Here's the rear street side reinstalled and buffed up a little. I was surprised to find that the clear coat was almost perfectly intact (I guess it's mostly out of the sun down there), so I took it off with
Bix. My first polishing pass is with a cheapie polisher from Harbor Freight using cloth wheels you can get at truck stops. The yellow one is medium stiff, then I go to a white one, which is relatively soft--the red is too stiff. I start with a semi-liquid green paste in in a squeeze tube called emery polish. Once I get to where I can see whether or not I have bad corrosion (none on this banana, Yes!), I start using the wool bonnets and the Nuvite polish.
The skin came out OK. I put in the red lines so you could see where I made some tool marks, slight vertical bends in the skin just below the lines--I should have relieved the edges of the shaped 2x4 block!
The sharp edges are what did the damage. If I had radiused the edges about 3/8", you'd never see any tool marks. Live and learn. However, the banana skin passes the 8' test, no sweat, and actually, I think it passes the banana skin test with flying colors!
This particular banana skin polished up very quickly, compared to the side skin above it. It may have something to do with the lack of corrosion or the alloy--very soft compared to the side skins.
I applied Vulkem to the seam so that rain water running down the side wouldn't automatically be channeled into the inside of the banana skin. The seam is hidden under the trim belt, so it was a quick and dirty application.