Spray lined my whole truck body last weekend and the texture is wild

I did the same thing to my old F-250 about four years ago, whole truck in a gray liner, and it held up better than I expected for a daily driver in a gravel pit operation. The color was the one thing I'd tell people to think harder about than I did. I went gray thinking it was safe, and in full sun it gets hot enough inside that my dashboard glue let go and the door seals feel like they're melting in August. My neighbor had his done in a tan shade and his stays way cooler to the touch.

On cleaning, pressure washing works fine but don't get aggressive with a zero degree tip up close, it'll chew the texture and leave shiny patches that never look right again. Simple green and a soft brush does most of the job. The chrome thing is real. I had a big stainless grille guard and after the coating it looked like it came off a different vehicle entirely. Sold it within a month and never missed it.

One thing to check every spring is the seams where the liner meets glass and trim. Mine lifted a hair at the windshield edge around year two and the shop re-shot it under warranty, no fuss. If a shop won't warranty that work before you pay, go somewhere else.

I'm on the other side of this one. Had my old Powerstroke done about six years back because the cab corners were Swiss cheese with surface rust and I figured a liner would seal it all up. Two things bit me. First, the prep at one shop I almost used was just scuff and shoot, no sanding to bare metal on the rust spots. Good thing I walked, because the liner bonds to the paint, not the rust, and the rust keeps creeping underneath where you can't see it anymore. The shop I went with ground everything back and treated it first and that's the version that's still hanging on. Second thing is resale. Mine was a third truck so it didn't matter much, but when I sold it last spring every buyer asked the same thing, what's under the liner. They assume you coated it to hide something, fair or not. I ended up taking less than I would have on a clean paint job because of that question.

The dust point is dead on though. Mine's dark gray and it shows every scratch mark and water spot from washing. I quit using a brush on it entirely and just hit it with the pressure washer on a wide fan. The other thing I noticed is the texture holds wax somehow if you try, so don't bother, just let it chalk up evenly. It's a work truck look and mine finally stopped bothering me around year two.

The thing that got me when we lined two of our service trucks was how much the stuff holds onto mud and ice in winter. My '14 with the coated lower half packs probaly 40 lbs of frozen crud in the wheel wells after a sloppy site day, and scraping it out is a chore. The bare-metal trucks shed it clean. Fine for you if you're parked on gravel, but worth a thought if you're on salted roads half the year.

The one thing I'd warn folks about is what happens when you go to sell. Lined my old 3/4 ton head to toe years back and every buyer at trade-in time acted like it was a dealbreaker. Appraiser knocked a chunk off because they can't see what's under it, and pulling that stuff off later is a miserable job that ussually leaves the panels underneath looking worse. Fine if you're running it till the wheels fall off, but if there's any chance you sell in a few years, think it through.