ardentyota
Flexy
Well, I had been planning on this for a while and I finally got it done. My clear coat was flaking in the slightest breeze and the truck looked horrible. I didn't want to pay someone to paint it and didn't want to do a splotchy rattle can job.
I had seen Al's Liner at Hefty Fabworks before. Some of their customers had their bumpers and rock sliders coated in the stuff. It's really tough rubber! I picked up a 2-day-old piece from the bench and tried to pull it apart to no avail. This wasn't a super thick piece either- it was about an inch wide and less than 1/16th of an inch thick.
So that's when I decided to coat the truck in it (I had previously seen Nay's and other Durabak'd trucks, but never thought I'd do it to mine). Oh and another bonus- it comes in Tan.
Tan, black and grey are the available colors from Al's, but this stuff can also be tinted any color with auto-body paint pigment. You could perfectly match this to almost any rig. Al's Liner is a 4-part do-it-yourself liner system that is 100% UV and Chemical resistant. You can spray, roll or brush it on. Check out www.alsliner.com and www.heftyfabworks.com for more info on it.
So enough talking here are some pics:
The before shot:
Everyone know what these cruisers look like, so I'll leave it at that. It had the typical clear coat loss on the hood.
Prep, prep, prep... Proper prep is key to lining anything, especially a whole vehicle. Al's liner will stick to almost anything, including paint and bare steel, with the proper prep. It mainly needs a rough surface.
So with a 40 grit pad on a slow random orbital sander, we started on the body... this is what you would call the "point of no return."
As you can see, I had the holes left over from the fender flares. So I welded them shut, and ground them smooth:
Here's where I made my biggest mistake:
I had decided to just plug the holes with some small-head screws from Ace Hardware. Well, now it just looks like I have some random bumps on the roof. Oh well, live and learn. Next time (right...) I'll weld up those holes too...
We took the hood almost to bare metal where the clear coat was peeling. We also used a sharp chisel to chip any loose clear coat, and then sanded heavily to ensure we wouldn't have issues with the liner adhering.
Now that all surfaces are sanded, we finish masking and wipe down the whole truck to remove any remaining dust.
Somebody was wasting masking tape...
The next step to making sure that the liner adheres, is to coat the entire surface with an etching primer (provided in the liner kit).
Time to mix up the Al's and start spraying:
You only need about 30PSI flowing through the gun for this (The gun is available from Al's for a very reasonable $55 and it can be reused many times).
The masking must be removed within 45 minutes.
The liner will be dry to the touch within 2 hours (less in Colorado's 95* and <5% Humidity...) and fully cures within 48 hours.
We let it dry over night and then reassembled. I painted the mirrors and the grill black. I relocated the blinkers to the marker lights and sprayed what are now the marker lights with that "Night Shades" stuff.
I also took this chance to get some new-to-me shoes...
I had seen Al's Liner at Hefty Fabworks before. Some of their customers had their bumpers and rock sliders coated in the stuff. It's really tough rubber! I picked up a 2-day-old piece from the bench and tried to pull it apart to no avail. This wasn't a super thick piece either- it was about an inch wide and less than 1/16th of an inch thick.
So that's when I decided to coat the truck in it (I had previously seen Nay's and other Durabak'd trucks, but never thought I'd do it to mine). Oh and another bonus- it comes in Tan.
Tan, black and grey are the available colors from Al's, but this stuff can also be tinted any color with auto-body paint pigment. You could perfectly match this to almost any rig. Al's Liner is a 4-part do-it-yourself liner system that is 100% UV and Chemical resistant. You can spray, roll or brush it on. Check out www.alsliner.com and www.heftyfabworks.com for more info on it.
So enough talking here are some pics:
The before shot:
Everyone know what these cruisers look like, so I'll leave it at that. It had the typical clear coat loss on the hood.
Prep, prep, prep... Proper prep is key to lining anything, especially a whole vehicle. Al's liner will stick to almost anything, including paint and bare steel, with the proper prep. It mainly needs a rough surface.
So with a 40 grit pad on a slow random orbital sander, we started on the body... this is what you would call the "point of no return."
As you can see, I had the holes left over from the fender flares. So I welded them shut, and ground them smooth:
Here's where I made my biggest mistake:
I had decided to just plug the holes with some small-head screws from Ace Hardware. Well, now it just looks like I have some random bumps on the roof. Oh well, live and learn. Next time (right...) I'll weld up those holes too...
We took the hood almost to bare metal where the clear coat was peeling. We also used a sharp chisel to chip any loose clear coat, and then sanded heavily to ensure we wouldn't have issues with the liner adhering.
Now that all surfaces are sanded, we finish masking and wipe down the whole truck to remove any remaining dust.
Somebody was wasting masking tape...
The next step to making sure that the liner adheres, is to coat the entire surface with an etching primer (provided in the liner kit).
Time to mix up the Al's and start spraying:
You only need about 30PSI flowing through the gun for this (The gun is available from Al's for a very reasonable $55 and it can be reused many times).
The masking must be removed within 45 minutes.
The liner will be dry to the touch within 2 hours (less in Colorado's 95* and <5% Humidity...) and fully cures within 48 hours.
We let it dry over night and then reassembled. I painted the mirrors and the grill black. I relocated the blinkers to the marker lights and sprayed what are now the marker lights with that "Night Shades" stuff.
I also took this chance to get some new-to-me shoes...
