OT- Pickup Bed Liners

[J Tiers]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Scatterplot:
I have beaten the crap out of my plastic liner, just scratches though. Doesn't look just amazing, but I know that any scratches or discoloration would be permanent in spray in, while on a bedliner it's consumable.
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Right there is where I agree with the "its a truck, use it" folks. Dang, its a truck, use it.... There, I said it.

My liner has rust stains from stuff, and a few surface scratches etc on it, along with some discolorations that I don't even know what they are from.

It has never occurred to me to take any effort to remove the stains, etc, past what it takes to be reasonably sure whatever it is won't rub off on or into the next load.

That stuff will happen. Get used to it. It is from using the truck.

Mine is a working S10 truck, not a "show queen" lowrider "Extreme" with a fart-can muffler on it.

[Scatterplot]

I am kinda undecided about the issue. My truck (Toyota) came with a plastic liner, and I like the way I feel like I can tear it up- I treat it almost as a consumable. The downside is that I'm terrified of what's going on under that thing.

I don't know if any of you have seen the commercials for the Toyota bedliners, but they have a 4-wheeler doing a burnout in the bed of a truck. Pretty convincing IMHO.

I am sorta considering doing both. Have maybe a thin coat on the truck itself, then put in liners on top of it. I am sorta a "keep it clean" kinda guy, but will use it if I need to. I have beaten the crap out of my plastic liner, just scratches though. Doesn't look just amazing, but I know that any scratches or discoloration would be permanent in spray in, while on a bedliner it's consumable.

Now I have never taken out a liner; is it hard? How long might it take? I'd like to just take it out every once in a while and maybe give it a good pressurewashing and make sure the bottom part is clean.

[hrhoades]

I had a plastic liner in a Ford truck several years ago. When we took off from a stop light with 300 board feet of white oak boards in the back the whole pile slid out in the middle of the busiest intersection in our local city. You never saw two people reload a pick-up any faster. I vote for the spray in liners.

plastikosmd
Member posted 06-09-2005 09:27 PM
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got Line-x myself, cost was 450$ and you can bargain with these guys, talked him down from 550. after 2.5 yrs i love it, hauled scrap steel, ( just throw it in) gravel, machines, tractors, appliances, 2 offices and the list goes on. no tears or issues. while it is not as slick as plastic liner, I roll or drop things in bed for most part. Besides i dont want my crap sliding around, I toss a chain in there i dont have to listen to it slide at every stop light or curve. I will never go any other way in the future.

I AGREE, real Line X. they have a warrentee . Second truck with it and love it, Heck I tried to have 'em do the lower fenders and rockers also at $700 at the time I couldn't afford it.
Use them as if you owned them, I don't baby my '04 F-150.

[Kenb]

I just buy my trucks pre-scratched and dinged, so I do not have to worry about it.

I do feel for you folks out east, or where ever they salt the roads. Twenty-year and older trucks out here in the desert with hardly a lick of light rust.

[spope14]

Well andy, I do get to haul sharp granite chunks and cut off ends - just had to chuckle at that one. I help out in a cmpground in VT - always hauling rocks to make fire pits or to help shore up campsites, and for the school it seems I get quite a few stock donations of various cut off size.

Yeah. liners are good, the rhino things and Line-x are good, but the Duraliner has a finish that prevents sliding. Mine is 5 years old and a month, still holds things in place - oh that, and probably all the little gouges I put in it..... Would hate to think if this was the bed or a 1/8 bed coating.

Oil undercoat under the liner!!!!!!! I say this again!!!! I also like the tarp idea, have used this often because it keeps the occassional dirt and small rock (I also haul sand and gravel for the roads, my own yard, and such) from getting caught in the grooves.

Oh man, I remember the first time rocks hit the edge of the truck bed - a few scratches - pristine paint job and body. Now my truck still has very good paint, but enough scratches and dingers on the edges to have character.

[Evan]

I'm with the "use it" crowd. Every year or so I use sort of matching silver touchup spray and paint the scratches. I don't like undercoat, it tends to lift off and trap salt under it. I use zinc filled gray spray paint on all the underbody parts I can get to every couple of years. My 88 Ford Ranger has very little rust, just a little surface rust on the rear wheel wells I need to get at in a few weeks.

When I have a load of gravel or dirt to carry I throw in some six mil poly or a blue tarp. This makes it easy to clean out as when you have shoveled out most of it you just pull the front of the tarp out the back over what's left and it comes out clean.

I just spray black rustolium from a can on scratches in my pickup's bed that are deep enough to expose the sheet metal.. All I care about is not rusting out my pickups bed. It only takes a few seconds to touch up any areas that need it. Some day I might just refinish the bed, but I like it just the way it is.

-Adrian

[andy_b]

i had a Rhino liner sprayed in my last truck (F-250) for $420. when i bought my current truck (F-350) a few years ago i was going to get a liner, but they were $600+ in my area. screw that. i bought one of those mats for $69. it keeps stuff from sliding and stops the scratches from shoveling stuff out. when i'm hauling things well over my GVWR (like 3800# worth of old iron), no liner is going to prevent the bed from denting. the Rhino liner was nice, but all they cared about when i sold the F-250 was that the paint looked nice. i figure if i sell the F-350 before it blows up i'll just spend the money to have the bed sprayed to cover all the scratches in it and someone who likes pretty paint will buy it.

seriously, the Rhino liner was nice, but i couldn't justify the cost for what it got me. plus the new F-350s come with the top rail and tailgate top covers to prevent scratching and denting those areas. unless you are hauling sharp chunks of granite or steel cut-offs that will scrape the paint off right down to bare metal, the mat seems to work fine for me. besides, Rhino linings do nothing to prevent dents on the OUTSIDE of the bed.

andy b.

[J Tiers]

Wayne02 nailed it down perfectly.

No need to pay attention if you don't want to though......it's up to you, it's your truck.


[This message has been edited by J Tiers (edited 06-10-2005).]

[Wayne02]

My old truck came with one of those hard plastic set-in liners. Never did like that thing. Stuff would never stay put because it was so slippery. It would trap water between the liner the bed. It would slide around just a little bit, but enough that when I took it out the bed was in bad shape. I honestly believe that liner did more damage to the bed than if I had no liner at all.

My current truck has line-x which I absolutely love. It is one of two things that I feel added significant utility to the truck, and was worth every penny paid. I went straight from dealer to have it coated. 5 years later it is not much worse for wear despite some pretty hard use.

I am really impressed with this product. I checked out several line-x equipped trucks and several rhino equipped trucks before settling on line-x. I found that the rhino coating was too rubbery and sticky. The line-x was harder, yet still provides just enough anti-skid surface to make work very well for most applications.

Wayne

[pcarpenter]

I am new here, but thought I would add my $.02. Boy! This one is just like the Asian machinery thing. Those that own one usually think they are fine those that don't are sure they are not :-) Likewise, those who don't use a liner think that those of us who do are crazy. I have a drop in liner and love it. It is a low-slip version and the plastic is ever so slightly rubbery so as to make it non-slip. Didn't work. My toolbox still slid around so I put a cheap rubber bed mat on top. If I need to be able to slide stuff, I can pull the bed mat out, making for the best of both worlds. Otherwise, it is totally non-slip. I like the ability to slide things in if I want and that was another down side to the rubberized spray-in liners.

Protecting the bed goes beyond stopping scratches and that is why I did not want the Rhinoliner or equivalents. I had seen work trucks with the bed all caved in on either side of the bracing (probably from dropping heavy stuff). I also get a kick out of the spray-in ads saying it prevents scratches:-) The first thing they do is sand your paint to guarantee adhesion of something that is never coming out. I have a thin, inexpensive foam mat (name escapes me) under the plastic liner that stops scuffing....and when I sell my truck with 160k on it it *will* still look good. I'm over half way there and it still looks like new. Using it does not have to mean not taking care of it. I need all the resale value I can get. Things that look like they were taken care of often were.

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Paul Carpenter
Mapleton, IL

[Rich Carlstedt]

"Look here Mr Smith,we have this beautiful truck for sale"

"Hummm, It has a a few miles on it....looks to me about 150K ! tires are bald, and the thing leaks some oil ! look at the ground !"

" I know Mr Smith, but take a good look at that bed !..its as clean as a whistle...not a scratch on it !"

"Wow.....I want it !

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just my opinion

[decoy91288]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Phil McCrackin:
I also have the spray in liner, mine is 'Rhino liner' and it was about $400 two years ago. I had it sprayed over the rail and would definatley have it done on my next truck. The only thing I did not like was the tailgate coating rubs off quickly along the top edge when you slide heavy things off the back. So I bought just the tail-gate portion of a bed liner for $26 at the dealer, and put it on. It works great, now I dont have to keep going back to have the tailgate lining repaired, it was free, because of the lifetime warranty, but it was pain to have to keep going back. Now I have the best of both worlds. Although, you will be slightly more susceptable to dents if you have a habit of dropping heavy objects in your truck bed, my vote is still for the 'Rhino-liner' type of bed liner. Remember that the 'lifetime warranty' is only good if the business is still there when you need it, so go to a reputable installer that you are reasonalbly sure will still be there when you need touch up repairs.</font>

I was writing this when then decided to look at all the other postings. My experience is nearly identical - pay special attention to having it sprayed over the rail - it looks great and prevents a world of dings scratches etc. As for "use it like a truck" -- what is wrong with protecting the resale value of your hauler. Trucks are like guns, use them, but take care of them while using.

[SGW]

I vote for the heavy rubber bed mat, as per halac. They're very durable. I got the bed mat for my truck about 20 years ago and it's still in good shape. (The truck is getting a little old, however....)