Faded front caps - my solution!

[dave_smith1]

A bit of background. The grey front cap on my 2013 Arctic Fox FW began to fade in a few places after just over one year, then accelerated over the winter to a pretty ugly condition. I contacted the mfg. customer service & got the standard "All you have to do is polish every three months & use a good marine wax" reply. From what I've read on this as well as other forums that's the pretty universal response.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands by contacting a local paint shop: Quality Industrial Refinishers who specializes in trucks & RV's. I told the salesman Mark Sutherland my tale of woe & mentioned there were a number of people with this same problem; so he quoted me a flat price of $1,020 to strip the decals, sand, & paint with automotive base coat + clear that's good for anyone!

I dropped the trailer off on a Monday & picked it up following Friday and the trailer looked great! Along with Mark I worked with Lura in the office & Tim the shop mgr. - all great people. The place is not much to look at, but like most businesses up in North Portland that support the trucking industry they exist to provide a service; not appear on the cover of Hot Rod magazine!

They did find some impact damage that I agreed to fix for an extra charge, so I was out the door at $1,210. Looks good & much better than the crappy factory grey mess. If you go this route ping me & I'll give you directions to Quality as it's a bit tricky. (Don't ask me how I know!) 😉

See the pics here!

YMMV, but at least it now looks two years old instead of ten!

[Hexnut]

We are trading in a 3 year old Keystone outback that was doing the same thing and it was stored inside for half of the year. Unfortunately, I have seen this many times before and it seems to be inevitable. We ordered a MH and are paying over 6K for a full body paint job that has 4 layers of clear coat. Like a car, wax a clear coat finish and the fading gel coat should be a thing of the past.

[RoyBell]

There's more to covered storage than just a faded cap. If I could find a place in would store covered. That uv beats anything outside uo. Plus the rain..

[goducks10]

dave_smith wrote:
Goducks - Is that in Eugene? If not can you share? I'm paying $72/mo. for open storage in Portland & that's pretty darn good. My last place was $99!

I was guessing. I can store my 5th for $45.00 about 1/2 mile form my house if needed. My point was that covered storage is expensive and it wouldn't take long to reach the cost for a painted cap.

$72.00 is expensive. Here in Keizer $60.00 gets you a nice paved and gated storage yard. $45-50.00 gets you a graveled lot.

After checking I see http://www.bridgesrvstorage.com/salem-or-units.htm has 37' units for $125.00 a month.

[RoyBell]

Nice vehicles. 335i?

[FlatBroke]

Looks good. AF lost some advertising. Shame you had to spend that much on a newer trailer. Kinda of funny to compare to, but, our 02&03 GMCs have never seen the inside of a garage and the paint still looks great. Too bad RVs don't hold up that well.

[SH]

Gjac wrote:
Are you saying these caps were not painted from the factory but had the color mixed in with the gelcoat and this is what is causing the fading?

I believe that is the way it works! Our gray BC had colored gel coat not painted!

[Dave_H_M]

Seems to me that this is a somewhat common occurrence on the grey front caps.

[Gjac]

B.O. Plenty wrote: Next time around if it isn't all white or painted I'm not buying it. You can buff and wax these colored gel coats every week and at some point it just won't work anymore...B.O. Are you saying these caps were not painted from the factory but had the color mixed in with the gelcoat and this is what is causing the fading?

[SH]

B.O. Plenty wrote:
Next time around if it isn't all white or painted I'm not buying it. You can buff and wax these colored gel coats every week and at some point it just won't work anymore...B.O.

Which is one reason we no longer have our 2011 Big Country and opted for an all white used Alpenlite. It was frustrating to buy a brand new $45K rig and have it look 10 years old after the first year or so. Proper care and maintenance was not the issue...inferior gel coat was.

[B_O__Plenty]

I'm picking up my 2011 Big Country on Monday from a paint shop. I had the front cap painted and clear coated in 2012 because of fading. Heartland, the manufacturer, paid for it in full after a little arm twisting. Then I had to replace both fender skirts as the were changing from gray to brown right before my eyes. I bought new ones and paid for them myself, about $300.00. Now the rear cap faded and was to the point where it was embarrassing. $1,050.00 out of my pocket to fix that mess. I can't see letting it go to the point where no one would give me anything for it if I decide to upgrade and I sure don't want to drag around an ugly XXX. Next time around if it isn't all white or painted I'm not buying it. You can buff and wax these colored gel coats every week and at some point it just won't work anymore...

B.O.

[SH]

hawkeye-08 wrote:
Since I have inside storage, I am going to try the buffing and waxing first,

I believe every manufacturer had issues with the colored caps early on. We bought a new Big Country in late 2009 with the gray color scheme. Within a year the cap started to fade. All the waxing and buffing did was delay the process...it continued to fade until we got rid of the rig. Painting is the only cure. In Heartlands defense, they did offer $800 to paint the cap but like the OP...every quote we got was well over $1000.

[dave_smith1]

So you're still seeing fading even stored inside? Hmmm...I wonder if this is a chemical reaction rather than UV-related?

[hawkeye-08]

Since I have inside storage, I am going to try the buffing and waxing first, if that does not work might consider a paint job.. I also considered a large new decal to cover the fading..

Good job, thanks for sharing.

[colliehauler]

I can't believe how bad it got in 2 years. It's a shame Northwood did not step up to the plate and cover the $1200.