3M Vinyl Stickers?

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Kelsey Dana

Kelsey Dana

Scampin'
Joined
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Radioactiveland, WA
I'm looking for an alternative to professionally done vinyl tops, and while I was at Cool Desert Nights in Tri-Cities, WA I saw someone use a 3M product (that she told us was many stickers, each with dimensions of about 5x3") to cover the entire exterior of her truck in. Does anyone know the name of this product? I can't seem to find it on the 3M website. Also, has anyone used rhino liner asan alternative to vinyl? My boyfriend thinks it would protect the top from further rust and still have the appearence of vinyl, but I don't think it would have the same clean finish. Any opinions/ past experiences? Thanks in advance, FABO is truely a valuable tool to new mopar enthusiasts like me :-D
 
Rhino liners, or any waterbased spray on bedliner, will usually "chalk" (leaving a white residue) after a while. The drawback to this is that it will never shine, will be thick and harder than heck to remove if you ever want to replace it with the actual vinyl top later on. The plus side is that SEM makes one you can mix any basecoat with so you can make it match the car. It's sprayable out of a schutz gun (undercoating gun) so, with a good air supply, you can do it yourself.
Have you thought of laying down the vinyl yourself to save money? It's really not as hard as it looks. The biggest thing is too keep the seams straight (like good old fashioned pantyhose), using the right glues, and protecting the paint on the car from the glue. Spray tack, bought at a local paint supply store works well for the bulk of the top and a brushable "top glue" used on the edges does a nice job in keeping the top in place for years.
Eastwood used to have some good reference guides for sale for the do it yourselfer, but after searching their site I couldn't come up anything. Maybe a reference guide search at the local Barney and No Bull can yield a guide for you.
As for a material like you're asking about, I've never seen anything like it other than layers upon layers of colored duct tape.
 
I think the biggest problem would be the thickness of the bedliner material. It is much thicker than vinyl. Also, it wouldn't have the same sheene.
 
I am getting ready for new vinyl top & headliner in my car. I am having it done by my interior shop. I will R & R the front & rear glass and while I have the glass out they will install the top/headliner. The cost to install a new top on my coupe is about $400.00 installed with me removing & replacing the glass. IMHO nothing finishes a car like a new replacement vinyl top.
JMHO-Rat (I was at cool desert nights in my viper blue 65 Comet)
 
I saw an interesting alternative to a vinyl top at Mopars At The Strip in Las Vegas earlier this year. Sorry I didn't take a photo of it but I did talk with the owner.
I originally saw what I thought was a 'Mod Top' Road Runner, but on speaking with the owner was told it was actually a 'wrap' like is now done for buses, cars, NASCAR race cars, NHRA funny cars, etc.
The car was from the Salt Lake City, UT, area. The owner found a company that printed the 'wrap' material in the same Mopar 'Mod Top' colors and pattern. The 'wrap' material was applied directly over the painted roof to drastically change the appearance of the Road Runner.
The owner said they did this because they couldn't find the correct 'Mod Top' material for their car and it was substantially cheaper than single-color vinyl top material and installation.
Just another alternative suggestion.
 
ocdart said:
I saw an interesting alternative to a vinyl top at Mopars At The Strip in Las Vegas earlier this year. Sorry I didn't take a photo of it but I did talk with the owner.
I originally saw what I thought was a 'Mod Top' Road Runner, but on speaking with the owner was told it was actually a 'wrap' like is now done for buses, cars, NASCAR race cars, NHRA funny cars, etc.
The car was from the Salt Lake City, UT, area. The owner found a company that printed the 'wrap' material in the same Mopar 'Mod Top' colors and pattern. The 'wrap' material was applied directly over the painted roof to drastically change the appearance of the Road Runner.
The owner said they did this because they couldn't find the correct 'Mod Top' material for their car and it was substantially cheaper than single-color vinyl top material and installation.
Just another alternative suggestion.
Click to expand...

Now that's a cool idea. Hadn't thought of that one before. Seeing as how Corning has one of those shops, might be able to do a yellow pages search and find one in your area, too.
 
A good friend of mine bought a 68 Camaro with a "vinyl" top. On the way home from buying it she noticed something flapping n the rear view mirror and pulled over to investigate. It seems the top had been painted on with something like herculiner or Rhino hide without the surface being thoroughly prepped. It peeled off like a ripe banana!
 
I wonder what the material that Mopar sold in the 60's to paint on a vinyl top was? It was listed in the Accessories Catalog under Car Appearance and Maintenace Materials.
 
There was a spray on material back in the 70's for faking vinyl tops...the wrap idea isn't bad as long as the shop you get to do it has the proper equipment and knowledge to do the job properly. The material does not have a long life expectancy as it made for advertising purposes and fleet applications and while it has some UV resistance I wouldn't expect the print "wrap" to last more then 3 years and I've seen some fail within the first year. As far as cost your probably in the $6 - $10 sq ft. plus an art charge of $75 - $200...then if you want it installed add another $200 - 250....and that's after you have you roof ready, the wrap won't stay stuck to rust.
 
Thank you everyone to replying, and I agree about the rhino liner looking like I just poured tar on the top...
Crazybarracuda , I've never seen anything like that, its so amazing what people can do.
Unfortunatly, I don't see paying someone $400 for the actual vinyl (being the poor student that I am), so I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for viable alternatives. Luckily (kind of) I have enough work to do on the Scamp to keep me busy while I figure it out, haha
 
'Paint on' vinyl tops were fairly popular 25-30 years ago. Dupont made a product named '1-2-3 Vinyl' spray and a plastic tape that you put down to mimic the seams. You put the tape on first, then sprayed the vinyl paint on unthinned to get the desired texture, then thinned it and sprayed a couple of coats to seal it. It actually didn't look too bad. I haven't seen any of the materials for years, though.
One thing I did recently to a vinyl top car was repair the rust, sand the rest of the top down, give it a couple of coats of epoxy primer, then shoot it with SEM Hot Rod Black. Looks plenty decent as is, and if I decide to put a vinyl top on it all I have to do is glue it down.
Dallas
 
Kelsey Dana said:
Thank you everyone to replying, and I agree about the rhino liner looking like I just poured tar on the top...
Crazybarracuda , I've never seen anything like that, its so amazing what people can do.
Unfortunatly, I don't see paying someone $400 for the actual vinyl (being the poor student that I am), so I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled for viable alternatives. Luckily (kind of) I have enough work to do on the Scamp to keep me busy while I figure it out, haha
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trust me i know where your coming from being basically broke from being a student. im just outta school about 4 years ago and im still paying for it and hope to be done in 2010. my work on my 64 cuda stopped when i was in college and hasnt really started again.
 
Still, all in all, don't be afraid to try it yourself. A lot of us on here have had our budgets in the catagory of "before I pay someone else..." It's always a good learning experience and helpful in more ways than one. You can pass that knowledge on to others and later - when you're in a position to pass the work on to others - you'll be able to look at the work with a more careful eye knowing what it's like having done it.
 
I agree with rameth - buy the vinyl top and do it yourself. You'll save money and learn something in the process. Truthfully, vinyl tops are easier and less expensive than a wrap would be. I've done about a dozen myself and the first one scared me too.
 
ramenth said:
Still, all in all, don't be afraid to try it yourself. A lot of us on here have had our budgets in the catagory of "before I pay someone else..." It's always a good learning experience and helpful in more ways than one. You can pass that knowledge on to others and later - when you're in a position to pass the work on to others - you'll be able to look at the work with a more careful eye knowing what it's like having done it.
Click to expand...
i agree. just make shour all your edges are down good.
 
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