For what it's worth, I'd agree with Colin.

The pop-up roof isn't painted from new - the surface finish is a self-coloured (white) gelcoat, and that's the first layer into the mould when the roof is made. The gelcoat layer is considerably thicker than a layer of spray paint, and as such is able to cope with much more remedial cutting and polishing.

You might want to consider getting a dual-action polisher which will speed the job up enormously. I got one a while ago to use on the cars, and it didn't take long to realise just how much elbow grease I'd wasted over the years in polishing and waxing by hand.

A polisher like this will do as good a job as one costing three or four times as much.

Get a small selection of the appropriate Velcro-backed polishing pads, watch some of the many videos on YouTube and you can't go wrong.

I wish I'd got one long ago.

If you do go down that road, the chances are you'll be so chuffed with the results that you'll be looking around for other things to use it on.

A couple of words of caution if you think about using it on the van body though. Firstly - and for obvious reasons - you won't be able to use it on the dimpled finish, and bear in mind - if your van has smooth panels - that the paint is microscopically thin and there's no lacquer coat to protect it like the one on a car.

The roof, though, would be an ideal place to use it.

.