tie-downs in 2008 Dakota bed?

Just take a walk around the dealer's lot and look at one before you go inside.

STOP!!!! Call off that bed liner insert AS SOON AS THEY OPEN! They are "ALL" crap and will ruin your paint and rust your bed underneath. The dealer installed one in my 07 Dakota Quad Cab and after a month the paint was ruined around the entire bed on the rail tops and top of the tailgate. I ended up having a Rhino squirted in and they had to come up over the rails to cover where the clear coat was rubbed off. Those inserts are just crap and even look like it after a short time. The Rhino squirt-in doesn't cost much more. Don't do one of those do-it-yourself kites either. They are stupid looking and are not much more than wrinkled paint.

You've been warned....

Suddenly, without warning, Abby.Normal exclaimed (11/8/2007 3:31 PM):

Well, Rhino or Line-X. I had Line-X put in my 2001 Dakota about 5 years ago, and it's still awesome. It hasn't faded much at all, even in this really intense desert sun we live in presently.

jmc

I had a bedliner insert for 10 years in my '97 and never had any rust problems with it. There were indeed a few places where the paint got worn down, but none of it turned to rust. (my rust issues were all on the truck's front bumper!)

If the plug is oval then I'm pretty sure you will find an anchor point for a tie-down underneath. Stop by, pull the plug out and you'll see. Beyond that.....I agree with the others....cancel the insert and go with a sprayed in liner.

A friend of mine had a Line-X spray-in done where the main material is Kevlar. It looks 10 times better than my Rhino and it never loses it's sheen. It also cost nearly twice as much. I wish I had taken that route but since the dealer was the one that ruined my paint in the first place they were the ones that fixed the problem with the Rhino. It was way cheaper than repainting the bed rails and tailgate. If I had a choice, or had even known beforehand, I would have tried to go that route.

I do think there's an anchor under there. I just couldn't check because they had already put this hole-less bedliner in the thing and covered it up. But it doesn't matter now - I've actually decided to go ahead and get the spray-in. I had already been on the fence about it, but reading you alls' suggestions went ahead and made my mind up :)

Dealer is giving me the upgrade at cost so I'm only paying a little extra out of pocket, should be worth it. That 2008 is one mean looking truck by the way. Much better than the 05-07 front-end, imo.

Thanks for the info and suggestions!

good decision and you won't regret it. the plastic insert degrades the value of the truck while the spray-in adds to it.

The installer is more important than the brand name between Line-X and RhinoLiner. I got lucky and got a good installer. I have a Rhino and I'm happy with it. Many people have reported the Line-X is slicker than the Rhino. If you want to be able to slide cargo around the bed for easy loading and unloading the Line-X is better. If you want the cargo to stay where you put it the Rhino is better. I haul 460 lb. HDPE chemical drums in my truck. I always tie them down so they are secure but believe me, they don't move an inch on the Rhino liner.

Slicker? Line-X? Wonder if that also has something to do with the installer. My Line-x will take your knuckle skin off right quick if you're not careful loading stuff, and it's hard to slide anything at all heavy in it. And stuff I put in the truck, stays where it is, unless it's light enough to bounce. I don't bother tying anything things down when I'm just moving it about town. Unless it's lightweight, or on wheels :)

Neither the child's piano or the bane-marie (sp?) moved an inch when I hauled them. Even my saddle doesn't move around at all, no matter how fast I take that corner...

And for those who know me a bit - no, I don't load the stuff. I supply the truck. Whoever's talked me into hauling their stuff, gets to load it into the Dak. Lucky them. I do warn 'em about the knuckles though :)

The Line-X liners that I've seen are a hard plastic like material and have a slipperier finish than the Rhino. The Rhino lining material is very much like rubber. Maybe your Line-X is different than the ones I've seen.

My new truck received a Line-X spray-in, and mine is a hard plastic type material. It has a coarse grained texture, but the surface of the coating is not very rough, in fact it's smoother than it looks. In terms of friction, it's inbetween slick and grippy. I wonder if they get rougher with age? I saw a used truck on the car lot with a Line-X, and it was noticeably rougher texture than my new Line-X.

Could be that they've changed the formula. I would say mine's more like a hard rubber than plastic. It's pretty grippy. It's always been that way, hasn't changed much at all over the years.

jmc

These are the guys that use Kevlar in some of their offers.

Age will always play a part in the way things look - I know, I've aged.

Suddenly, without warning, Abby.Normal exclaimed (11/11/2007 1:57 AM):

Unfortunately, I'm aging way faster than my line-x liner.

:)

jmc