Thread: What paint to use on grained vinyl top material????

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I have a question----I am in the last half of my build on a tonneau cover for the roadster pickup. It will be covered with the same white material as the non folding convertible top. This material appears to be some kind of vinyl top material, white on the outside, black on the inside, and has a very fine "grain" to it. I may want to have a caricature of a "wild canary" painted on the tonneau cover, but I am completely lost in regards to what type of paint to use. My past experience with this type of thing has been using "one shot enamels" on either metal or fiberglass substrates, but never on a vinyl (which will be slightly padded with a 1/8" landau foam between it and a plywood backer). Does anybody have experience with this sort of thing? I am looking for advice.----Brian

If any local sign shops have done vinyl banners, or spare tire covers for RVs, those materials should work on yours.

that is convertible top material,some come with a protective coating ,most of the time if not handled much all you need to do is wipe it with a vinyl prep,
if you can find someone that does airbrushing is a good way to go,or like hotrodpaint said someone that does signs will know what paint to use,
for this material will obsorb some paints.

I like the idea of making it out of different color material like already being used.!!!!It would give it some relief detail/kind of like a relief map.
A little filler in the picture and it would look nice ,imo, and hold up very well.

Denny and Shawnlee28--I suggested that to my upholstery guy, but he said that there were too many different colours and that the amount of stitching required would make the tonneau cover "pucker" and not lay flat like I want it to. I don't sew, so thats why I'm inclined to go with painting instead.

I spoke to a painter/caricaturist today, and he suggested something rather novel---He said that he does all his work with automotive base colours, then clears over the work, but only has experience with painting sheet metal. His suggestion was to have a photo shop blow up the .jpg I have to the size I want, (about 17" tall), then have it plasma cut from a peice of 14 ga. stainless. He would then paint the stainless as I wanted, and clearcoat it. When I upholster the plywood cover, first put on the landau foam (1/8" thick), then lay the stainless peice where I wanted it to be on the cover, and use an exacto knife to cut the foam away in that area. Then put the white vinyl over the foam, and glue it down where the foam was cut away, to leave a 1/8" depressed area the size of the caricature. Then glue the painted stainless caricature down into the recessed area. That might work for me, but it sounds like a lot of work.

I really like the suggestion your painter/caricaturist guy had, it's essentially an inlay and I really think inlays, if done right, are really classy. Novel installations are a good thing. How about rolling the edge of the metal piece ever so slightly so that the metal piece is raised level with the material instead of being below the surface?