Experiences repainting using monstaliner or raptor liner?

dmbglee · May 9, 2025 at 6:59 AM

I've got a 2009 with fading paint everywhere. I've done a hacky sand and spray paint job on the hood and roof in the past, but I'd like to more permanently take care of the problem all in one go. I'm not worried about resale value and I know that these bed liners won't look as good as real paint, but I'm looking for something cheap and effective. I don't have a garage and live in CO, so my truck gets a lot of UV.

I'm curious to hear of folks' experience using monstaliner or raptor liner on their trucks. Specifically I'm wondering:

Has the color held up over time?

Did you spray or roll (I know both are an option with Monstaliner), and which would you recommend?

What advice would you offer/wish you knew when starting?

How's it look? Are you happy with it?

RyanL · May 9, 2025 at 7:49 AM

here’s some you could reach out to and see how they’re holding up

JKO1998 said: ↑

Monstaliner is cool, the truck I rolled it in has been sitting in the sun for the last 3 years and still looks fine.

Herc sucked when I used it, faded quick.

I would avoid rolling it on
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Taco302 said: ↑

I used rustoleum bedliner on my whole truck for the same reason. You should really sand the paint off first and expose the light light blue primer. Better adhesion and you dont have to worry about the undercoat showing through.

Be warned that the bedliner does fade a bit with time, so you will need to spray paint down the road (maybe a year later). I need to paint mine.

I have not washed my truck since I bedlined it...almost 2 years ago.
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BeastyDirtSlut said: ↑

I have used tintable Raptor on several different trucks recently and I am about to do another. Its an awesome product and you can get professional results in your driveway if you do it right. I have had awesome results and have learned some tricks along the way. I agree that the benefits are that it is durable, easy to replicate and compared to 2 stage shop prices its cheap. What you want to do is up to you, who cares what anyone else thinks if you like it. I had a ton of people tell me not to do this, but I also get compliments all the time.
I can give some advice from someone who has used it and made a bunch of mistakes. #1 and most important in my opinion, prep is king. You can mix the coolest color ever, and if you dont prep well, it will look like shit no matter what. This type of a coating has high peaks and low valleys, this causes natural shadowing and will actually highlight existing body panel imperfections in most colors. I had a 2001 ford excursion that had 3 layers of other liners when i got it. I took an angle grinder and a flap disc and stripped the liner completely off the entire rig. Some areas I was able to keep the grinder to the base coat of paint, others I went to the sheet metal. Took me about 12 hours of grinding total. I thought about going over it with a DA sander but figured that the liner would hide the imperfections (I was careful not to take off the body lines with the grinder)...as soon as the first coat was applied I could see every swirl mark of my flap disc. Hours and hours of work and I added more by not doing it right the first time. Use an adhesive remover to get stickers and decals off, you will see the outline thru the liner. Use a good quality wax and grease remover as well as a fresh tach cloth to make sure the surface is 100% free of contaminants. Taping off a car is an art form. Look up some different ways to tape areas where you want to build up an edge, like rolling the tape edge instead of laying it flat. Youll get better results in areas having 2 colors meet at a tape edge without one overlapping the other. Remember this builds millage quickly. I did the inside of the bed and some highlight areas a different color
Once all the prep is done, do a test panel. Trust me, youll kick yourself if you dont. Your pigment will change color more than you think once mixed with the liner, and it will still lighten up even more once its dried. I prefer to spray this, its easy and honestly just more fun. If you spray it you can adjust the texture to exactly what you want. Texture is adjusted by air volume and distance of the gun when you spray. Do a test panel and mess with the air settings and how far away you are when you spray. I used a little 10 gallon, twin tank roofing compressor that kept up just fine. Its not like your spraying non stop anyways. Use a good air water separater or inline filter.
Have someone help mix the bottles for you while your spraying and clean out your gun after every single bottle. Mixing the correct ratios of liner, hardener and pigment takes a few minutes. You want to overlap the layers of liner while its still wet, so about an hour to get all the way around the car. If your mixing your own its just harder to keep up.
Take your time and do it right and the results are impressive.
P.S.-This stuff is suuuper hard to get off your hands....and out of your beard. Ask me how I know.

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TXTaco211 · May 9, 2025 at 8:03 AM

I have used raptor liner multiple times. I like how it looks and it generally holds up well. The key to anything dealing with painting is prep even for liners while it sucks it will determine how well and long your end result last. I have not experienced any color fade on black and I have lived in the south Texas area were we are hot and dry and the truck is outside 100% of the time. Many trips to the beach. I have sprayed white and tried a color match once but didn't turn out to well so I ended up redoing that in black. Currently my truck sports Raptor lined side steps. I have had fender flares and roof done on a Chevy Silverado and have done white on a friends hood and tailgate. All turned out great and are still going strong today.

Note I have only sprayed these with the provided gun in the raptor liner kits. I have no experience with roll on. Oh and make sure you mask or block off anything you don't want it on when you go to do it and peel as soon as you are done before it cures fully.

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Experiences repainting using monstaliner or raptor liner?

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