Speaking of plastic & static, owners of drop-in bedliners who haul gas cans should be aware of the hazard of sliding fuel containers and static electricity makem big boom...especially if you also have a tonneau cover. The fix? Place the fuel can on a rubber mat.

 

the boom-boom is why I asked about the plastic gas cap being grounded.

 

i wouldn't be so sure. rubber can hold plenty of static charge (trust me, I'm a rubber chemist). best would probably be to not let it slide around. anchor it somehow.

 

my F-16 has a little plastic in it. i don't really worry about rust when I am in a dog fight at 15,000 ft...

 

BOOOOOOM !!!!!

 

khughes53...see what happens when you ignore good advice!

 

I would speculate that the plastic gas cover is, one grounded to the frame though the metal quarter panel, or if the quarter panel is not metal then it has a ground wire somewhere. Yes plastic will develop static and discharge to the first ground it sees. That would either be the person touching it to open it or the gas nozzle. I am sure there is not an issue with it developing static and causing a discharge otherwise Ford would soon be out of business.

The flaresides “bed” is made of a type of composite like fiberglass. It is not plastic, or at least not completely…

I have never had any problems with any of my plastic door handles be it exterior or interior. I would imagine that Ford did a lot of testing of the chrome lamination to insure it don’t start peeling off.

Lastly, in my opinion, Ford should have at least painted the plastic gas cover to match the truck, it just looks kind of cheap staring at you like a sore eye…

 

Your "plastic gas cover" is NOT painted to match? Are we all on the same page here? I thought the context was the gas filler access door which is painted to match.

 

That is what I met, was the filler access door, which is not painted to match the truck. At least not on any of the 04 models I have seen...

 

Now I am REALLY confused...I have never seen an '04 Ford F150 with a gas filler door that isn't painted to match the body color. What gives here?

 

Mine's painted..

 

After looking through some of the galleries I am now screwed up. You are right that they are painted. However, when my dealer first had some 04’s in I was looking at them. They were both read and the gas filler doors where black. I didn’t pay much attention to if they were painted or not but asked the dealer why the doors where black since the truck is red.

He answer was because they are plastic… Hell if I know, but from the few pictures I have seen in some of the galleries it does appear they are indeed painted. I wonder if some of the models have black “painted” gas filler doors????

 

Yes...some of the do have black plastic painted covers. My Black Lariat has a painted black gas cap cover.

 

LMAO, ok you got me there...