Doing the Herculiner DIY roll on bedliner

ok pics of the finished job

 

ok, final review

all done and it looks great, looks just as good as if it were a pray in liner, just not very thick is all so I imagine you would keep a spare quart of it for constant touch ups if you really used your truck to haul stuff. all in all it greatly improved the look of my truck for resale which is what I wanted.

drying time is 24 hours, don't believe the BS telling you 4-5 hours, that stuff is surface dry to touch but still tacky as hell so 24 hours if you want to crawl in it to do another coat and even with that you will find your feet stick a little in spots if you stand there too long. if you have a handle to extend the brush with so you don't need to actually get in the bed you "could" do the second coat at 5 hours drying time.

when its all said and done I used the whole gallon for my ext cab taco and after the first coat I had many "spots" showing through with paint so I brushed on all the spots for total complete coverage before doing the second roll on coat. I suggest anyone doing it does that as well. taped it off then added a top strip of tape as the "peel strip" and peeled it off without waiting as soon as I had finished each coat. that way if anything dripped the tape under it was there to protect the paint.

 

I think I've been going about painting all wrong now that I've heard about this.

 

I'm glad you like it. I did my whole truck in Herculiner a few months ago. My process was a little different, in that we sanded the whole truck and wiped it down with Xylol.

Since the Herculiner brand of UV costing isn't for sale anymore, we used a matte top coat. I thought the Herculiner was a little too shiny for my taste. I also touched up some scuff areas with flat black paint, once we abused the surface a bit.

 

all of it is shiney at first and gets dull after a few months, my linex spray in liner was the same way, I didn't like it shiney but within 2 months it was completely flat dull color

 

Interesting. Do you thinks that may be due to UV fade?
Have you had to deal with UV so far?

Question: did your garage floor look as splattered as mine when you were finished? I'm glad I wore my shop clothes that day haha

 

did it in driveway under carport, only a few drips when rolling the tailgate edge and what little bit dripped from the drain holes in bed. if you lay cardboard under the front seem and a drop cloth under tailgate edge your should be fine. I rolled it on slowly and took my time, I wasn't rolling fast where splatter was coming off. the herculiner was thick like oatmeal so it was easy to be neat with it.

and ya, I messed up a tee shirt leaning over tailgate while it was still wet to touch up a spot but that's all

hands and arm cleanup was very fast and easy with rubbing alcohol

used long rubber gloves to protect hands and even sealing roller and brush in ziplock bag with air removed they still got rubberized so no way to reuse them, plan for throwing out anything you use so the kit has 2 rollers and I needed both, it gives you a total garbage crap 2" brush but I went buy 2 decent 2" brushes to use, makes a huge difference in a good brush verses that crap they put in the box

 

Gotcha. I was not exactly a Picasso on my second coat so it splattered.

How many coats did you apply? I did 4 coats on the exterior, and 2 in the bed. I normally have some lumber in the bed so I wasn't too worried about scuffs in the bed.

 

I coat brushed in corners, around and over tie downs, and under rails, then roller everything else. lots of spots showed through so after 24 hour dry time I climbed in bed and repeated as I did first time but also brush dabbed all the spots that still showed any color so I was sure every spot was covered and I dabbed second coat on rails using the brush.

I let that dry for 4 hours then I rolled second coat on the bed sides and tailgate, and then with a handle I added onto the roller, so I didn't need to get in the bed again, I dumped the rest of the can (about half) in the middle of the bed floor and started rolling it in all 4 directions until it was all evenly spread out on the bed floor and finished by using what was left on the roller to go over the bed rails again.

 

Glad it worked out. Looks great even if it is a bit thin. I think you will still be impressed on how durable and scratch resistant it is.

You mentioned having to touch up spots later. I've noticed that when I have a partial can left over, I can just put the lid on and seal it up. It does not harden up in the can.

My first can with extra, I used the "fill up the extra space with inert gas trick" You know, how you can disconnect the wire welder drive spool and then pull the trigger on the MIG gun to inject a bunch of Argon into the can. I didn't bother on later cans of the stuff.

 

ya, I think the fumes fill the space so air doesn't get in.

they sell the quart cans for like $20 I think so those are great for touch up jobs

as for holding up under use, im sure it will be fine but because its thin I think it will be easier to scratch off then a spray in liner that's 1/8" thick. if I bought a second gallon and put 2 more coats I think it would be as thick as a spray in liner and at only half the cost.

whoever the lucky bastard is who buys my truck ( I did so much to improve this truck including white gages and hvac control mod) sadly it will be they who will have to judge how it holds up over time

 

Aw man selling the Tacoma? Why?

 

switched over to v8 4runner, needed the extra towing and wanted the smoother ride, sad to see the taco going though I loved it but my needs changed

 

looks damn good.

 

looks good, been thinking of doing mine here in the near future but I was looking at monstaliner.

 

Isn't monstaliner a 2 part system?

 

yes

http://www.monstaliner.com/monstaliner_kit_contents.htm

 

Thats what I thought. The Hurculiner can be used right out of the can.

 

Monstaliner seems to be a great product with a good amount of colors and available to the diy'er. I'm thinking about it for my first gen trail rig - black in the desert gets a little hot so the color options are what's doing it for me. It can be brushed and rolled once it's mixed.

 

Very nice!! Looks like a pro job...