My 98' F-150 was the unfortunate victim of a Parking Lot hit and run. Someone tagged it in the passenger side rear just before the tail lense. The damaged are is quit small but extremly exspensive to fix. Majority of the body shops I took it to said that patching the damaged area will not work because once the composite material the bed is made of is cracked or damaged any paint applied to this area will show cracks again. A friend told me that just the bed panel can be removed and replaced. Can anyone validate these statements ? And does anyone know where I might find this panel besides ordering it from the Dealer ?

Any help on this is greatly appreciated !!!!

 

The styleside bed is made of metal, the flareside bed outer skin is fiberglass,

 

Originally posted by svt_sc_f150
The styleside bed is made of metal, the flareside bed outer skin is fiberglass,

Interesting. And the reason for this is..?

 

MY guess would be to acheive the curvature of the wheel wells. Its also lighter in most cases.....

 

Originally posted by GooberPHX420


MY guess would be to acheive the curvature of the wheel wells. Its also lighter in most cases.....

F-150s are essentially work trucks even though most members don't use them for that purpose. Mine is never used for that purpose. Fiberglass would not be the best material for a bed that would haul dirt, rock...

 

The actual bed is still made of metal on the inner sides and floor. It's the fenders on the outside that are made of fiberglass. Besides looking pretty slick they weigh less than their steel counterparts and are ding resistant to some extent.

 

I read that GM is moving to composite exteriors for P/U's (styleside or fleetside).

Besides weight, these can generally take small dings in parking lots with no damage. Look at Saturn cars as an example. Unfortunately, in this case you were the 1 in 100 times that the small ding would cause damage.