Rivet holes help

[Shane Garard]

Hi all

Now i have bought me self a set of sport bars I'm going to place them on the D-Max over the weekend. But first I need to remove the tonneau cover strips which have rivets all the way along them. How do I cover them so that 1 it wont look silly with crap hanging out of the holes along the edges and 2 that it wont rust out on me? I also prefer not to weld the metal on the car ether. So if anyone has any pointers or ideas I am open to suggestions.
Thanks
Shane

 

[GaryM]

You could try rubber grommets, paint them to match. I would think you need to fit them, tape up and then paint because if painted first would probably crack trying to squeeze them into the hole. Could try a vinyl dye/paint if they can colour match it. To prevent rust, I would treat the holes with a different thin brush and some rust treatment, let it dry. Again masking tape up so just hole is showing then touch up paint in the hole. Let dry, fit grommets.

 

[Shane Garard]

Thanks for that I will give that a go

 

[GaryM]

Dont do that, wait for others to chime in theres sure to be some ideas or people that have done something. I just wanted to be first.

 

[mac_man_luke]

you can get little plastic plugs and paint to match, did the same thing on a previous ute - became almost invisible.

 

[Albynsw]

As Luke said
Ford had them for their falcon Utes as well when people fitted a hard lid

 

[Alien d2]

Another option is to put a rivet back in each hole.
Until you remove the strips there is no way of knowing what condition the paint is like under them.

 

[Alien d2]

There is also a option of getting a motor trimer to modify your cover around the sports bar once fitted.

 

[Shane Garard]

Thanks to everyone for there input this has given me some ideas now.

 

[barnsey062]

on my old Holden ute i removed all the tarp hooks and had the sign writer cut me some strips of sign writing vinyl close to the color of the ute which was dark green metallic, i just stuck those on up both sides and you could hardly see them unless you were up really close