PLanning the stages of my 68SS project. Any advice will be appreciated. Should I paint the car first, or put the new vinyl top on first? I'm still doing the body work, but want to plan ahead so I can do it right.

Paint the car first.

I second what Tim said. chances are there will be SOME rust under the old top. If you have any rust you will want to address it now. I had a little surface rust under the top on the roof section but had some holes around the rear glass hidden under the top. I took it to bare metal,etch primed.2k primed and painted and cleared before installing the top.If you are painting the car yourself and want to wait and paint the body last, you can do like I done and just paint the top down to about 6 inches below where the top molding goes. you dont want any areas with just primer, especialy under things like vinyl tops or moldings that hold water because primer is not a water barrier to the metal.

Remove the old top, and prep it.Do your painting, Mask the new paint, then install the top.

Advantage, no paint joints. And no body work after the paint is done. HTH, Good Luck,

Troy-curt, graemlins/beers.gif

Thank you all for your input. The top is already off, any rust sanded off and primed. Now I know how to proceed. And thanks for also telling me about painting the roof in color also as a water barrier. I think I will paint the whole car first, then install the vinyl. Again, this forum is GREAT!!!! Thanks again