Hi S2ki community,

I am researching exactly what is needed to do a full repaint of the OEM HT. I was told that the rear window has to come out and thus replacement with a new seal. Is this true? Does the sides have seals as well around the black panels where these meet up with the painted section of the HT? Can you just mask up around window and black panels and paint? (btw one paint guy said that window and black panels had to come off, so as to properly sand back edges and facilitate better paint adhesion, I don't know if this is correct or not.)

Anyone who has done this before can you please fill me in on your knowledge and if you can give what costs were, I would appreciate this.

I'm totally confused and don't know if these paint guys are just trying to mark up the job cost,
thanks in advance.

pics may help get an answer.

 

You would of course be best off removing all seals/trim and the window but I wouldn't say it's required. To get the absolute best paint job you'd want to but I know plenty that haven't gone that far. I have new window seals so that side black trim will be coming off but I'm leaving the window in place and will just have the body shop mask around it.

I'm looking to drop off my top next week for paint so if you're not in a hurry I'll let you know how it comes out.

 

thanks steve for a quick reply, is there a seal under that black trim? Not talking about the weather seals here as mine are perfect. Or can you remove the black trim and weather seals in one complete go, then refit once painted? I could do what your doing I guess without replacing the weather seals of the driver and passenger windows and mask up the rear window.
yeah please lmk how yours turns out, I'm not ready to paint just yet.
thanks

 

just looked at my HT, can feel 2 screws at bottom and top of seal attached to that black trim, is it just a matter of removing those screws to take the black panels off? Can anyone give me a DIY on what to do to take the black panels off?

 

bumping for more solutions..

 

bump i'm in the same boat. from my experience with having my windshield replaced, it seems like we could just reuse the existing oem seals. I'm going to be tearing down my hardtop sometime next week to get a better idea of what needs to come off and what needs to be replaced so I'll try to fill in with more info later.

 

when mine was painted the body shop had a glass guy come in and cut the rear window off so they could paint it. then they reinstalled the glass. Came out great

 

Did you need to get a new rear window seal, Suzuka?

 

yea, the glass guy put a new seal on it

 

Feedback from a guy in Australia whom has painted his oem ht from ssm to laguna blue to platinum white, mask up the rear glass window an remove the black panels for painting. If I can't find a "swap for ssm", I'll be doing the repaint this way.