Best Bedliner for full body paint (3 Viewers)

[txgringo]

I've been given the unique opportunity to completely repaint my built 40th Anniversary after losing control and turning her on her side. The cab is bent pretty badly, so it's going to be much more cost effective to find a donor body, strip it, and have it painted then mount on my rolling chassis rather than try to repair the original tub.

I have been struggling with the decision over keeping the OEM Sage color or spraying inside and out with some flavor of bedliner prior to mounting on my rolling chassis. While I love the Sage color and hate the idea of there being 1 less Sage 40th being on the road, I think the most practical option is going to be the bedliner.

Now the question becomes "which bedliner is best for a full-body application?". I want to qualify this question by stating that I have searched Mud and the broader internet extensively and ready numerous threads about this topic. Many threads are written in the context of the original application for the products (in the beds of pickups). Many were written several years ago before time and experience had been able to refine opinions on the subject.

What I'm looking for is feedback from people who have had 1 or more bedliner products installed on the exterior of their vehicle and have had time to form an opinion about the product they chose. What product(s) have they had? What did they like about them? What didn't they like? etc, etc.

Some key considerations that will weigh heavily on the final product decision:

1. UV Stability: I want something that's going to keep its color at least as good as an OEM paint job. If I need to put another coat on in 10 years because it's fading, I can live with that. I can't live with having to do it every year or two.
   
   
2. Durability: I want a product that will give a reasonable amount of protection against limbs and "light" encounters of the geological variety
   
   
3. Tintable colors: Henry Ford's approach to color won't work for me. I'll likely go with a sand/tan color similar to @shermantank55's Dingo Project
   
   
4. Installation: I have no experience applying bedliner and do not want my first attempt to be on the exterior of my cruiser. I will most likely (unless you guys can talk me out of it) have the bedliner applied by a professional. I am an hour away from High Country Cruisers (Rhinoliner installer), 3 hours away from Proffit's Resurrection (Raptor installer), and have a Line-X shop here in town and 2 others within an hour drive.

 

[scottryana]

Go to the Line-X shop and see if they will give you any contact info for anyone they have sprayed a similar color to what you want that is 2 or 3 years old. I love my Line-X, texture has held up great, very tough, very good adhesion, etc. But the silver color faded. They said they have had problems with silvers in the past but had replaced all their equipment and base, but mine still faded.

I will likely get it redone in a color similar to what you are thinking, but it will be a while and I am sure will be a huge pain in the ass to get off. lol.


2012

2016

 

[2fpower]

monstaliner over epoxy paint (I use southern poly)

@magnetman

I have done 3 cars now. It is tintable. For Pete's sake, Lend a hand


UV stable... Don't really have firsthand experience. FOO is about 3 years old, but only sees the sun about 10 days a year.

as for durable, check out page 40 of this thread. FOO took a beating...

Monstaliner Bedliner

Here is after hitting two trees and pivoting on another.

After a little porta power action....

 

[txgringo]

@scottryana Do you recall which product that was that they applied in 2012? I know they have a few different products now, some they claim to be UV stable. I'm wondering how their lifetime warranty applies to color fade...

Would you have to remove the old product, or just clean the bejesus out of it and spray over it?

@2fpower, the tan in your first image is pretty much the color I'm shooting for. (Really cool thread too, BTW)
If I were planning to DIY, Monstaliner or Al's would be the top of my list. I had looked really hard at Monstaliner when I was planning to do just my roof. I'd have to check with a couple shops to see if they would be interested in doing the job with Monstaliner if I go that route. As of right now my lack of experience and specialized tools has me pretty intimidated as far as trying to DIY a full body paint job. However, since it's going to be frame-off with all trim and glass out, I might be able to handle it if I just bought something like a body rotisserie.... I may talk myself into the DIY route yet!

How many gallons did that take you for the exterior, and how many coats did you apply?

 

[scottryana]

It is their premium line, it was supposed to be UV stable. The lifetime warranty ONLY applies to beds. I already tried. Below is the email reply from Line-X.

"I just received your email. Im sooo sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. I remember doing your lexus like it was yesterday. i pulled your invoice seeing if the paint code was on there, and it just says custom colormatch. we currently are no longer using the DuPont system, as linex and dupont have parted ways. The best bet to have this fixed is to find a local linex shop, ask them about renewing your liner. the proper steps to do this would include
cleaning the liner,
sanding the liner,
priming the liner,
retexturing it with actual linex
then reapplying the top coat.

We have had problems in the past with silver, and silver like colors not holding up. we have sent in samples to linex corporate and they cant tell us the problems. i have tried throwing all of my silver materials away and starting over in the past, and had the exact same issues. Without seeing it in person, i cant diagnose the issues associated, but if it were to come back here, the above steps are the steps i would take to ensure its fixed properly.

Line-X only covers the beds of trucks under the lifetime nationwide warranty. If you were close, i would probably work with you on fixing this if the repair was done in my shop. i know thats not the answer you are looking for, but Line-X will not warranty anything thats not a truck bed nationally."

 

[dirtyboots]

Sounds like you have probably been there, but just in case there are a couple different threads dedicated to liners by brand in the paint and body section..while considering options for similar reasons with all things considered I was going with Raptor (staying with paint instead). I would not recommend spraying the interior. On another project I sprayed interior LineX and it never stopped stinking. Like @scottryana has posted LineX wouldn't deal with it as the spray wasn't in a truck bed. If you have the abilitie$ to do something with the interior check out soundeadenershowdown as a great resource for interior options. HTH

 

[beefjerky]

My beater 80 was lined several years ago, it’s flaking off and looked like complete s***. My body guy wouldn’t mess with it without charging a ton to remove it.... I eventually rattle canned over top. If you have to do something, just use paint....

 

[txgringo]

@beefjerky What liner was used, and was it DIY or done by a shop? I'd be curious to know about the prep that was done.

@dirtyboots Thanks for the reference. I've not seen the paint and body thread before and for some reason it wasn't coming up in my Google searches.... I'd seen sound deadener showdown before but forgot about that site. Will definitely be checking that out again before the interior goes back together.

Good stuff guys! Keep it coming!

 

[beefjerky]

Not sure on the details on mine. It was that way when I bought it.... when I saw it was flaking and peeling pretty heavily I figured it would be pretty easy to get off with a pressure washer. It wasn’t! Lol

 

[beefjerky]

If you are having to buy a new body, I’d just paint it the color of your choice...

 

[bugsnbikes]

6-7 rattle cans of rustoleum Ultra Flat Khaki have held up surprisingly well. going on 3years since 1st application and mine sits in the California sun 24/7. roof and hood may need a 1can touchup but that will take all of 20min and a simple rinseoff with a hose as prep. Ultra flat goes on real flat with No streaking.

Real happy-real cheap and definitely looks about 1/10th as “ghetto-liscous” as the “ i just bedlined my rig beside my doublewide with a paint roller -bedlined-look.

Sorry- but bedliner looks like ass. Id definitely spend the $38 for 6 cans of this.....and in 3years if you still aren’t digging it....you can always blow your wad of cash on a fancy shmancy white trash bedliner of choice and go drink PBR’s down by the river with Scotty And the bedliner-boys

A few things to think about:

-⎌replacing quarter panels etc......easily done with spare rattle can to match......bedliner—>Gotta order fresh quart (cuz this s*** doesn’t have a shelf life.).

-need to weld on something.....easy peasy with ultra flat.....not so easy with bedliner. Sanding it Is a bitch and then u are back to ordering a fresh quart again vs pulling an old rattle can off the shelf.

-rip off a mirror etc. replace and shoot......vs ordering another fresh quart which you will use only 1/10th of and then throw away the rest as it has no shelf life once opened.

- slam a giant dent in your door from a huge boulder......grab a cheapie door and 5min with a 1/2used rattle can on the shelf and u are back in biz. bedliner.....you need to go order yet another fresh can of bedliner/sand /prep/lay flat/ 2-3coats to slowly build thickness evenness......and it still may peel around the edges.

Ive done all of the above and am damn glad bedliner wasn’t part of any of those equations.

this is ONLY possible with the ultra flat.....regular rattle cans just don’t come out as seamless and streak free and look just as bad as bedliner.

 

[scottryana]

^^^^ these are all good points. I am thinking about doing a bunch of bodywork on my truck cutting fenders, etc and it’s going to be a pain in the ass with line-x.

But it was also really nice when dragging the side of my truck down old dry gnarly snags that after all the screeching was over I could get out and look at the truck and see no marks.

Neither one will make or break your Cruiser.

 

[bugsnbikes]

I must say....the professional Linex or spray on jobs have much more uniformity and consistency of texture and thickness and definitely look way more “professional” vs the diy bedliners.

and of course if you have the $$’s and want to rub those $$ on rocks and still look good. Linex or Linex style spray ons are the way to go.

Having d/a sanded an entire 80 covered in cheapie vatozone bedliner.....I have earned a somewhat more tongue in cheek cynical take on them.

 

[txgringo]

Yeah, I've thought about the appeal of being able to do a quick rattle can repair job, but I prefer not having scratches to repair to begin with over being able to easily repair them. 1 trip up to the arches in Comb Wash with 3 hours of limbs screeching down the side nearly made me pinch a hole in the seat thinking about all the pinstripes.

As has been mentioned in many other threads, bedliner is a love it or hate it upgrade. Do i prefer the look of a nice smooth paint job? You bet. But I also like to fly up a narrow 4 wheeler trail without worrying about how many scratches I'm going to have to either wear or repair later. While I care about how my cruiser looks, I'm more interested in function over form.

I consider this an investment in the longevity of the vehicle. While I won't say that money is no object, I'm not taking shortcuts on a build that I intend to drive till one of us can't.

 

[Dixiedog]

If you do not want to do it yourself you may want to contact Monstaliner in Alabama and ask them if any professionals in your area use the Monstaliner product.

I rolled it on my truck and could not be happier but I like doing things myself.

3 or 4 years ago I used the Rust-Oleum brand roll on bed liner for the lower quarter of my 60. The Rust-Oleum product does not have the texture like the Monstaliner, it is much more like paint.

Here are a couple of before and after shots of the 80 with Monstaliner.

 

[2fpower]

@scottryana

@2fpower, the tan in your first image is pretty much the color I'm shooting for. (Really cool thread too, BTW)
If I were planning to DIY, Monstaliner or Al's would be the top of my list. I had looked really hard at Monstaliner when I was planning to do just my roof. I'd have to check with a couple shops to see if they would be interested in doing the job with Monstaliner if I go that route. As of right now my lack of experience and specialized tools has me pretty intimidated as far as trying to DIY a full body paint job. However, since it's going to be frame-off with all trim and glass out, I might be able to handle it if I just bought something like a body rotisserie.... I may talk myself into the DIY route yet!

How many gallons did that take you for the exterior, and how many coats did you apply?

Pretty sure we bought 2 gallons tintable for the quicksand color. @StucknKS can confirm. We painted over white primer, so only needed 3 coats of monstaliner, which is about normal. First coat light, then heavier, and final pass. All spraying different pattern directions.

 

[LFD2037]

I used Monstaliner & have been very happy with it. Tough as nails!

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• LFD2037
• Dec 19, 2017

1

• LFD2037
• Dec 19, 2017

It's for sale, BTW.

 

[Malleus]

What's the OEM coating below the doors? That stuff has held up really well on all three of mine.

 

[LFD2037]

It's an anti-corrosion spray then covered w/paint & clearcoat (usually).

 

[scottryana]

I was told it was a thicker rock chip preventative paint and that it was hard for the body shop to match. I remember years ago I went to a very good body shop after getting sideswiped by a van and being told they would try their best, turned out I couldn't tell any difference but I appreciated them telling me before hand.

It's an anti-corrosion spray then covered w/paint & clearcoat (usually).