Hey all-

My 95 Bronco's hard top is in dire need of a face lift... Its been in the sun going on 10yrs now and even spent a few years in my back yard. The rest of the truck is the original teal green and looks great, but the top has faded to look pretty *****ty...

Any thoughts on how to restore some appearance or even give it a glossy "wet" look? I am thinking of trying a few off the shelf products on the very top (out of sight), maybe some silicone tire spray or armor all type solution.

Any thoughts? How about a few cans of off-the-shelf touch up spray?

Thanks!

 

The tire spray or armor all works, but only briefly. You will find yourself doing it over and over, not to mention that the first slight rain or heavy dew, and you have got that stuff all over the windows and body. It is a pain to clean off. I know because I did this for over a year before I decided that enough was enough.
Five cans of Dupli-color truck paint and my top looks better than new. No more fade, lots of compliments from people who see it, and I have been followed by six other Bronco owners until I stopped. They all had the same question, what did I do to make my top look so good. My Bronc is Burgundy and the top is a darker shade of Burgundy (maroon, dark red...whatever).
Wash the top with a strong soap (degreaser) and use a green 3M scrubbing pad and some elbow grease to get it clean. Dry the top and then give it a thorough rubdown with a dry brown 3M pad. You do not want or need to use sandpaper of any kind. After the rubdown, wash the top with the strong soap and green 3M scrubbing pad again. Make sure everything is thoroughly dry (I used compressed air to blow the water out of the seal area) and mask off everything you do not want painted. The masking (as always) is a long chore, and a pain in the butt, but you will not regret taking the time to do it right.
Once you are all masked off, shoot the top with a good quality can of adhesion promoter (just follow instructions on can) and after the appropriate wait time, shoot the top with the paint of your choice. One full size can of spray paint will put a single thin coat on the entire top. I put on five coats of paint on my top and I am thrilled with the results.
A friend of mine had his top prepped and sprayed by a body shop at a cost of approximately $400. That was two months ago and he has been back to the body shop with it four times. When he was in my garage last week, he asked where I had mine done, because he was fed up with his chosen professional. You should have seen his face when I pulled a leftover partial can of spray paint off my workbench and told him I did it myself for a grand total of about $40.00 (including masking and prep materials).
I painted it about six months ago and it looks great. No signs of cracks, bubbles, or peeling. Washing is a breeze now, and soon I am going to experiment with polish and wax. I just took some new photos of my Bronco, and will be putting them in my gallery and on my website shortly.

Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the reply!

That is what I was thinking I am going to do. Did you take the top off or leave it on? I think it would be easier off... How about any clear coat or anything? Or does the duplicolor have a nice gloss already?

Oh, why oh why couldn't I have brought this up before the 3 day weekend was over

 

Left top on the truck, took me two days. First day prepping and masking, started shooting paint about 8am the next morning. Finished painting about 1pm and let it sit overnight. Rolled out of garage the next morning looking better than new. No clearcoat required.
I just finished updating my gallery and website with new photos. Check it out!

 

My 91 looks like original and is because every so often after a good bath I put on on a coat of 303 protectant let it stand wipe it down. Ive seen the tops repainted and they l ook like cwap.

 

If they look like crap, then they did not take the time to do it right.

To each their own.

 

Ihave used that dressing dhepler used and for me in socal,it looks good for a short time,but does not last.nice quick fix though.I am going to try what bigred did,or something similar,I want mine to look really good.

 

The other day I was going across town and I saw a bronco that had a top that looked like it had been covered with truck bed liner. It actually looked really sharp, almost the same texture (slightly more obvious than original)... a really really nice look. The only downside, of course, is that you get one colour to choose from (black),

 

I've been told about a new kind of paint, mostly used on airplanes, that has a leather-like appearance. I'm not sure of the brand, but i know it costs about $100 a quart. I've thought about trying this for my top. I have a buddy who has access to this paint, and he thinks it would only take one quart to do the whole top. I'm supposed to be looking at a sample before I buy. I'll update if I ever see that sample.

-Josh

 

if you use it on your top,make sure you take and post the pics,I for one would like to see

 

Oh man, I don't know why I didn't think about this before. I bet vinyl dye would work! This stuff is the modder community's lifeline. it's spraypaint that works on plastic(ish) surfaces. It doesn't just pain the surface, it permeates it. Of course that makes it a right pain in the **** to remove, but that can be a good things too...
And I don't know, it might not even work on fiberglass. If I had a spare top or something similar lying around I'd try it out. It's probably (significantly) cheaper than that airplane paint

 

One small problem...the top is not vinyl, it is fiberglass. That is why the protectants won't last, and dyes won't penetrate. No pores to draw the stuff in.

 

Fiberglass has a crap load of pores. The factory coating is a dull paint not gellcoat. it's near impossible to get a shine out of the factory paint.

 

Top looks great! thanx for the info, I just posted a thread asking for info, but you pretty much told me what i need to know.

 

Hey BigRed, how much would you say that you have invested in your bronc. Just wondering cause it looks like a fortune.