Painted Hard Top

[89FourRunner]

I painted the hard top of my 4Runner since it is currently removed for the summer.

It was originally black, the entire top was faded and most of the paint had worn off, so the top looked brown. The sides were a mix of faded black spray paint touch ups too, it looked terrible.

I painted the top flat white, trying to stick with a factory color.

I washed the entire top with dawn dish soap, went over the top with a scotch brite gently, and then washed it with dawn soap again.

I rolled it on using rustoleum flat white oil based enamel, two quarts and three total coats. I know most guys thin the rustoleum out with paint thinner, but I honestly believe it is the perfect thickness, especially if you want to maintain the tops texture, and are switching to another color.

Worked pretty well, looks much better than a rattle can job would. No final sanding or finishing was needed as I went with flat white, and wanted to keep about the same textured look that the top originally had. I also did not use a foam roller as most do, I used a short length napped traditional interior wall roller, mainly because I already had it. I got a bit of debris from bugs and a few things falling from the sky in the finish but honestly, the way this hard top looked, I really did not give a shit. White is extremely forgiving as well.

Total cost was about $20.

Pictures (there is mixed sun light through the trees shining on the top, the finish came out perfectly even):

 

[Dropzone]

nicely done

 

[89FourRunner]

Thanks. Pretty easy thing to do, if you need to.

 

[joeynational]

looks good, i need to do my top as well. I'm assuming Rustoleum has a flat black too?

 

[89FourRunner]

looks good, i need to do my top as well. I'm assuming Rustoleum has a flat black too?

They do. There is a good how-to on a few of the 4runner sites on how to roll it on. The how to instructs you to thin the paint but that is up to you, I did not. They have most of the colors you would find in spray paint, but stores like home depot carry the basic colors by the canned quart, red, blue, black, white, grey.

It is just too much surface to spray these things with spray cans and not have it look uneven. Plus rolling it provides thick coats, I would say three rolled coats of rustoleum (not thinned out) is easily 10 coats of spray paint. Even when not thinned out, the paint does a decent job of self leveling.

Prepping is debatable. I wanted to maintain the original texture so i ever so lightly, barely pushing ran a scotch brite over the top surface, then washed with dawn dish soap and water. I don't think I would sand paper the top, its too harsh. Prep pad or scotch brite.

 

[Ruger2011]

That looks great! I may have to do my white top soon!

 

[89FourRunner]

Here are some pictures of it installed on a silver 4Runner. Generally the silver 4Runner came with a black top, so I was unsure how it would look. It works.

I removed the soft top for the year obviously. The white really freshens things up, my hard top was looking pretty terrible. Definately worth a few bucks and an afternoon. Glad I went with white. Also finally got my rear wiper arm to hang back up in its mount after turning it off (normally it would stop below its seat slightly on the window)/ I simply removed the arm and rotated it counter clockwise a few degrees.

 

[magnet18]

Looks good!

I'll have to try that trick with the rear wiper arm, mine has the same problem.

 

[85RedRunner]

Never would of thought to use a roller. Going to do this on my tops.

So oil base is the way to go?

 

[RAD4Runner]

Nice paint job on the cap and white looks good. It would also keep interior cooler because white reflects more heat, while black would absorb it.
Tnx for the tip on the wiper arm, as well.

Is the paint flexible enough not to crack when fiberglas top is flexed? (Sometimes I, of 135 lbs, stand on top of my cap)

 

[89FourRunner]

I used oil based enamel yeah, not sure if there is a better option for rolling.

I also am not sure how much you can flex the hard top. Ive never chipped the old black touch up jobs i did for the many times i took the top off, but I cannot say when it comes to standing on it.

Yeah the wiper arm took a bit of trial and error, it is easiest to scrape a mark across the arm and the shaft once you have its bolt off so you can actually see how many degrees you move it, as it tends to move around when you yank it off the splines. It works great now, hangs up in its mount when you turn it off, and the window rolls down without issue.

 

[86yota]

Looks great I'm definitely going to have to do this!

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