webelo

I was pretty motivated to refinish a damaged glass top after reading some threads. Knowing this, my brother got me a pretty well scratched glass top for Christmas.

I picked up a few supplies tonight... and away we go...





I've got some work ahead of me.

c5blkvetteguy

WOW!!! I thought mine looked bad. When you get to a point that you want to quit...and you will, get back on the forum and check out my before and after pics in my photo album. I did mine as a winter project in the bathtub. Lucky my wife is understanding about these things.

jrose7004

You've got your work cut out for you!

Hammer99

Now THAT'S brotherly love!

LMFD296

That thing def slid across the floor good luck though, id like to see how it comes out

hoosiervette

Mine doesn't look that bad, but I would like to refinish it also. Make sure you keep us posted on your progress.

csexton

Looking forward to the finished results. Good luck and post some pics along the way.

Chuck

Vetteman Jack

Best of luck getting it back in shape. There have been a number of forum members that have done the refinishing and from the pics it looked pretty good.

webelo

Update #1:
I worked on the top for a couple hours last night. Then woke up this morning and spent another couple hours on it.

Besides the cuts from the road, the top was in really good condition... so I'm having a bear of a time getting the clear coat off. I've been working with 320 wet sandpaper and it barely gets through. If I could have found something grittier, I would be using that. As for the cuts, I've been able to get most of them fairly smooth. When I spray water on the top, you can barely see them. I'm hoping by the time I get all the clear coat off it will be at the point that a new clear coat will fill in the gaps.

here's where I'm at:

Questions:
For the guys who've redone their tops... where did you get the finer sandpaper (1000+ grit)?

When you clear coated it, did you remove the plexi from the frame?

Padrino

I took this on with my 'spare' glass top I got off Craigslist. Somebody's 'flying roof club' donation. Just as heavily scratched plus a busted front corner. Bought some special 'glue' for the corner which worked fine putting that back on. But all the sanding it took to get the deep sratches out was a lot of work. First I took off every piece of metal that would come off including the gutter rails, which I bought new replacements for at the Chevy dealer. All in all, a lot of sanding, starting with some heavy grit and working my way to a finer grit. Found my 1000 grit at an industrial tool company. Finished off with a clear coat spray. All in all, nice to have this as my 'spare' which rides around in the trunk in a baggie. Good luck.

Padrino

hotmerc

Sandpaper can be gotten from most autoparts stores, down here I get these finer grits from Advance Auto Parts. You don't have to remove from the frame. Just make sure when you go to clear it that you use a quality adhesion promoter to spay on first. Good Luck!

Padrino

When I did mine I left the frame in place, just removed the gutter rails and whatever else would come off simply to make working on the top as easy as possible.

webelo

How did you get the gutter rails off. I've only been able to get the weatherstripping and holder off.

AnotherPewterVette

For scratches that deep you may want to get a DA sander and 320 it dry till its smooth. follow that up with 600, 800, 1000 all dry. Then 1500 dry or wet and 3000 wet for sure. This will give you a very smooth surface to start buffing on. If you dont do all the steps it will still have sand scratches. I do bodywork and this is my way of repairing a scratched headlight.

BCH & VET

got 400 & 1000 grit at Wally. 2000 grit at Advance...

Padrino

Just worked the gutter rail off inch by inch with a thin bladed putty knife. They're just put on with the usual GM adhesive tape which sticks pretty good. Trashed 'em and had to buy new ones which ran about $100 if I recall.

Padrino

Padrino

Yeah, I started with an 'orbital sander' and then ended up with handsanding with wet-n-dry.

Padrino

SJPD

where can you get the UV coating ?

c5blkvetteguy

I did not use a clear coat on mine when I was done. I just polish it up twice a year and thats it. I do not want to ever sand clear coat off! But I would do it all over again if I found a good deal on a damaged top.

S.U. Vette

I got mine a local body shop supply store.


Just taped it all off and sprayed away.