A clear coating like finish on the outside of one of my T-Tops is flaking off on my 1989 GTA. Has anyone else experinced this problem and have a remedy? I was thinking of buying a spray can of clear coat to correct this. I asked some local auto glass shops who had no answer.

 

To my knowledge there is no clear coating on the glass t-tops, at least there isn't on mine. Don't know why you would want it anyways. So maybe a previous owner put some clear coat on it?

 

Yes I agree T-Tops were probably not clear coated; however, it is a clear coat like coating which is flaking off. I am the original owner of my car which I factory ordered. Just woundering if anyone else has experinced this problem.

 

IF by chance you have the Acrylic tops it is very possible that you have a hard coating on them. Since Acrylic is much softer than glass GM may have had them hard coated to help with the life of the part. I believe the Corvette's targa top was hard coated acrylic.

The Glass tops never had any coating from the factory, because there would have not been a need.

IF indeed you have the plastic tops and the coating is flaking there is probably nothing you can do except replace them. You may be able to spray them with clear coat, and hope for the best, but further than that I do not know. And I work with Aircraft windshields and windows.

John

 

I have repaired a couple sets of these flaking acrylic tops,
wet-sanding and wheeling my **** off.
It can be done and the look like new when finished...
Do not know if it is a permanent fix or not, I only did the first set last year.

 

I guess I should clarify... I was thinking of a way to simply paint over the old coating with a new coating.

(NOW THINKING OUTSIDE OF BOX)

If you completely remove the hard coating then I would see where you could bring up the lusture. Unfortuantely you would lose the advantage of the hardcoating for scratches and other things that may harm the tops. It is a long process, as mentioned, since the coating is usually hard (thus the name "hard coat") I would expect to spend about a day or two working on them, and I am familiar with the process... (although I must admit I have never removed hard coating)

Unfortunately you run the risk of damaging the top or getting distortions ( since the tops are above you, optics are not a critically high prioity because you do not need them to dirve )

Since acrylic is very similar to paint you are able to use many of the polishes and compounds that are used for paints. I would start with a 400 or 600 Grit and once you get through the hard coating you would then progressively go up to 800 to 1000 to 1500 and finally 2000 grits, (use a couple of drops of mild dish soap like dawn mixed in with water)

Since the tops are large, it will take some time, and patience.

For the final polishing stages there is a product called "Scratch Off" It comes with a drill adapter to do this kind of work. and may speed up the process. They use the Scratch Off kit for aircraft and it would work well as a final step.

If you need a source for the Scratch Off let me know.

Good luck

John