Anyone ever experience the "scare tactics" of the spray-in liner guys who claim that a bedliner will rust out the bed of your pickup truck?
I'm debating which way to go...pop in liner or spray in liner. I've visited sites and read pamphlets from both venues....
The spray in guys claim that the pop in liners trap moisture which will lead to rust and show people lifting up their pop-ins to exhibit massively rusted beds.
The pop-in guys show video clips on their websites of the "prep" the spray-in guys do to truck beds prior to spraying the product: which is to grind/sand down the paint of the inside of your entire bed so the spray in product has something to "cling" to. The videos look horrendous when you think of someone doing that to your shiney new truck.
So what is everyone using? Spray-in liner? Pop-in liner? Or nothing at all?
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
I had a plastic bedliner in my truck for about 6 years, it came with my truck when I bought it. I removed it a year ago because I started customizing my truck doing things like relocating the tailgate handle to the inside of the bed and when I get into the suspension work the whole bed floor will be cut out and replaced.
Anyway, now I have nothing in there. There are spots where the plastic liner wore through the paint from vibration, but there is no rust.
My liner fit pretty snug and the whole top edge fit under the lip of the bedrails which I'm sure kept a lot of water out.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
do you intermediate vinyl or hp?????sort like that toddi!
Posted by Gavin Chachere (Member # 1443) on :
Todd the pop in bed liners do cause rust and the flip side to the coin is that contrary to what some popular "non crackable/indestructable" bedliner franchises will tell you,they crack and they crack often depending on what enviroment you drive them in.....i've seen plenty here that have cracked when the truckbed flexes enough.
If you have ever sprayed anyting from latex to auto finishes you can do the job yourself and have it look just as good. A product made by dominion sure seal called GATOR GUARD is put on with an undercoat or bodyschutz gun. Comes in either black or white,black looks the best and wears the best. 2qts and 2qts of activator(comes in kits of qt&catalyst) plus the schuutz gun(maybe $20) will run you about $125 or so and you dont need a spraybooth and exposure shot to shoot it like some commercial liners,when youre finished throw the gun away. Tape off the areas you dont want liner on or where you want clean edges and pull the tape off when its medium dry and you'll get a nice clean edge on the rails like they do. You do need to scuff it up but you dont necessarily have to grind it and the slip in liner is going to abrade the crap out of the bed anyway. They also make a version the call Hippo Liner that comes in clear and you have to add a qt of whatever color you r vehicle is and supposedly it looks just like the rest of the truck.....not hardly plus its more expensive and doesnt always dry right if the ratio of paint in it is off of what it should be. Anybody who sells auto paint will either stock or can order you the Gator Guard and should have a sample panel in the store you can check out.
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
And wheres your truck located Mike, Arizona? Duhhhhhh!!!! It would take a hundred years for most any metal to rust there unless ya dipped it in the lake once a week Posted by Mike Duncan (Member # 316) on :
Mike, Bring a truck like that up to Joey in Oregon or myself here in Washington state or Todd in Michigan and see how long it takes to rust!! I think the spray on is the only way to go-my stepdad has some in his S-10 and I think its the ticket. Its pretty thick and tough. Posted by Doug Allan (Member # 2247) on :
thank you Joey... I was thinking that desert climate must enter the equasion. I really don't have any knowledge of the consequences of a drop-in liner, but I'm on my second spray-in & the first one never cracked for the three years I had it. The second one is at about 26 months with no cracks (in the tropical sun, as you know) but the one spot I scraped off a small dime-sized speck shoving sharp heavy schit in the bed left a yellow spot that didn't show signs of having been subject to grinding.
All I will add, is now probably common knowledge, but after seeing the 20/20 video clips... I hope everyone knows of the hazards of static electric sparking up a deadly fire if someone fills a metal gas can while it rests on those plastic bedliners. (& I'd hate to lose such a good debate opponant )
Posted by Scott Niska (Member # 4350) on :
I bought a Ranger with a drop-in bedliner and when I took it out to get a sprayed-in one, the drop-in liner had gouged my bedrails and the wheel wells of the truck box down to bare metal. I would definitely go spray-in.
Posted by Rovelle W. Gratz (Member # 4404) on :
I have a Color Matched Spray-in liner in my '02 Dodge Ram. Things don't slide around on it like they do in a slide in liner. I have hauled concrete blocks, bricks, lumber and everything you can think of and the bed looks as good as the day I bought it.
My nephew bought a used truck with a bedliner in it. shen he took it out it had worn holes all the way throught the bed in the front section.
Posted by Bill Foshay (Member # 4526) on :
The spray in guys claim that the pop in liners trap moisture which will lead to rust and show people lifting up their pop-ins to exhibit massively rusted beds.
Chances are those are pictures from the rust belt here where we put bedliners in to keep from falling thru our old, rusty piuckup truck beds. My usual first purchase on a rustbucket Toyota is a bedliner so I can keep what is in the bed from falling thru the holes.
So around here....A pop in liner is to add strength to a weak bed, and a spray in is when you get tired of old pickups and have a new one. Besides, and this is probably the most important to someone who actually uses their truck, the spray in liner is usually a whole lot less slippery. Cargo and feet stay put.
If you haul firewood and throw it into the truck, the pop in will work better to keep the bed from getting dented up. ( However, it will do absolutely nothing for your back window..:-))
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
I called and made the appointment for my spray-in liner while at the dealer picking up my new truck.
When I dropped it off, they told me they grind the paint off, remove the tie-down hooks & access panel on the tailgate, spray the bed & panel, then replace the hooks & panel. It looks great. I looked at the spray in ones before and went for the gripier brand. I've looked at the other one and it feels like those cheap drop-in liners, way too slick.
Here in Western Pa, I've seen the damage drop in liners can do. Most of that can be acredited to cheap liners that don't fit the beds properly, leaving room for moisture to get trapped & the liner to move around and to people not being told to wax the bed, remove the liner from time to time and re-wax.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Very informative replies! I had a drop in liner put in my last truck (a 2002 Chevy Silverado), but I had them put a "bed cushion" under the pop in....it was made to cover the bed and the side and front wall of the bed, with the pop in installed over it. It was about 1/8" thick foam of some kind. Supposedly, this would keep the hard pop in liner from wearing on the paint of the truck bed....don't know about the moisture aspects.
Anyway, I sold the truck and am getting a new one, and although I didn't peek under the old pop in, I doubt that there was any paint rubbed off due to friction since it was relatively new.
The "grinding" aspect is what scares me. Check out the video on www.pendacorp.com
I'm sure it's just fine, but the grinding looked kinda frightening to me. I guess if you never saw them do it, and you got your truck back with a perfectly consistant spray install...it would be really cool looking.
Doug, ah...you'd be happy to know I agree with you 80% of the time. It's that other 20% we have to work on hehehe
Seriously, I like to read your posts because I enjoy reading your take on things. Have a super day!
Edit: oh, by the way...I have seen a handful of the spray in jobs and they look soooo neat and clean. Very impressive. I do wonder about the "dent factor" as they don't offer any substantial protection against actually denting in the metal it's applied to. But hey, in many of your cases it's a truck made for work anyway right? Mine is more for personal use...light hauling, home improvement hauling etc.
[ June 16, 2004, 11:50 AM: Message edited by: Todd Gill ]
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Things rust quicker here in AZ than you guys think. I was lazy and left some of my bodywork unprotected in between work sessions, rust started popping up in a week and after a couple months everything was completely covered in surface rust. I was just kinda watching it to see how long it would take. Posted by George Perkins (Member # 156) on :
I've had a rubber mat in my truck for 360,000 miles. Nothing slides on it, the inside bed sides are covered with paint.....it's a friggin' truck.... I use it!!!!
Posted by KARYN BUSH (Member # 1948) on :
exactly george! my truck is only 2.5 yrs old...and i have tiny rust spots where the bedliner ends...mainly because i've closed little rocks in the tailgate or put rebar in the back and it scraped when unloading. it's just a hunk a metal(painted a purty purple)...it gets washed when it rains...i have 5 payments left...when it gets too dirty i'll get another. Posted by Dusty Campbell (Member # 4601) on :
I'm with George. (Wow 360. I'm approaching 250) A heavy rubber mat. Stuff doesn't slide. It does trap moisture, but here in Georgia it's pretty humid. And if you like, you can take it out and wax your bed. If your truck has single wall bed, then a plastic one can serve as a (pretty weak) second wall, but you have to tie down anything you put in, or listen to your load slide all over the back. I've seen many plastic bedliners with paint all over because someone didn't secure the gallon in the back. The spray in lining is a great idea, but it's non reversible and subject to their prepwork. You could always buy a beater to use and keep your new truck all pretty for visiting clients. Given your options though, I'd go with the spray.
Posted by Ron Costa (Member # 3366) on :
Wow, I haven't needed a bedliner since Boris Karloff stopped showing up in my dreams!
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
Couldn't agree more with you. George.
Mine's covered with all kinds of scratches, dings, dents, etc. I think it makes it looked lived in.
Rapid
PS: Thanks for the laugh Ron...course, now I gotta wipe all that Mountain Dew outta the keyboard.... Posted by Pete Sharkins (Member # 4525) on :
Yes, many pros and cons to both styles.
I used to work for The Colonel's/Rugged Liner/Eastern Off Road (rust belt of Western PA - outside salesman), and Bigfoot On and Off Road for 7 or so years. Been there, done that when it comes to liners. Drop ins, no matter what snake oil you seal them with, anywhere here on the Earth, will "hold" moisture. Anytime that there is air, there is moisture (greenhouse effect). Wax won't hardly help any rust matters. Rust (usually) begins in the seams where wax can't reach. Use a watery type of rusproofing (like Maxima Chain Wax motorcycle chain lube) for these seams. Big plus for the drop in: inital cost.
Spray ins are super nice, but the initial cost is higher. There's a gazillion types/manufacturers to pick from here, too. I wouldn't worry about those scare tactics regarding the grinding/sandblasting... you're covering up the metal again anyhow, so there's no big deal. Do shy away from the ones that "don't" prep - it needs the "tooth" to bite into.
You must ask yourself, how long will you keep the truck anyways? Most people chunk 'em when or before the payment book empties. Yup, like OP said, intermediate or cast? There is no clearcut winner for all occasions. My favorite combo is the drop in with a mat. Pick a flavor, they all have their good and bad points.
Pete
[ June 16, 2004, 07:52 PM: Message edited by: Pete Sharkins ]
Posted by Roy Frisby (Member # 736) on :
Bedliner? Well, this week it's a large sheet of cardboard and couple of empty sackcrete bags along with a rag or two. Next week it may be nothing at all!
Posted by David McDonald (Member # 3433) on :
I have a drop in bedliner in my 95 Nissan. Very little rust but it does rattle a lot. I'll go with spray on with my next truck.
Posted by Murray MacDonald (Member # 3558) on :
I been waitin', but nobody has come up with this one yet. take yer average foamboard insulation, build it to look like rocks or bricks , spray it with boxliner, paint it accordingly and you have a well nigh indestructible, by weather anyway, start on a monument sign, or a wall or whatever. never tried it on a truck tho'. my '50 chevy has a WOOD floor in the box. MUR
Posted by Henry Barker (Member # 174) on :
I use a dropin bedliner in my Chevy, and its been fine in our climate.
I have also been using products from here Styrospray on eps foam, they also do a bedliner which can be applied with a hoppergun and comes in 2gallon kits I believe. www.industrialpolymers.com
I use it to get a good finish on Styrofoam.
and here
Posted by Rick Sacks (Member # 379) on :
I have a drop in and want a spray on.
A dozen years ago a local building contractor wanted to open a Line-X franchise and was doing some testing. He shot some of his scaffolding planks and first tested them with golf shoes. Since then, he's done the outside decks on several motels with the stuff.
It is tuff and allows no rust or movement, only drawback is that it's expensive.
Posted by Harris Kohen (Member # 2139) on :
well lets see, I have a drop in bedliner that came with my truck, if it were up to me when I made the purchase I would have had the spray in done back then. in the fire department we have two pickups that each came with a drop in liner back in 1991, one is used as a salt truck in the winter. (salt in it from about december till april). we just pulled the liner out of that truck last year and had a bedliner sprayed in it because we were tired of things sliding around all the time.
Well get this, there was only two spots where any rust had developed and that was right under where the salt spreader was pushing the bedliner into the bed.
We had the sprayed in liner done. What we got was more slippery than the drop in liner. and it began bubbling and peeled off in spots. cant blame it on prep so, much since it peeled off itself. We took the truck back to the place that did the bedliner and they ahd the MFG rep look at it, the final outcome was that they did a poor application job and ended up giving us a rubber mat which we love.
We just ordered a rubber mat for the other pickup.
I'm seriously thinking about getting the rubber mat and placing it on top of my bedliner since I do like the protection factor the bedliner gives you from the dents and dings.
Bottom line, they each have their place its all about personal preference. The most important thing about the sprayed in liner is proper prep, same as painting a vehicle.
Posted by Todd Gill (Member # 2569) on :
Thanks for all the replies...I've decided to go with a Pendaliner "skid resistor" drop in. It's got an almost "rubbery" feel to it that they claim never goes away.
I'm going to put the thin foam pad under it to protect the bed from abassion.
I like the idea of the spray in's, but I can't honestly think of anyone I know who ever had their bed rust out from a drop in. Plus I'm saving $$$ that I can put into other nifty truck accessories.
Thanks again. I appreciate all the pro's and con's regarding these products.
Posted by James Donahue (Member # 3624) on :
Henry, really REALLY nice work.
Murray, I think I saw a recent magazine article showing how to use bedliner for signs. Probably SC magazine.
Posted by Murray MacDonald (Member # 3558) on :
James, I learned about this from John Friesen of John Henry Creations in Winnipeg, an incredibly innovative character. he does so many cool things he almost rivals Dan Sawatzky!
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