Hi, I am planning on buying a new Ford truck in the next month or so. I had my heart set on a SuperCrew but then I found out about the fiberglass bed. I keep a truck for a long time (my current truck is a '90 F150 4x4 that I bought new and now has 220K miles on it) and I live in Texas where it is HOT. Should I be concerned about the plastic holding up over the long haul? The flareside also has a plastic bed and they have been out since '97 - are they having any cracking or warpage problems? Is putting a toolbox up on the bed rails a big no-no with these trucks? I notice the payload on the flareside and SC trucks is considerably less than their counterparts with metal beds - I assume the plastic bed is to blame? Any help here would be appreciated - I am thinking of going with a Superduty now over this but, man!, the SC is so good looking!

 

The Bed is steel. The outside panels are composite glass/plastic material. Where you put your cargo is all Steel.

 

I wouldn't worry about it at all. The only disadvantage would be that in an accident it would crack or shatter instead of dent/bend. Again Norm is right, the outside is the composit and the inside is all steel. The tailgate is all steel as well.

Also another part of the SCREW that is not steel is the hood. Try sticking a magnet to it, it's aluminum...

 

I am not worried about it for long term. As the others stated the bed is steel. As for the outside I had an 89 Aerostar and still have a 93 Aerostar. These both have composite hoods and back Hatch.
My 93 is in great shape yet. I sure you have seen some of the early Aerostars that rotted out totally at the bottom but the hatch and hood are like new unless they have been hit or something. This material is not new to Ford.

As for me this is a positive thing not a bad thing.

 

Saturn makes their whole body out of the same stuff. GM uses variants of it on many cars including the Corvette. The Fiero was all plastic bodied as well. It won't rust. The bed rail tops (not caps) are bonded to the steel sides so a tool box should not cause problems.

 

I was involved in an accident last week, where the left side of my bed was hit. I knew the supercrews had composite panels and was not looking foward to getting out of the truck. It held up pretty well, damage estimates are $1300.00

 

Hey, be careful down there in Texas, it gets hot enough there that the plastic bed will melt. All it takes is about 80 degrees and sunshine and all you'll have left is a nasty puddle to drive through.