Paint or Spray Kevlar Lining

I have a 2001 Tacoma and the paint and clear coat are peeling off - I've gone to some body shops and quotes are $7-12k to repaint - Maaco is an option but not a trusted one

I have a buddy who has sprayed kevlar (I guess bed lining style) on jeeps and has a guy and have heard it would be much cheaper

My truck is 24 years old and 445K miles - so no plans to really ever get rid of it - but don't want it to rust out over time

Has anyone sprayed a 1st gen tacoma before with bed lining coating?

 

Thats a tough decision...
Ive Line-X'd the roof on my 00 expedition...
Being a dealer tech & roaming the streets of San Diego ive seen quiet a few truck with complete bedliner paint jobs,
Looks tough & bad-ass in my opinion if done right.
These had color & not just flat black, but black would be fine too....
Do a cost comparison Maaco vs parts & labor for bedliner...

 

Where in the US are you located... ~ $1500 in Tijuana, Mexico. No EPA paint either.

 

Living in San Diego is a dream.....
Love it here, so many +'s.....

That being said, not an option for most....

 

I was all on board with the bed liner idea for my Tacoma but was talked out of it by my cousin's boyfriend who does automotive painting for a living. Apparently a coat of bed liner across a whole truck is quite heavy, to the point that you'll notice decreased performance. Additionally if you really never get rid of this truck, even the bedliner may begin to flake off and fade, and at that point, you cannot remove it no matter how hard you try. You can only add more to it.

Eliminating the bed liner option leaves wraps, rattle can paint jobs, or professional paint jobs (or maybe try to do a semi-professional/DIY paint job yourself to save on the labor involved).

 

Bedliner is not great for resale as most buyers probably aren't going to want that. However, at 450,000 miles, most of the value of the truck is gone. Honestly, I'd probably go Maaco.

 

No cracks or anything after 5 years.


I wash it maybe twice a year because it doesn't need maintenance lol

 

@bramey, nice work at 445k miles and the truck still earning aesthetic improvements. Gotta love the first gen Tacos.

If you've got more time than money then buy some wrap, watch a few videos from YouTube University. I'd start with the top of the truck.

I've also seen some impressive rattle can paintjobs on YT.. check out 'Ratchets And Wrenches' look for their videos with 'Spray Paint', 'Rattle Can' or 'Clear coat' in the title.

 

Only as heavy as the bottles it came in... like, 10lbs...

I do not recommend spray can job unless you'll be ready to sand and do-over in 5 years when the UV's had its way with it. And enamel based paint clogs sandpaper like crazy, so you'll hate your decision even more.

 

Dont LineX it. If that was my truck... I would sand the clear coat and re shoot a coat or 2 of clear and call it a day.

 

Now talk about the difficulty of sanding bed liner off body panels.

 

Just respray it. It's an industrial grade product so it doesn't powder like spray can paint

 

The point is that it's pretty much impossible to reverse/remove.

 

If I absolutely had to for some reason, I'd just use flap discs and go all the way to bare metal. Still less of a nightmare than removing rustoleum

 

www.monstaliner.com

Look at all the builds.

There are even some on this forum who have done great work with it.

 

Maybe try this… carefully remove as much clear coat as you can from the drivers door. Try plastic razor blades and maybe some wet sand paper. Follow that with some high quality clear coat. See what they have at auto zone or even better at an automotive paint shop. Maybe even Summit racing. After you finish the door, you will at least have some idea what to expect and what it took to achieve that particular result.

 

I’m honestly considering the Raptor liner Bedliner option as my 2004 clear coat is peeling. I’ve seen some well done ones and watched some vids on spraying it. Reasons not to are resale value and weight but mine is at 322k and I won’t ever sell and I am adding winch, steel bumpers, building out the bed, etc. A little bit of paint weight won’t make much of a difference for me.

 

Interlux Brightside polyurethane was popular years back, roll on and back tip with a foam brush, easy to apply from what I’ve read and really good results, there used to be a lot of project cars you could find info on the paint process, can’t find any now really.

https://www.interlux.com/us/en/products/brightside-r-polyurethane

https://www.californiafords.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=print_topic;f=1;t=028960

 

For under $1000 you can buy a cheap compressor, paint gun, paint, clear coat and disposable supplies and diy. It takes a little practice but anyone can do B+ work and with patience A- work isn’t far off.

 

Thanks to everyone for the great feedback! Super helpful information and a lot to think on