Bed liners

I have as plastic one in my ranger, along with a hard tonneau cover. The available space between them is tiny - not a good choice. If I were buying the truck new, I would spray one with the hard tonneau. If I wasn't using a hard tonneau (as you likely aren't) I would use a plastic one, as they are quite rugged.

The plastic ones are tough, but they move and scratch the metal they are supposed to protect, kind of defeats the purpose. My next one will be a spray on.

Sprayed in. The plastic will be much cheaper, however.

Plasyd

-- No information is any better than the assumptions of those who gather it. (paraphrased) Theodore Roszak v1.2a r TW 0/0/r tG 0- 0 DSotM 2 0 44.7%

"Michael O" wrote

Not true! I own a '94 ranger with 198,000 miles. I am the second owner. The dealer installed a "Ford" brand drop in liner when it was sold. I took the liner out a few years ago, and the bed is like new.

The drop in liner will stand a lot more abuse than the sprayed in ones. Think about it, there is substantial plastic material there for a cushion with space between it and the bed. I defy anyone to drop (literally drop) an oxygen welding tank (or anything heavy) into a bed with a sprayed in liner and drive around a city for a full day and not have dents and dings in the metal of the bed.

With a spray in liner, the metal bed is holding the liner. With a drop in, the liner has enough mass to stand up on its own. That fact alone says that it will handle more abuse. The only way I would do a spray in liner is if I wasn't ever going to haul something substantial. And can anyone say that for sure?

My two cents worth.

Lane

Those are good points. I opted for the Rhino Liner and really like it so far. I like the roughness of the finish which hides scratches and rubbery feel which helps keep things from sliding around. It looks great and I get a lot of compliments on it. I have my own power wash sprayer, and after a few dump runs, I sprayed out the bed and it looked brand new. I don't think I'd want to drop any oxygen welding tanks and let them roll around to see how well it would do on that test. On the down side, it cost $500. for an 8' bed.

Thanks for all the comments, many good points both ways. I think I am going to pull the plastic one out of my 89 F-250 that has had stuff smashing around in it for years and have a look. I don't remember any oxygen bottle but there have been some heavy stuff.

I will report back.

Jim

FYI - I went for the LineX spray-on liner. Similar to the Rino, but only cost me $350 for my 8' bed. It's help up extremely well over the last 2 years and looks amost new when clean. The factory ford bedliner was a $400 option (too expensive).

-Skramblr

Well I don't know how true it is - but a friend had a sprayed on coating put on his new truck and he said they scratch and sanded the hell out of the brand new paint of the truck bed to get the sprayed on liner to adhere. He didn't have a choice in liners cause he is hauling a fifth wheel (plastic liner not an option). But it sure would hurt me to have someone do that to a brand new truck in order to spray on a coating that is supposed to protect the bed. If the scratching is not done by all spray on coating companies I'd love to hear from anyone who knows about it. As for me, sounds like the plastic is a better option.

Don

It is my understanding that the paint surface on the truck bed has to be roughed up in order for the sprayed in finish to stick properly. This makes a lot of sense, actually. consider all the crap that lands on vehicle paint, and, these days, how easy it is to wash off. The point behind a sprayed in liner is not to protect the paint on the bed. It is to seal it against water, to ensure it will not rust out, and, to provide a less slippery surface to put stuff on. Regards Dave Mundt

What's the point of drop-in bed liners?

Read the previous posts to this thread and you'll find out.

Roughing up the paint is required to attain proper adhesion. It really doesn't matter how much the installers scratch it up, because you'll never see it again.