How to detail your BAKFlip G2 Hard Folding Tonneau Cover

**Mike Phillips** · 02-08-2021, 01:45 PM

How to detail your BAKFlip G2 Hard Folding Tonneau Cover

SONAX Polymer Net Shield

In the past year or so I've detailed a number of trucks that have a BAKFlip G2 Hard Folding Tonneau Cover.

The question is always...

How do you detail a BAKFlip G2 Hard Folding Tonneau Cover

What people mean by this is,

What product do you USE on the BAKFlip G2 Hard Folding Tonneau Cover

This past weekend, after thinking about the material, which is a OEM marine grade vinyl laminate. The official recommendation from BAK Industries is to use 303 Aerospace Protectant to protect the surface. This is a GREAT option. I'm a huge fan of 303 Products. I can't think of a single 303 product that has not performed as advertised. So if you have a BAK Industries tonneau cover then 303 Aerospace Protectant is a great first choice.

That said, I'm also a huge fan of SONAX Polymer Net Shield. This is a really interesting product that is very versatile in what you can use it on. Last year I found it worked great on powder coated boat trailers. I'll include the link to my write-up for this application below.

Back to the BAKFlip G2 Hard Folding Tonneau Cover

As I was working on the paint correction, in the back of my mind I kept thinking about what would be a good product to not only treat the hard tonneau cover right now, while I'm detailing it, but also what would be a good product for the owner to take care of it moving forward.

The criteria I was looking for are,

Quick, fast and easy.
Makes the hard vinyl surface look good (duh)
Can't STAIN the surface
Has to dry to the touch - can't be sticky or oily
Did I mention - quick fast and easy?

And that's when I thought about SONAX Polymer Net Shield. Then after thinking about it, I got a can and tried it out using the SONAX Plastic Care microfiber applicator pad.

Guess what?

It worked GREAT!

Sorry no pictures of me doing the work, I was the only one around at the time but I really did hand massage the SONAX PNS over the tonneau cover and surrounding plastic trim and it came out looking great!

Here's the good news.... it's now available in a pocket-size aerosol container. This is a great way to test this product out and if you end up liking it or like many others including me, loving it, then next time you place an order with Autogeek bump up to the full size can.

SONAX Polymer Net Shield

Get them both here,

SONAX Polymer Net Shield 75 ml. - $9.99

SONAX Polymer Net Shield 340 ml. $29.99

This SONAX microfiber applicator works pretty well too....

SONAX Care Pad for Plastic

I'm not sure why SONAX labeled and markets this for use on "plastic"? I use them for all kinds of things.

SONAX Polymer Net Shield = good stuff....

**Mike Phillips** · 02-08-2021, 01:48 PM

More...

And here's why I needed something that won't stain or build-up into the irregular surface texture famous to the BAKFlip Hard Folding Tonneau Cover

This is a close-up of just a small area...

Can you imagine trying to get some kind of staining product out of all the irregular shapes?

**Mike Phillips** · 02-08-2021, 01:50 PM

More...

Here's my article on using the SONAX PNS on TEXTURED Powder Coat Paint.

SONAX PNS on Black Powder Coating Paint - Bass Shop Pro Boat Trailer

SONAX PNS or Polymer Net Shield

After giving it much thought I was confident this would be the perfect product to protect this type of paint as well as restore a deep, dark sheen appearance. So I figured, lets' give it a try.

Here's the boat and the boat trailer - Bass Pro Shops Nitro Z19 Bass Boat

Here's the trailer,

And here's the black powder coat paint.

This trailer is 2 years old and the black powder coat paint is already fading.

Towards the front fender - it's actually turning white.

SONAX PNS

This is actually A SONAX applicator pad too - I keep these in the garage for my classes. They work great for all kinds of things.

And this is the best part - not muss, no fuss no cuss - just wipe it on, work it in and move on....

Can you see it?

Now can you see it? It's turned the dull, ugly lifeless black powder coat paint dark black again with a rich sheen.

Untreated

Treating by wiping the PNS over the paint and the lettering....

BOOM! LOOK how much better the treated area looks as compared to the untreated area.

Day and Nigh Difference!

And of course, nothing lasts forever, not even you or I. So the key to maintaining this NICE looking black textured powder coating paint is to..... use it once in a while.

**Mike Phillips** · 02-08-2021, 01:51 PM

More....

And here's another article I wrote just about the product itself.

SONAX Polymer Net Shield - Closest thing to a coating without being a coating

**Thomkirby** · 02-08-2021, 02:01 PM

Thanks Mike for the tip on the BakFlip tonneau model.

I use the 303 on mine but mine is the rolling model: BAK Revolver X4 Tonneau Cover | BAKFlip

This model has a different coating I suspect but would be a good test as it too is bonded to the aluminum substrate.

I'll try the SONAX PNS product and try to post a photo. That will give a chance to use up my small 75ml can of PNS.

**Mike Phillips** · 02-08-2021, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by Thomkirby

Thanks Mike for the tip on the BakFlip tonneau model.

I use the 303 on mine but mine is the rolling model

Copy that. I'm a huge fan of 303 Protectant for the inside of my cars as well as other surfaces.

I could have used it and I'm sure it would have worked great, especially if you use the technique I shared in this article back in 2011 - 10 years ago...

How To Restore and Protect a Vinyl Top using 303 Products

See step 4