That I can't answer - I've only owned it about 4 weeks, and it was already done. I was told it's just a matter of flattening them off then painting. You do have to be pretty careful when you've got the roof behind the seats though - push them back too far, and you get a scratched roof even with the cover on.
That is my worry. I want to have mine painted, but I've scratched it a few times already with the black - would feel real bad if it was on the red. My thought was the clear 3M coating on top of the roof - like the clear bra - if it scraches, it may not break the surface. Erik
As far as painting projects go, it's about as straight forward as they come, so not difficult at all. It would make a great weekend paint project if you have access to facilities. Or if you have someone else do it for you, it shouldn't be too terribly expensive since it is only a single panel and a straight forward job. But the previously mentioned issue of scratching holds true. For my color matched top... well, it stays at home rather than going behind the seats. Of course, it doesn't come off if there is the slightest chance of rain.
My TS has a colored roof as well. Check out my garage for photos if you like. The color matching that was done is spot on!
Interesting! I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this. Seems like that would be significantly less effort than all the sanding I did. Then again, I had a slightly damaged corner on mine. It looked like it had been dropped at some point in its history. In any case, this sounds like an interesting approach.
Mine was red when I got the car. I was told that some of the Series Speciale cars were originally red. Is this true or not, anybody know? Mike Reading, PA
My old 348, 82589 had her roof matched. Chupacabra owns her now. Any decent body shop will be able to make it happen.
Had mine done 3 years ago, they sand it smooth and do some paint on plastic adhesion tricks, and shoot it. The shop I use charged me $300 for the whole thing. If you want to protect it, have clearbra film put on it... because believe me, the 1st time (IF) you stow it behind the seats, you WILL scratch it!
I'll see with a local bodyshop how much they would charge for such a job. I definitely think the car looks better when the roof is colour coded!
Had mine done when I bought the car and its the best look. I think $AUD3-400 (2 years back now !) Since the 348 roof line is such a nice fit compared to the older 328 it looks fantastic colour coded. I wouldn't do it yourself though . Its a key part of the look of the car. Unless perfect it will look crap. Especially if you don't get ALL of the 'fabric look' out of it ! I fully agree about being careful when storing behind the seats. Because of the curve of the roof the screw heads of the inner side of the back of the seats is the first to touch. Its not obvious unless you check for it ! So if you think you have allowed enough room looking at the outside edge of the back of the seats ... look again. Don't forget to allow for a bit of spring back or flex when you sit in the seat. Even with the cover on it will mark..! The material inside of the canvas cover acts like sand paper on it and will wear a dull spot on the duco. But it looks so good compared to the old dull black cap !!. For mine everything is colour coded (aka GTS) and its just modernises (is that a word !??) the car so much. Takes at least 10 years off the look of the old standard format
All Targa 348's including the GTS came with Vinyl look black roof panel as stock.. !! Even the 355 GTS's have the same Black finish caps ! Did Ferrari ever bring out a colour coded roof panel on any Targe ??
A factory color matched roof panel was available as an option starting in '97. There were actually 2 types of roof panels that came on the 348's, the hard ABS one, and another that is actually wrapped in some type of vinyl. I have a friend who has a '92 SSts, and his came with that awful vinyl wrapped roof.
