Fiberglass tonneau cover

[Xtreme99_s-Dime]

Hi all,

I have a pickup with a nice fiberglass tonneau cover, however, it is not painted with automotive paint. The packaging says that it's paint-ready. It came with a glossy black finish on it, and you can see\feel the texture of the fibers through it. I'm guessing that this is a thin gel-coat type of finish? What do you think?

I can't figure out what to use on it though, should I use the marine line? Is it safe to use polish on it? The only thing I've done aside form washing it is claying and putting NXT on it.

The reason that I'm worried is that i can start to see the tops of some of the fibers turning a white-grey color. I'm guessing that this is oxidation, but don't know what to do about it.

So i guess my over-all question is ...
Have you guys seen\worked on something like this, and if so what did you use, or would recommend using to restore it to "like new" condition?

If you need more information or pictures, let me know.

Thanks a million,

Stevo

[Mike Phillips]

If you can see any place fibers are actually poking through, then this is not a good sign. Hopefully that's not the case.

You have two options,

A) Polish and wax the gel coat
B) Prep the tonneau cover and paint it

If the gel coat is thin, then painting would probably be the way to go because gel-coats tend to oxidize and if you clean and polish a thin gel coat often you could expose those fibers.

Can you find out from the company how thick the gel coat is? The easy way out would be to polish and wax the gel coat.

[Xtreme99_s-Dime]

Thanks Mike,

Unfortunately, being a college student, I cannot afford the cover to be painted, but I would like to keep it in nice condition. I guess the polish and Wax method is for me.

There are no actual fibers poking through, you can just see the "high spots" in the texture of the fibers turning a grey color. It doesn't look bad now, but I wanted to catch it early and take good care of it so I can avoid spending another $500 on a new one.

I am in the middle of a full detail right now, and I'll most likely do the tonneau cover last. Any recommendations on the wax/polish to use?

My current arsenal inlcudes DACP, #7, #9, DC 2, DC 3, NXT and gold class wax in the polish and waxes department. I also have fine cut cleaner if I need something that aggressive, but I never do.

Thanks for all the advice.

Stephen

[Xtreme99_s-Dime]

oops, I forgot to tell you that I also have a PC, So if i need that, Its available.

Thanks again,

Stephen

[Mike Phillips]

With the products you have on hand, I would highly recommend trying this combo

#9 followed by two coats of NXT Tech Wax.

The #9 is a gentle cleaner/polish but when applied using a dual action polisher it should offer enough cleaning power to remove any light oxidation while gorging the gel-coat with rich polishing oils.

I've been experimenting with washing foam pads lately and one thing I've confirmed is that both NXT Tech Wax and M21 pretty much don't wash out or break down after 24 hours cure time.

[Xtreme99_s-Dime]

Good to know about the NXT. Thanks Mike. I'm actually using #9 now on the paint, so I'll just move it on up to the tonneau cover.

Thanks again for all of your help.

P.S. I'm going to post a makeover write-up on this detail when its all done. I'd love to have your feedback.

Thanks,

Stephen