03 molding

[chadecoen]

I have painted my cladding, unfortunetly the pics from my thread don't work anymore (http://www.expeditionforum.com/showthread.php?t=2012&highlight=cladding)
To get it smooth you have to use a primer, and only use really fine sand paper, like 400+. If you use course sand paper, it will really dig in to the plastic and take forever to sand the scratches out (I'm talking from experience). You only need primer though if you want it ultra smooth, if not all you have to do is wipe off the dirt with some soap and water and spray on some Krylon paint. Krylon (made for plastic) requires no primer or sanding, and is also chip resistant. I've had mine painted for 3 years now and it's just starting to fad a little, I'll probably spray on a new coat when I have time.

3 YEARS?!?!?!? That is awesome. I have not heard of paint lasting that long on the textured plastic moldings. But I have also not heard of the paint you used either. I was considering bed liner or line x stuff since they are textured anyway but am worried that they would look like, well, look like they were painted in my driveway! I really love the painted Bauer ones but they are expensive like most folks have mentioned and hard to find in dark grey as most are tan or gold or whatever. Glad to hear yours are holding up well. Any chance you can post up some more pics?

Oh, and someone else asked if the Bauer and XLT panels are different. They are, the XLT models do not have wheel lip moldings and the Bauer does. And the bumpers are a bit different also for those wheel lip pieces so you can't just ad the darn wheel lip moldings from a Bauer either.

Thanks,
Chad