Textured painting hard top

[jeepboy45]

Hi again...

I've been wanting to do something with my hard top for a while now, but now have the motivation... In 2000 I sanded the texture off I because I "thought" I could do a good job, and then had it painted to match the body and doors.. It looked stupid!! The uniform color everywhere just wasn't what I wanted. AND I ended up with some waves in the surface of the roof.

Anyway, I live in Fla and haven't had the roof on since it was painted. However, I am considering a move to Vermont in 10 months and want to get the glass back in and have the top look good.

Wanted to give textured paint a try, thinking it will hide some of the imperfections, but don't know what product to use. Some have mentioned the differences in thickness of bed liner material, so I'd like to keep the thickness to a minimum...

POR 15 maybe? any other products? I want to top coat with a good auto paint that wont fade with UV (assuming the sun ever comes out in VT)

A couple years ago I remember reading a thread about someone doing the similar thing, but couldn't seem to find it now to see how it turned out.

any help is awesome..

thanks again
Brian

 

[PaRenegade]

I have a white hardtop. Back in 96 when I painted the Jeep the first time I had removed the door decals which were also "textured". What I did after painting the base color was to use some chip guard in that area, then sprayed white over it. It worked well and gave it that textured look.
I was just looking at a friends wrangler about an hour ago and he did the same thing under his fenders and on his frame, then topcoated it with black. It looked good.

 

[Shifter]

Raptor Liner can go on thin. You can adjust the spray pressure to adjust the size of the texture. It holds up really well. We use it on the tops, and in the drawers of our pit boxes. You can even get it in a tint-able version.

 

[carlos]

How about using Line X so it will not fade easily?

 

[Neuner]

Raptor Liner can go on thin. You can adjust the spray pressure to adjust the size of the texture. It holds up really well. We use it on the tops, and in the drawers of our pit boxes. You can even get it in a tint-able version.

I used the tintable Raptor Liner for my interior. It also has a UV component. Holding up really well. I rolled mine on. Not as nice as a spray but no one has noticed.

If you do this and go with anything other than white, know that you have to get the paint/tint color a shade darker than expected. I had an exact match tint made up which matched my tan seats and it turned out a shade lighter after mixing and curing. The *clear* liner actually has a slight milky-ness to it.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

Good to know about the tint deal.

LG

 

[jdcaples]

For what it's worth, I put Line-X on the roof of my 107 inch tall van about 8 years ago. I went with 50/50 White & Black for a decent gray that hasn't hasn't faded or worn out in the weather (outside 24x7x365), against the occasional tree branch abrasions etc.

It does look like a coarse textured paint. It's also great protection - durable as an Egyptian Pyramid - but my installer put it on at about 3/16th of an inch thick, which may or may not be a deal breaker for a Jeep top.

-Jon

 

[jeremy5780]

Just did mine a few months ago used Monstaliner black looks great and very tough! used about 1/2-3/4 of a gallon on a CJ7 hard top and that's two coats. I rolled it and it was a bit of a PITA doing the underside and getting the liner all over myself but the results were worth it.