I have a 2005 Buick Lesabre with a soft top. I have looked around and can’t find another Buick Lesabre with this top. It does however have the Buick logo on it, making it difficult to tell if it’s after market or stock. The Top is stained and I would like to remove it. How difficult should this be ? My car is white, is there a white top waiting for me underneath if removed properly ?

 

Hello. I know this question is a bit old, but that doesn't mean it has been answered or resolved. I have dealt with several cloth and vinyl top on sedans, cadillac and lincoln specifically as the buicks ive owned have not had the top though i have seen them. I recently dyed a heavily stained/mildewed camel cloth top black on a cadillac. It took several weeks to do but it did turn out nice. Tmk, most of these done over the last 30 years are aftermarket. I have a 2001 continental that has a fiberglas shell under the vinyl carriage top, that is totally falling to pieces. I expect that under the shell top it is painted, but i’m sure it will need work when i pull the fiberglas shell off of it. It is not uncommon for there to be rust of some sort underneath. My lincoln shows signs of bubbling next to top. Yours may be fine. So if the top was glued to a shell, maybe there is minimal work needed. Maybe not. If it was glued to the paint, then im sure you would have to get/strip the residue off at which point the paint most likely will not be salvageable. The truth is until you make that commitment to remove it, you dont know what lies underneath. Just my 2 cents.

 

 

Not sure if I’m able to sand this down and paint it but can’t turn out much worse than that right lol….

 

I just saw this. So on my lincoln that looks like this, I have considered trying to sand the shell smooth and use a textured or carbon fiber style vinyl wrap. I have zero idea or experience if it will work. The vinyl might not even stick to the fiber shell. It also might require similar effort/expense to remove the shell and fill, sand, prime, paint the metal underneath. It also depends on your level of skill, whether you have the equipment, the time, the space to diy.

I have not thought about it or gotten around to it, but googling and calling to discuss with the companies that sell cloth and vinyl, landau tops for caddies and lincolns might be helpful.

I would assume the shell is glued and not screwed to the top of the car, but its merely an assumption.