Single stage paint question?

[Beercan31]

I have a hard tonneau cover that is painted to match the truck, The finish is very soft if I rub lightly with my finger or the back of my hand and my finger nail hits the finish there is a very fine scratch left behind. This does not seem to happen on the truck it self and only on the cover.I belive the cover is SS because when I did the #5 with a buffer the pad seemed to have a some paint on it.
a while back I did
#5
#20
NXT
unknown times of NXT
washed with #00 at least once a week.
My question are:

Are there products I can use to give the cover a harder shell?
or
could the single stage be given a clear coat topping to further protect the finish?


Thanks in Advance
Rich

[Mike Phillips]

Hi Beercan31,

I could be wrong, but I think that hard tonneau may be gel coat? It could be painted too...

Either way, no matter what final wax you apply, non-clear coated finishes tend to oxidize more easily and this oxidation is more apparent when you work on it as you see the pigment on you application and removal materials.

Clear coats oxidize also, albeit much more slowly. Of course when you work on an oxidized clear coat you won't see the oxidized paint particles on your applicator pads or your wipe off cloths because it's clear...

(Actually it will be kind of whitish, but you still won't see it).

Mike

[Beercan31]

Thanks Mike

Just got off the phone with the people who sold the cover and they said that it's a 2 stage Dupont finish with clear coat process that is just like the truck finish.

I don't think I'm actually scratching the paint but more like scratching the protectant. after this happens the microfibor will not remove the affected area..I'll try to get a photo to show you what I up against....well forget the photo NXT has such an awesome reflection it is impossible to get a good shot of what I'm trying to describe. I might need to get out the old Konica SLR and see if I can capture it in micro. These scratches are mush lighter than "spider" scratches and can be removed only by reapplying NXTor #20 have not tried wax as a topper yet.