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Capping It Off

Stainless steel protection for your 99-2003 Silverado/Sierra fleetside.
Text and Photos by J.R. Janicek

FIPK

Ever since I bought my 2000 Chevy Silverado, the one complaint that I have had is the way GM decided to bolt on the tailgate protector. For one, the tailgate protector is made of ugly black plastic from the manufacturer. After dealing with the plastic for a while I decided to just remove it all together. This was a good thing and a bad thing. Yes, the ugly plastic was gone, but now I had four unsightly holes! I have a hard tonneau topper that covers up the holes when the topper is down, but every time I would get into the bed of my truck, I could not help but cringe at the unsightly holes. So, it was time to move onto a solution.

I was told that one option I had was to just shave the holes and have the tailgate repainted. Another option was to use a stainless steel tailgate protector. I decided to go the less expensive route and got on the hook with Mike at Show & Go Custom Auto Hendersonville, TN) whom ordered a brand new polished stainless steel tailgate protector made by Putco. I decided that since my tonneau cover was down and therefore concealing the holes, for the most part, it was really unnecessary to have the holes shaved, filled, and the entire tailgate repainted. The install of this tailgate protector is rather simple and takes roughly 15-20 minutes, which includes unpacking the protector, prepping for install, and installing the protector itself.



The following items are need for this install: wax, 4 self-tapping screws, 3M double sided sticky tape, and a power drill/screwdriver with a #3 Phillips head bit.
The first step is to clean and wax the area that will be covered with the protector. Meguire's Quik Wax will do the trick.
Since the tailgate cap did not come with 3M double-sided sticky tape, we added it to keep road vibrations to a minimum. Peel off the red part of the tape and pepare for the install.

Carefully line up each end of the protector and apply a little pressure so the 3M tape will adhere to the metal.
Using the self-tapping screws provided, attach one end, then the other end, and attach the middle last.
Viola! The tailgate skin is attached and as you can see looks a lot better than the ugly OEM plastic tailgate protector.

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Contact ESM: P.O. Box 1415 | Hendersonville, TN 37077-1415 | Phone: 615.562.5417
Copyright © 2002-2003 Elite Streets Magazine™ All rights reserved.

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