Bed liners and coatings

The spray on bed liners are pricey, but worth it in my opinion. The installer will prep your box...expect to pay $400.

My son-in-law worked for one of the national chains that do Rhinoliner. He got me a deal, so i'm a little prejudice. But i'll tell you, its great stuff don't slide around like in a plastic liner and its thick, been in about 3 years and haven't had any problems, discounting a few chips, which they can fix if you want. Just my input. Wayne

Drop in bed liners! They ought to come with a warning sticker that says " Danger this peice of shot will destroy your bed" . Add the moisture and dirt that get trapped under that plastic bedliner and drive down the road with a wet sander at work every mile. I can't speak of every dealer out there but I would assume spray in liners are basically all the same. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I use a brand called Rhino Lining, don't know if it is available in your area. My sprayed in liner is about 8 years old with no problems. I also have a truck with a Do it yourself spray in that has not faired so well and was about 60% of the price of the pro job. Big problems with peeling but that may be due to the installer(ME). My Rhino lining is also color matched, other than the texture it looks like the rest of the truck. My trucks arent grocery getters, the wife doesn't drive the kid to school in it, it is used like a truck. I have a hole in the front of the bed where a tranny slid forward and punched through, the spray on lining is still on the metal, no peeling. And as far as cleaning before install that is done by the dealer. Wash it out before you take it, they may charge you a little more if they have to remove 50 lbs. of garbage.

i have had line-x in 3 of my trucks. i got them sprayed in with 2 months of buying the trucks, so there isnt really time frame to get them. as another poster stated the installer will prep it before spraying it in. take out the drop in liner before going tho, some of the installers will charge you a throw away fee. i had 2 chevy under rail bed liners from 2 of my trucks that i couldnt even give away and still have a under rail gmc liner that yet again no one wants, they say how much you give me for taking it off your hands. spray in liners are way to go. easy to keep clean, i spray mine down with tire shine every so often to keep it looking new, if thats what you want it to look like.

On Tue, 25 Apr 2006 16:48:07 -0400, "David Johnson"

I disagree. I have been using drop in HD liners for years and I always install a pad under them to protect bed for rubbing and it still look like new under there after 6 years. Also with a heavily ribbed liner You can drop wood and stuff in bed and not dent it like you can with rino liners. Another thing, I haul several yards of much in mine every year and I can run a pitchfork alonge bed floor in ribs and scoop it out with no damage (try that with a Rino Liner). What it boild down to is how you plan to used it. If you are going to baby it (not chuck stuff in it or shovel stuff out of it, a Rino liner is nice to have but if you plan to really "use" your truck to haul stuff and be a little ruff at times, a HD drop in is the way to go.

----------------- The SnoMan

And I would argue the complete opposite. If you want to use your truck like a truck, get a sprayed in liner. They are a hundred times better at protecting your bed and they aren't slippery like the drop in liners are. If you have a load shift with a slippery drop in liner, the load will dent the hell out of your bed; the spray in liner acts as protection.

If you used you truck like I do, it would have the bed all dented up and the Rino lining torn because its "sticky" surface will not let the anged points of a pitch fork slide on it without tearing the lining when removing mulch. Also, I haul 3 to 4000 lbs of salt at time and nothing leaks through liner and I can wash the bed liner out in spring and all is well. (I do not want the salt water in direct contact with bed Rino lining or not because it will find a seam or crack to start on.

----------------- The SnoMan

Hey SnoMan, aint this what its all about? Share our opinions and experiences and we all can learn something. But back to topic. The spray in liner I use is sprayed on 1/4 inch thick and you can get it thicker. Pretty tough stuff. I'm not a chemist but I THINK the spray on liners are basically the same material as the drop in. I use my truck as a truck, haul anything you can put in one and haven't been able to tear mine up. Now you may have something with using a pad with your drop in. I have no problem with the durability of the drop in but the damage they cause to the bed is horrible. Maybe when I used a drop in I was buying from the wrong dealer, he never offered to sell me a pad.

Thanks for all the input guys, I appreciate it.

Blair

I love my Line-X liner. That said, the spray in liner won't protect your sidewalls or wheel wells from impact if a heavy piece of cargo slides around or rolls over. I have my drop-in plastic liner in there as well to cover that angle...