Update on the cladding paint: Success! The paint has held up to below freezing temps, LOTS of rain, bird poop. and even some dipped fuel from the gas station. Granted it's' only been a couple of weeks since I did this, but so far so good. Even the front cladding is holding up. With as many issues as I was having I wasn't expecting this part to go as well as it haas. This gives me more confidence to paint the rest of the VX.