vette-oholic

i just noticed a lot of scratches on my removable top...
They are kinda hard to make out and so it was very hard to take pictures.

I just had 2 new latches put in 2 weeks ago, so my 1st thought is that they scratched it at the dealer.. but im trying to think of all possibilities.

It appears to be scratched on the outside surface..
Is it possible there is a clear coat like on the paint that could have scratched from dirt being dragged across it without enough water??

WAwatchnut

I've never seen you provide incorrect info calemasters, but are you sure? There have been posts in the past about people stripping and refinishing the top. I thought there was a coating of some kind (like a clear coat). On atop I picked up (pretty banged up). There's definitely a top layer of a sligtly different color - but that could just be coloring applied to the outer polycarbonate.

vette-oholic

Hmm it def appears to be something of a coating... I hope some more people chime in

tweaker91

Are they actually scratches? Can you drag your fingernail across them and feel the ridges? The reason I ask is that these rooves tend to "craze" over time, it's the nature of the material with multiple compound curves worked in. I just had mine replaced under warranty due to the "crazing".

LKicklight

The top I purchased from a Forum Member last year, did in fact have scratch's in the top. After sanding them out, there seem to be a clear coat on the top.
I have yet to re-apply the clear coat, thinking of doing the 3M Carbon Fiber Film, price works out to be about the same:
Since that purchase, I have in fact purchased a brand new top from GM...
LKicklight

wolfdogs

PM Talon.. he will know.

vette-oholic

thanks for the feedback.

Ball park figure on the 3M adhesive?

vette-oholic

well at first it seemed like it was on the inside the surfaces, but then i had pretty much convinced myself it was on the external surface (to side)

Now that you mention this "crazing" I will have to double-check.

I will try to verify and maybe even take some pictures..

08vycpe

The clear Lexan tops have a hardcoat applied to the surface. If the scratches are through the thin hardcoat you cannot repair them. Working on the scratches will only make them worse as you remove more and more hardcoat.

Stripping and refinishing the tops is not practical and will result in no hardcoating on the surface. Thus, the top will scratch even easier. Some have just used a dark color like a magic marker to carefully fill in the scratch to provide camouflage.

vette-oholic

Believe it or not, sometimes i can feel the scratch and sometimes I cant which makes me think it's not external.

The more I look at it, the harder it is to believe the lines are scratches because i would see more "swirly" type of patterns. Instead there are many parallel lines on the straight parts, but in the corners, the lines seem to come out from a point.

is this what yours looked like?

Gearhead Jim

The transparent top that came on our 2009 had small ridges or lines in some areas, especially near the front corners. I don't remember if they could be felt, but they were easily visible. Several other 2009's at the same dealer had the same issue, I don't know if it was a run of bad tops or from something the dealer was using to clean the tops on the lot.

Our top also had some crazing, you could see "sparkles" when looking up into a bright blue sky. Top replaced by local dealer under warranty.

calemasters

Quote:

Originally Posted by WAwatchnut

I've never seen you provide incorrect info calemasters, but are you sure? There have been posts in the past about people stripping and refinishing the top. I thought there was a coating of some kind (like a clear coat). On atop I picked up (pretty banged up). There's definitely a top layer of a sligtly different color - but that could just be coloring applied to the outer polycarbonate.

OK Joe, you got me questioning my response. So I went to the release engineer for the roof panel. Here is his reply:

"Yes there is a protective scratch resistant coating that is adhered to the PC panel. However, just like eye glasses, this coating can be scratched. Unfortunately, there is no way to reprocess this coating to eliminate scratches. This panel (before bonding to the frame) is dipped in to a series of chemicals to apply this coating. We can not reprocess this panel."

I learn something everyday. Thanks Joe!

ps: It's not easy for me to be perfect.

Rich Mickol

Sorry to hear about the scratches. My guess would be you said it was at the dealer. If you didn't notice them before my guess is the dealer did it.

For the future, I took my 2007 painted roof in for the new latches to be installed. The first thing I thought of was them removing the top, laying it down on some dirty work bench and going to work on it with a screwdriver or what ever else they use to remove the latches. Pushing down to remove the screws.
I took a blanket with me and told the tech to lay the top down on the blanket. He said "that was good thinking on my part".
When he took the top off he came out to get me and showed me that he had used the blanket.
To me, It's just like carrying pucks.

It's a shame that we have to take precautions like this but I guess that's just the way it is.

PHLGUZZ

Call your insurance company and claim it as vandalism !
They will most likely replace it.

vette-oholic

yea but at a $500 deductible!