Bed liner paint jobs

I have dents and dings all over my truck and I am wondering if a bed liner paint job is for me.

Show me your bed liner paint jobs.

Any regrets? Things to look out for? What do you wish you knew before painting your truck with it?

I heard it’s impossible to keep clean.

 

dont do it

 

I haven't painted my entire truck with bedliner. But I painted the roof, most of the hood, the lower sides, the fender flares, and the front bumper, and side tool boxes with Raptor Liner. (Sliders and rear bumper will eventually get painted as well)




I used the 2 part epoxy Raptor Liner. It goes on very nice, dries really hard, and from talking to people that have had it for a while... does not fade much.

Products like Rhino Liner and LineX are a lot softer, more flexible, and subject to more fading. My bed is Rhino lined and it is a bitch to keep clean. The Raptor Liner cleans off easily just washing the truck normal.

What I got for coverage is basically
Roof - 2 cans
Sides - 3 cans
Fenders - 1 can
Hood - 2 can
Bumper - 2 can

Side boxes were already coated with Rustoleum bedliner. (which does fade, does not hold up well to scratches and impacts and is a bitch to keep clean) I used 1 can to cover them with a coat over the rustoleum. The raptor liner is much harder, impact resistant and more of a true black, and does not hold dirt like the rustoleum did.

When Painted, I used wax remover on the area I was to paint, scuffed with red scotch brite pad to a dull finish, wiped it clean, again, with wax remover, and then sprayed the Raptor Liner. (Bumper was stripped to bare metal and then primered with Raptor self etch primer, then painted)

If you have dents, you will want to fill them with body filler and then blend the body filler when you scuff with the scotch brite pad... Raptor liner will not really "fill" dents. As far as chips go, you'll want to blend those when you sand as well, to give an even coat. (Raptor Liner is pretty thick, but it doesn't really blend noticable imperfections)

 

wrap it

 

How would wrapping it hide the dents and dings?

 

It wouldn't

 

1. MAKE SURE YOU PREP. Sand completely past the clear coat. Buy their u-pol epoxy primer and use it!
2. Choose the same color as your chassis. You don't want to clash when you open your door or hood.
3. Use bondo to fill dents and dings, but you don't have to sand them down perfectly like you do with paint.

It's the easiest thing ever to keep clean. I just spray it with a garden hose and then clean my windows. Wipe down particularly dirty areas with a cloth. 10 min job.

 

@Tronracer

If you don't have heat shielding under your hood... this is what vinyl looks like after aboout 2 years. The heat from the engine compartment heats up the hood and the vinyl will shrink. This was top of the line 3M vinyl. (Before) and Raptor Liner (After)

 

I appreciate the suggestion, but I think it would be a bad idea to wrap a truck that has a poor surface.

 

There's almost as much prep involved in doing a (good) wrap, as there is in doing a (decent) bed line paint job.


Wrap is A LOT more expensive and tedious than people give it credit for.

 

Which brand liner did you use? I've read that Line-x and Rhino liner are hard to clean, but Raptor liner is easy?

 

how would spray painting it with liner hide the dents and dings?

the wrap is at least temporary and can be reapplied in several years, or removed by the next owner.

 

As I understand it, a bed liner is more forgiving of small dents and dings than a wrap would be. But I could be wrong about that.

 

you could be right, i'm not sure. I've never bed lined an entire vehicle, but i have had a wrapped vehicle. i've bed lined the hood of a vehicle and it looked.... not great after spending time in the sun. was a black car with black liner - the liner eventually greyed and looked weird against the rest of the car.

for me the biggest disadvantages of liner is it almost always cheapens the look of the vehicle (subjective i guess) - and when you go to resell you'll need to find somebody who wants to buy a liner'd vehicle. i like the reversible nature of a wrap. i agree though, a good wrap will be more costly.

 

I bought the truck for $2500. It needs a frame repair since the current paint is already shitty. Maaco quoted me $3,000 to repair the dents and paint it with probably shitty paint. I figured I could bondo and repair the dents and dings myself and then Raptor liner the truck myself and it would like decent and be more resilient to off roading.

Anyway, that was my line of thinking on the subject.

 

www.monstaliner.com

No rubber chippy stuff which makes the normal liner harder to keep clean and is rough to your skin.

Many color choices. Multiple application methods.

Look through the site at projects folks have done.

There are some folks here who have used this product as well.

 

gotcha! that's good context to have. definitely dont want to pay 2 grand to wrap a $2500 truck. liner makes sense for your application for sure

 

It needs a frame repair. That's $1,000. Then I bought suspension. That's another $700, plus $400 install. Now I'm into the truck for ~$2500 to repair the frame and lift it. Body and paint look like shit, but it runs 100%.

 

Has anyone used the chassis saver on a Tacoma frame with good results?

 

I know folks who have used it on other vehicles. It works fine. Very similar to POR15. The key with anything like that is prep and getting it in the nooks and crannies that you can't see well