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Top layer is peeling on a 2000 targa top. Can this be repaired or does it need to be replaced? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
I personally would not feel comfortable sanding it myself. I have a really good body shop in town. If not who else can repair it? Is this no longer available through GM??
Don't be afraid to do it yourself. I've done two and they both came out great, and I have no body shop experience at all. I started with 1,000 grit paper, went over it twice, then moved to 1500 grit and did that twice, then twice with 2000 grit. Always wet and with some dishwashing liquid in the water. Then I used McGuires medium cut, and finally McGuires fine cut. As you can see from the pics it came out great. I did each one over a weekend. I didn't clear coat them, I just put a good coat of wax on and then buffed them. If you want you can do a search for, "My Targa Top Refurbish".
My clear targa has seen better days. The outside black layer is faded. I can't justify dropping $600 for a small cosmetic issue, but I'd be willing to invest some elbow grease.
What did you use to apply the sandpaper ? Just manual ?
My clear targa has seen better days. The outside black layer is faded. I can't justify dropping $600 for a small cosmetic issue, but I'd be willing to invest some elbow grease.
What did you use to apply the sandpaper ? Just manual ?
I just used a simple sanding block with elbow grease. But it really doesn't take any hard sanding.
What? $300 for sandpaper? I spent maybe $15 for the sandpaper, $30 for the Mcguires fine & Med. cut total, and approx.$10 for the sanding block. It's been over two years since I refurbished the top, and it still looks as good as the day I finished it. As I believe I mentioned earlier you can do a top over a weekend. That's a far cry from $600!!!
$600 may seem like a lot, but it’s worth every penny.
My top doesn't have any peeling. It's just faded looking, but not as bad as Ramets pre-sanding pictures.
It's not worth worth spending $600 to fix. (I already wrote this year's big check to fix the rear main seal) But I would spend a few hours of my time, if I thought I could make it look better, and not make it any worse. But 12 hours sounds like more trouble than its worth.
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Others have sanded the top and then polished it back out to where it looks very nice. How much time and effort was really involved can vary depending on the top’s condition. I am not at home right now but I have a file that discusses refinishing a C5 top. If you want a copy, just send me a PM reminder with your e-mail address and I’ll forward it to you.
I got a new top from Melrose, its exactly the same as the original and of very high quality. I also dealt with Chris and he is amazing. Highly recommend Melrose. Just make sure you get your fitment adjustments right, it can be a little tricky but they give you a guide to follow to do it.
FYI: For those who are going to refinish your top. The final step is to put a polish that has UV protection. The sun is what does the damage to the clear. The top in the photo is my top on a 98 that I bought new. 24 years still looks like new. When ever I polished the car with Zanio I also did the top.
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