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Old 02-21-2019, 12:31 PM   #1
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Peeling Penthouse Top

When I had my PH installed on 11/2014 I opted for the "white look". Chose not to pay the $700 at the time to have it painted. When not being used my van stays indoors so it's not like it's sun-damaged. Now after 5 years it's starting to peel. I don't know what else to call it. (see photos). Has this happened to anyone else...and if so, how did you correct it?


BTW, Sportsmobiles response:
The P.H. top clear coat is peeling. Best thing to do is to get it painted with tuff liner or upol in a matching color.
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Old 02-21-2019, 09:07 PM   #2
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What is under the liner? Is it possible that the peeling part is just a protective liner like you get on a new phone screen or other electronic device? I’m not doubting you, but that was the first thing I thought when I saw the photo.
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Old 02-21-2019, 10:10 PM   #3
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I agree Gramps. I have never seen any paint peel like that. I have also never seen gelcoat peel period.

I do agree with SMB that bedlining your roof is the way to go, but if that was there literal response it does seem a bit cold and unhelpful. I have done several of them that were older, sun damaged and starting to crack. Upol is the parent company of Raptor Liner. There's also Bullet Liner, Rhino Liner, Herculiner, LineX, etc. etc. They are all basically the same.

I'd be pretty p*ssed having to deal with this on a roof as new as yours.
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Old 02-22-2019, 06:38 AM   #4
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Agree: that’s really odd. Is it out of warranty from SMB? Even if so, at only five years old it can’t be THAT far out of warranty (don’t they do five years?) Are you the original owner? If so, I would definitely push back hard on their dismissive answer and get them to fix it.

To do any sort of recoat in that top you’re going to have to strip the entire top coat (whatever it is) to get a good foundation for the new covering.

As an aside, I have seen clear coat peel (usually on a repaint, not OEM), but not in long strips like that. Something must have been off in the original prep for that to happen. Maybe @JWA can shed some light from his body shop days.
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Old 02-22-2019, 10:23 AM   #5
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My bet is on a shrink wrap cover. It's time to finally unwrap your roof.
I too, have never seen clear coat or gel coat behave like that.
How is the finish where the film has peeled off? It looks great in the pics.
No mater what you're going to have to peel the rest of whatever that is off before you apply any kind of finish.
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Old 02-23-2019, 07:15 AM   #6
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I tried pulling off as much as I could. It looks like it's localized in this one area only. Still a mystery to me. I'll keep watching it.
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Old 02-24-2019, 05:41 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianW View Post
Agree: that’s really odd. Is it out of warranty from SMB? Even if so, at only five years old it can’t be THAT far out of warranty (don’t they do five years?) Are you the original owner? If so, I would definitely push back hard on their dismissive answer and get them to fix it.

To do any sort of recoat in that top you’re going to have to strip the entire top coat (whatever it is) to get a good foundation for the new covering.

As an aside, I have seen clear coat peel (usually on a repaint, not OEM), but not in long strips like that. Something must have been off in the original prep for that to happen. Maybe @JWA can shed some light from his body shop days.
IF SMB's response is its clear coat peeling away and they're unwilling to do anything or they're too far away to be practical I'd contact a local body or boat shop to get their input.

FWIW I'm hard pressed to recall ever seeing that sort of peeling away of any spray applied coating, not in sheets like that. Of course I did have a '97 E250 in dark blue metallic that was flaking off in various sections, more like 1" square spots at a time though. (The issue was water-borne primers were used which was hard and slick as glass---something a base finish coating just does NOT like. Even when the color coat was gone that hardass primer was untouched. )

If DIY Raptor-like recoating is the solution anther name in the mix might be MonstaLiner---what I like most about that brand is they sell tints for their material. Here's their site: http://www.monstaliner.com/monstaliner_pricing.htm

I also found this somewhat lengthy but very informative YouTube "review" or lessons learned using MonstaLiner:

Not sure any of that's helpful but maybe?
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