I will be putting my vinyl top back on when I finally get it professionally painted.. Mine will be stored under roof when not out driving it.. I do believe that the newer vinyl and proper prep and paint under it will last better then ever before... The lack of good quality paint under the vinyl was the main reason the older tops failed in my oppion...
how good is the original paint? any car or motorcycle is only original one time unrestored is worth more than a repaint
I wouldn't go out of my way to add a vinyl roof today to anything but the 3/4 roof I had on my 73 Duster, back in the day, looked good and really stood out with some Armor All so I would say, since you already have it, keep it
I would leave it alone, as long as the current top colour coincides with your paint plans. My car came with the FULL vinyl top. Although I will confess that the non-vinyl top cars look "sportier", I have decided to replace mine instead of eliminating it. IF you were to remove your vinyl top altogether, you would also have to grind off all the small posts that the halo chrome clips onto. The other question would be if there is any body work currently being covered by your vinyl top. If you were to remove your top, there is a good chance there may have been some repairs made by a previous owner that may have to be re-worked in order to omit the vinyl top. I say KEEP the VINYL. The halo tops are a neat characteristic of the era, and were popular on 73-74 Grabbers. A sign of the times... Good luck with your decision!
Given it's condition, I'll keep the vinyl halo roof for the time being, as the color goes with just about everything. When it begins to crack or deteriorate, I can still strip it and paint the roof. Thanks for all the input
If the roof isn't rotted, which is what often happens with vinyl tops. Unfortunately, car manufacturers didn't care about that and never used POR-15 (or any other rust preventive) before they put vinyl tops on cars.
