Finish is usually treated as the last decision and the least important one. It is worth a minute of thought, because it decides how the box looks after two years of being leaned on, loaded over and parked in the sun.
Which Finish Wears Well?
Textured matte black hides scratches and scuffs better than anything else, and bright aluminum shows them most. Diamond plate sits in between, since the pattern breaks up light and disguises marks that a smooth panel would show clearly. Everything else is a matter of matching the truck.
Reading the Finish From the Part Number
On Weather Guard boxes the finish is encoded in the part number, which makes cross-shopping much faster once you know the codes.
- 0: bright aluminum.
- 3: brite white.
- 5: gloss black.
- 52: textured matte black.
- 6: gunmetal gray.
So a box ending 52-01 is the textured matte black version of the same body as the one ending 3-01 in brite white. It is the quickest way to check you are comparing like with like.
Aluminum Finishes
Bright aluminum and diamond plate are aluminum only looks, and both are essentially bare metal. They do not rust, they oxidise to a duller surface over a year or two and they show every scratch until they do. Diamond plate adds a little stiffness to a large panel as well as hiding marks.
If the truck is a working vehicle rather than a show piece, that dulling is worth expecting rather than fighting. A bright box that has weathered evenly looks better than one that has been polished in patches.
Heat is the other consideration with bare aluminum. A bright box in full sun gets hot enough to be uncomfortable to lean on, and the interior follows. Anything in the box that objects to heat, including adhesives, batteries and some sealants, is better off in a lighter colored box.
Painted and Powder Coated Finishes
Brite white is the fleet standard because it is easy to match across a yard of trucks and it stays cooler in the sun, which matters if the box holds anything temperature sensitive. Gloss black looks sharp and shows dust and scratches almost as readily as bright aluminum.
On steel boxes the coating is the corrosion protection, so a chip through to bare metal is a starting point for rust. Touch up chips at the lid edge and around the mounting holes, since those are the two places they happen and the two places you cannot see.
Matching It to the Truck
Gunmetal gray and matte black suit most modern trucks without trying to match a body color exactly, which is usually a losing game. Browse by finish through matte black boxes, gloss black, bright aluminum or white boxes.