Spare Wheel Tub Restoration

While the rear end was apart in late 2023, I took the opportunity to restore the spare wheel tub. I suspect most Corvettes have had these fiberglass tubs painted black at some point in their history, and mine was no exception.

From the factory, the tubs were unpainted fiberglass. The fiberglass resin was tinted black, and the metal frame was black with unpainted silver rivets securing the tub to the frame.

With the spare wheel tub removed, I carefully stripped the paint from the fiberglass using a gentle citrus stipper (to avoid damaging the fiberglass). This was a very slow process, but the end result was very clean fiberglass with surprisingly little damage (I guess the paint may have been protecting it from the elements). I stripped the metal frame to bare metal and repainted satin black using Duplicolor engine enamel, making sure to mask the silver rivets so they remain unpainted (as they were from the factory).