Strip Down of Hardtop before painting

Technical Area Body, Interior & Styling
2
Hi, I've just bought a hardtop that needs painting. I live in the south side of Glasgow and I'm being quoted £300-£500 to paint it and this is with masking the rear widow trim as well i.e. not a great job.

I’ve seen that people have done it themselves with spray tins. There is a
local place that will make them up for me at ~£20 each, so I recon I can do the
job for under £100.

The question is, can the trim round the rear window be easily removed and
replaced?

Or alternatively, does anyone know of a good body shop that can do this for
less than £300?

Cheers, Ian.


 

 

3

 

 

They’re trying to rip you off,i would not even pay that with removing the rear window,and have not paid it for hard tops being sprayed over the years.

The last one i did, i did myselfy,for me, with satin plasticote rattle cans took a weekend,started friday night striping it(leaveing the window in place just removed the trim),sat ,wet and drying,masking and under coat,sunday,top coat and butting it back together again and back on the roadster for 4pm job done.

Total cost,my time and £40>£50 for paint ,masking tape,etc{#emotions_dlg.thumb}

4

 depends how many times it’s been painted previous, but try this

5
Hi and thanks for the replies. I didn't want to force the trim around the rear window just in case it was more than that. The colour difference is not too bad with the hardtop being Polar blue  vs. the innocent blue of my 10AE.I may be able to live with it but I would prefer it to be the right colour - I'm  currently trying to convince myself it looks retro rather than wrong.

  Richard, it’s good to see you still have your 10AE. How’s the supercharger
going? Still happy?

  Ian.


 

 

6

 Still going strong, but not with me. Got a Mk2 RS (same spec, but silver)

7

 better idea

8

  Thanks for the advice. This top looks good apart from the location. Didn’t fancy the drive and this would add about £130 pounds to the cost for petrol. I only paid £400 for the MK2.5 top, it was local and  in very good nick.  I came to the conclusion that I could get the top painted for the price of the petrol and then I’ve saved my time with the collection.

  I’m getting used to the colour combination and a number of peopel have commented, without prompting, that it looks good. So will probably leave it the way it is.

  By the way, did you re-use the supercharger kit on your new MX5? Do you have the old one for sale?

  Cheers,

      Ian.

 

 

 

 

9

Hi I had mine wrapped by Monsterwrap and it didn’t cost that much I took my window out when they did it as the surround was coming away and needed to replace it don’t know how to post pictures on here but if you want to email me ill send you some its gerryh@live.co.uk