prepping a bed lid ?

[J]

Ok so finally I'm getting the body all cleaned up and losing the rusty cab corners (no more "beater"!!!!). Sounds good until the guy that is painting the truck says that he doesn't want to shoot the lid (it's a checkmate flush fit fiberglass lid) on the bed cuz it will look like a "spiderweb". Anyone know how to prep these for paint? He said it would look funny because of all those little hairs and couldn't be sanded. It looked good when I bought it (2+ yrs ago) but it has been in the sun the whole time I was deployed. Is this guy full of it? What can I do? Thanks in advance, J

[Orange70chevy]

If you just paint it it will have that spiderweb look. I would sand the cover with 320 grit and use a good primer put about three coats on it use a guidecoat and sand (I like to use 320 grit). I don't know how bad your cover looks but this should do the trick. If you have to prime it again. It is worth a try.

[bagged91]

They are a MOFO to get ready for paint!!!! A freind of mine did his Checkmate cover. He used some high build primer, laid down a couple of good coats(blocked in between) and i believe it was the third time he got it smooth enough to take paint. It still isn't perfect but it's better than what it was.

[tomsC10R]

For those of you who have seen checkmates painted... How bad is it? I'm willing to do the extra coats and sanding, but how is the finished product compared to a smoother, more expensive cover? Would you suggest going with a different cover because of what the paint will turn out like?

J, let us know how it turns out!!

Thanks

[smitty62]

Post this to the "paint & body" part of the board and ask MartinSr to comment--he's the expert in this field

[bagged91]

Originally posted by tomsC10R
For those of you who have seen checkmates painted... How bad is it? I'm willing to do the extra coats and sanding, but how is the finished product compared to a smoother, more expensive cover? Would you suggest going with a different cover because of what the paint will turn out like?

J, let us know how it turns out!!

Thanks

The checkmates can look nice IF you do a lot of blocking, priming, blocking and finish it up with a guide coat to get it striaght. If my friend had of did one more blocked primer coat and one final guide coat, it would have been near perfect. To a trained eye, you could see where it could have been prep'd a little more, but to the average Joe, it looked fine. The main problem with his is it was wavy.

The other option you have if you want a cover like the checkmate is to make one from 3/4 or 1" boxtubing and skin it with some 18ga. sheetmetal or aluminum...