Roof Rack Delete - Grizzly Grip Coating

[AH-1W Smitty]

Well, after much procrastination I finally got around to dealing with my sun-bleached and hole filled roof. The roof rack was pretty much useless due to rust so as a stopgap measure I removed it a few months ago. Since I didn't have the time then to properly address the situation I filled the holes with bolts and sealer and looked around for options.

I settled on covering the entire roof with Grizzly Grip. They seem to have a pretty good product for price, easy of application and color match so I figured I would give them a try. While the final verdict isn't in yet (namely due to color match concerns) I think it has helped address the rust issue.

I didn't spend an awful amount of prep time on this...partly because I was pressed for time while watching the kid but also I wanted to see how well the imperfections are covered. The roof is the test case for the flares, which are currently filled with plastic trim plugs.

I basically removed the roof rack ribs, removed the rubber mounts with a wood chisel and ran a rough cone brush across. After that it was xylene to clean the roof and some black electrical tape to mask it off. Total time from start to finish for two coats was about 3 hours.

 

[AH-1W Smitty]

Here are a few more pictures. As you can see from the previous ones the sun had really taken a toll on the roof. Here are a few from the first coat. I covered the holes with metal foil tape and as you can see there is some bleed through with just the one coat.

Two coats had much better coverage but as you can see the color is looking a bit more purple than the rest of the truck (and the color sample). This could easily change once it has a chance to cure longer but so far it is not quite a good match.

 

[AH-1W Smitty]

Last few pictures. The two coats were definitely enough coverage to cover the foil tape, the other imperfections could use one more. The best method to cover rough spots is using a brush to dab the material on. I used the smooth texture grizzly grip so I'm sure the rough would cover even better.

As you can see there are still some imperfections and the color is a little richer than the rest of the roof but all in all I am pretty satisfied with the result. I'm sure over the course of a few weeks the color will mature and that will be the final test to see how well it matches the rest of the truck.

My thought is that since the roof was so faded any color match would be problematic but now I at least have something for comparison sake for when I do the flares.

Anyway, thought you might like to see my results with Grizzly Grip, not as much info on this product as there is for Linex, Durabak, etc. For me they had the closest color match from the factory and all seems to have worked well so far.

 

[redeye]

I dig it. Heck I'd consider gutting the interior of carpets and laying that down. Maybe the whole exterior.

Looks good for a few hours work.

 

[AH-1W Smitty]

I would suggest the rough finish as the smooth finish doesn't hind the imperfections all that well, have to think the interior would have a lot of ripples and ridges that won't get covered.

 

[boerboel313]

I don't really get it. Why was the tape used instead of filling the holes with say, POR -15 putty, sanding and then paint? I guess it worked and being that it's on the roof, who's going to see it.