Plastic Bed Liner

I just bought my 1998 Tacoma and it has a plastic bed liner. Should I remove it and do a spray on bed liner or keep it? I've never had a plastic bed liner before, but seems to me that water could get trapped under it and rust out the bed without being seen. Other than that, the bed liner looks great.

 

Spray in liner 100%. I had a plastic liner for 4 years before finally forking out the cash for line-x. Worth every penny. Replaced the tie down hooks as well.

There was so much crap stuck under the plastic liner. Just schedule the line-x appointment tomorrow you won’t regret it.

 

"There was so much crap stuck under the plastic liner."

Exactly what I'm worried about. Plastic thing could be rotting the bed out without even being seen.

Very nice job on your liner.

 

Really depends on the where you are geographically (and in relation to stuff that can get under the liner), how the truck is stored (indoors/out) and what the truck is subject to. I bought my '00 new and purposefully got an under-the-rail liner since I knew I'd be hauling construction debris, etc. and didn't want to dent up all the sheet metal back there.

I kept the liner as started using the truck for adventures, and still have it today. Under my liner, the bed looks like new; no rust at all. A bit of dust from trails, but nothing clogging the two weep holes at the front; water rarely gets under the liner. (Note: other parts of my bed rails/corners have cracked as a result of flexing/weight/etc. that comes along with exploring and having an RTT, but that's a whole different issue).

My recommendation then would be to take out the liner and look at the situation. If it looks good, and you like the protection the liner offers, go ahead and keep it. If it's not looking good, or if you'd prefer the spray-in liner, go that route. With the spray-in liner, make sure to decide if you want to keep the weep holes up front, drill some different weep holes, or seal the whole thing up.

 

Another vote for Line-X. My 2003 came with a plastic Duraliner bed liner, which I thought was ok. However, it warped in the sun over time, and was rubbing the paint off the bed sides, as it was an over the rails version. I decided to get a Line-X and couldn't be happier.





The best news was there was very little paint damage in the bed itself, and the shop that applied the liner did a great job, and even fixed some dents in the top of the tailgate.

 

Regarding the plastic liner, while mine was full of dirt and leaves under it (probably for a decade) it was still in great condition. Here is the before:

 

As Dan mentioned above. Depends on where you are located. I was going to ditch the plastic beliner at first but decided to keep it. Works out great for me. Scratches/scrapes stay on the liner instead of the bed itself. Its all preference at the end.

 

how did you replace the hooks? arent they tricky to access?

 

Each of those tie-downs is mounted using 2 bolts. The Line-X shop removes them when they coat the bed and replace them afterward. I kept the oem tie-downs.

 

Yup just a couple of screws. An impact driver will bring them right out. The line-x shop removed them and I just asked them to not put them back in. The new tie downs (crazy expensive) used an Allen bolt which was nice.

 

These, I imagine?

https://billettiedowns.com/products...for-toyota-tacoma-pair?variant=49867933843765

Or are these separate ones for the bed sides?

https://billettiedowns.com/collecti...tie-down-anchor-single?variant=48039081869621

 

Do those billet tie downs come in the color gold. Oh my bad I didn't see from the price they're made of gold.

 

Yeah the cost is crazy but couldn’t really find many options. Quality is good and money is just fiat anyways right?

Here are the ones I got: https://billettiedowns.com/collecti...s/bed-tie-down-anchors-for-toyota-tacoma-pair

 

is the nut tacked in on the back side? when i had my bedliner sprayed the shop never removed them. I thought they were secured with a nut and bolt on the back side which was hard to access

 

I've never removed mine, so I'm not sure about the threads these mount to. I just saw that they were mounted back on after the Line-X application.

 

I had Rhino Liner put on when the truck was new and loved it aside from it starting to flake off especially around the bed rails due to UV exposure. Has a nice red tint too from the single time we purchased red mulch ! I found an OEM liner at a junkyard for $20 with the tailgate protector and put it on top of the Rhino Liner for double protection.

 

There is a tacked nut on the other side. Sucks they didn’t remove them I’m sure it’s not worth trying to chip it off now but the new tie downs have a larger footprint specifically to address bedliner from my understanding. Honestly no need to replace except for looks.

The UV exposure was definitely a worry I paid a little extra to get whatever UV protection package with the line-x hopefully it lasts.

 

One possible good reason to keep the plastic would be that items slide in and out better than the rougher spray-ins.

 

[QUOTE="HoneyBadger153, post: I found an OEM liner at a junkyard for $20 with the tailgate protector and put it on top of the Rhino Liner for double protection.[/QUOTE]


I am thinking the same way. I'm thinking that I am going to remove my liner and do a spray on bed liner and put the liner back.