and 10 hours paint labor at $46/hr. The total came to $1156 which didn't seem too bad to me, especially since the first shop wanted double that before they said they couldn't do it.

They didn't see any obvious reason for the rust other than 20 years since the car was painted. Hopefully I'm good for another 20.

 

That is great news. It's always nice to hear the stories with happy endings. Glad the the rust was not through the metal.