Very good test of spray on bedliners

Moab

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This guy does an excellent test job on 5 popular spray on bedliners. And breaks it down by hot weather and cold weather applications. As well it's impact and scratch resistance. And chemicals. Bottom line - don't get gas on your bedliner. It will break down any of these products. Herculiner isn't that great. And Plasticoat came out on top for both cold and hot weather applications. But watch the test yourself. As some are better in cold and some are better in hot weather.

I was going to bedliner paint my gas cap surround. But I don't think I'll do that. Not sure what I'll use. But not bedliner. And if I do my flares in bedliner I will keep a rag handy when I fill up. In case any gets on my flares.

 
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Nice vid...thx for posting.

Thanks. I found it helpful too. Although I bought a case of Rustoleum bed liner already. But I live in a hot climate. And it's only $7.16 a can from Home Depot. I'm just going to try to do a better job of spraying it than he did. So the surface is more even. I'm also going to use adhesion promoter on the plastic flares first as well. So really I'm not using it as an actual bed liner. Just on my flares, bumpers and other exterior parts. The Duplikote(sp?) looks nice though. I might try that next time.

One other video. Is this one. Doesn't look like you should spring for the "Professional Grade" Rustoleum Bed Coating. As it doesn't stick as well. The regular Rustoleum Bed Coating is what you want. (And it's hard to see that little badge that makes it professional grade rather than the regular stuff.) If your going with that brand.

Honestly after watching this video. I don't think I would use any spray on bedliner on an actual truck bed. I don't think it would work very well. I think you have to LineX or something you paint on maybe might work.

 
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Thanks. I found it helpful too. Although I bought a case of Rustoleum bed liner already. But I live in a hot climate. And it's only $7.16 a can from Home Depot. I'm just going to try to do a better job of spraying it than he did. So the surface is more even. I'm also going to use adhesion promoter on the plastic flares first as well. So really I'm not using it as an actual bed liner. Just on my flares, bumpers and other exterior parts. The Duplikote(sp?) looks nice though. I might try that next time.

One other video. Is this one. Doesn't look like you should spring for the "Professional Grade" Rustoleum Bed Coating. As it doesn't stick as well. The regular Rustoleum Bed Coating is what you want. (And it's hard to see that little badge that makes it professional grade rather than the regular stuff.) If your going with that brand.

Honestly after watching this video. I don't think I would use any spray on bedliner on an actual truck bed. I don't think it would work very well. I think you have to LineX or something you paint on maybe might work.


Prep is a huge part of it. The way he spoke seemed to suggest a pretty good prep for the non-pro (also worth noting is the age). I’m curious of the initial prep on the larger rock rail on initial paint (could be a lot of industrial residue from manufacturing).

I’m not meaning to suggest his experience is invalid, I just wish there was more meat there. Maybe someone can prep their bare steel item 100% the same and paint the two halves with these to add another sample to the data set. I’m considering a dirt worx bumper, I could probably be convinced if I buy it.
 
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I would personaly just purchase or borrow an air compressor and do it right, if you are doing it yourslef you need to put a fair amount of time into prepping the surface correctly; he fell short at the last hudle and used rattle cans!, time is money. The guy in the 2nd video put the minimum effort in and got minumum results.
 
I would personaly just purchase or borrow an air compressor and do it right, if you are doing it yourslef you need to put a fair amount of time into prepping the surface correctly; he fell short at the last hudle and used rattle cans!, time is money. The guy in the 2nd video put the minimum effort in and got minumum results.

Your right. I need to start working with my compressor and sprayer. I have one for christ sake. And have never used the sprayer. I don't know why. I guess I just never knew how to find paint like bedliner and a nozzle that would work with it. Just easier to use spray paint I guess. It does make a big difference if you get professional tips for your spray cans. And a handle. I spray much better that way. But it's definitely an art. You can't just point the can and pull the trigger. Light EVEN coats wins the day with any painting I guess. And the right angles. I paint pretty good from a can. But some of these guys making YT videos. Don't seem to know much about spraying with a can. And I'm amazed at how bad they are at picking colors. Some of the things they paint look like crap simply because of the godawful color they chose.
 
It’s only easier to use rattle cans if you can’t be bothered to look up how to use your compressor and get the correct nozzle. Wouldn’t take more than a few minutes with search engine, products are generally sold with full kits including the gun and have videos on their websites with how to instructions. You have control over the psi and distance and angle which means you can be a lot more consistent with picking coat thickness and texture. Honestly it really doesn’t take that much time of effort to figure out a compressor, why take short cuts when you already have 90% of what you need.
 
It’s only easier to use rattle cans if you can’t be bothered to look up how to use your compressor and get the correct nozzle. Wouldn’t take more than a few minutes with search engine, products are generally sold with full kits including the gun and have videos on their websites with how to instructions. You have control over the psi and distance and angle which means you can be a lot more consistent with picking coat thickness and texture. Honestly it really doesn’t take that much time of effort to figure out a compressor, why take short cuts when you already have 90% of what you need.

Life. Life is what happens. Three back surgeries. Two businesses. A wife. A kid in college. It adds up. You move and haven't had time to reset up your shop in your huge garage. Because it's filled with furniture and other stuff that needs gone thru and moved out or stacked better. Things get put on the back burner. That's what happens. Life. :)

I fully understand my compressor and have done many things with it. I used to have a complete home shop with 220v, a blast cabinet, a compressor etc. etc.. And I've used just about every air tool except the sprayer. On everything from car builds to rifle builds. Learning how to weld. Learning how to work with metal.

Hopefully this year. I'll have my home shop up and running again. And be able to spend some time with the sprayer.

In the meantime, on small parts, it's so much easier to rely on spray cans. That I can use out beside the house. With little to no actual paint prep. But alot of surface prep. And a good spray bed liner. I do think it's tougher than regular paint. But either way it's what I have access to now. Which is the case with alot of guys working on their Jeeps. I can do bumper pieces and flares and fittings etc. etc. And with parts that small. You should be able to do just fine with an aerosol. The bedliner is very forgiving. And covers up alot of mistakes. But again, you've gotta know how to use a spray can nozzle well.
 
he fell short at the last hudle and used rattle cans!

You know that was the point of his video, that is, he was evaluating rattle can bed coatings.

The guy in the 2nd video put the minimum effort in and got minumum results.

Agreed - The second video did not discuss any prep work only that he applied it to bear steel so the "review" is worth the price paid. As stated above prep, prep, prep is key. If you don't put in the time to remove the dross, oils, and surface rust, you are starting with crap and will end up with a crappy result. I used Dupli-Color for my bumper 4 years ago and it is holding up extremely well with no issues at all. BUT I spent hours in prep for something that took minuets to spray.
 
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The only issue with the first video is the glaring misnomer. They can call them whatever they like to fool the public to buy their crap in a rattle can but it is not now nor will it ever be a substitute for a spray in bedliner. The general public is being fooled by appearance in that the rattle can shit looks like a spray in liner, but that's it. Spray in liners are 2 part catalyzed urethanes that are fed through two hoses and mix in the gun and are setting up in the air on the way to the surface being sprayed. You can actually spray too heavy in one spot to make it run and sag and then watch the run and sag freeze as the cure takes effect.

He is also mistaken a bit in his assumptions about the gloss level. The higher gloss tends to retain less dirt and cleans up easier, much easier. Again though, that only matters for those of us who only use that rattle can crap for another purpose one for which it is well suited but unintended and that is as a high performance undercoating. All of the "standard" under coatings that are rubberized are pretty much junk. The "bedliner" used instead is just about as good as you can get for a cheap, durable, easy to clean, easy to apply undercoating. A bedliner though, they will never be.

To get even remotely close to some of the attributes of a spray in one would have to apply about 20-30 coats to get the same build thickness and even then it would lack the abrasion resistance and impact resistance of the 2 part urethanes. Plus the chemical resistance would still be the same. To put that into perspective, you can dump a battery over on a spray in next to a puddle of acetone, gasoline, diesel, and after all that evaporates, you can wipe up the battery acid with no ill effect.
 
@mrblaine - have you had any experience with LizardSkin? I've been mulling it over a bit as an option for my setup (because I don't like the idea that moisture could be caught between noise dampening material and the tub) and would love to read your opinion if you have one.
 
@mrblaine - have you had any experience with LizardSkin? I've been mulling it over a bit as an option for my setup (because I don't like the idea that moisture could be caught between noise dampening material and the tub) and would love to read your opinion if you have one.
I do not but I am a fairly adept researcher and tend to find an spot the truth fairly quickly.

This will help, spend some time absorbing it and you may find a solution that works for you.
http://cascadeaudio.com/blog/Sound_Deadening_Fables.htm
 
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