Vinyl overlay over paint, how bad for the paint?

[san~man]

I'm considering buying a vinyl overlay for my roof, to cover the entire roof. I put on/take off a rack on the roof daily for work, and although the rack has plastic to protect against the metal of the rack touching the paint, I'm worried about scratching. As it is right now, I'm using a microfiber I cut in two to lay under the rack, but it's beginning to be cumbersome and looks pretty ghetto.

So my questions are:

1. How will the vinyl affect the paint in the long run?
2. Does the paint need to breathe? (new car)
3. Will it be more harm than good?

The vinyl itself has an adhesive backing that can be removed in the future if necessary with minimal glue residue.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[san~man]

Anyone?

 

[mjfx]

Hey Sanman. Many people put vinyl over their roofs, just to change the color.

Certain vinyl can be left on the car for over a year with no negative impact on the paint. Obviously I would clean the paint very well first.

Consider putting vinyl only on the sections that are touched by the rack. Or just do the whole roof in case your bikes scratch against it.

hope that helps

 

[san~man]

Hey Sanman. Many people put vinyl over their roofs, just to change the color.

Certain vinyl can be left on the car for over a year with no negative impact on the paint. Obviously I would clean the paint very well first.

Consider putting vinyl only on the sections that are touched by the rack. Or just do the whole roof in case your bikes scratch against it.

hope that helps

It does, thank you. I was planning on doing the entire roof (it's a full one piece of vinyl). The car is new, less than a month old. The vinyl is more for protection rather than looks, as I figure the vinyl will protect better over the long run versus my ghetto microfiber solution

I would, of course, do a full cleaning prior to the installation of the vinyl, but that leads me to another question: I'm guessing it would be optimal to have the roof protected by my sealant of choice prior to the installation, or would it be better to be polished and stripped of any protection first? I would clean with PO8RD first, and then seal (or not) depending on recommendations.