My truck came with one, I'm trying to weigh out the pro's and con's. Do you go linerless? -or- Do you get a rhino or line-x job? -or- Do you keep what you have?
I seem to hear so many horror stories of plastic bedliners and rust I am just curious.
I use the OEM bedliner, IMO it works fine. The thing about bedliners is that they need to be taken out every year and clean the junk out from behind them, touch up the paint where the bed liner rubs. At least that is how I approach it. A bed liner will save the bed from dings if one uses their truck to haul wood, rocks, equipment. Besides it comes with the truck, so there are no extra costs.
i would love to get rid of my plastic bed liner just because of all the issues with rust and scratching underneath. unfortunately don't have the $450 to drop on it at the moment so I guess i'm stuck with it.
i have been thinking of the herculiner stuff as a temporary solution. i know its not nearly as good as the lin-x or rhino but the price is right and its easy enough to touch up if it gets damaged. anyone have any experience with this stuff??
I did the tub, front floors and wheel wells in my FJ40 3 or 4 years ago and it has held up fine. The prep is no more than what you would do if you were going to paint your bed. As I recall, you scuff everything with a scotch brite pad (included in the kit) and then wipe it down with a solvent, one of those xxxxxylene that you can get an any hardware/paint/home improvement store. The solvent will make you goofy if you breathe the fumes so do it outdoors. If you watch Menards or Blains Farm and Fleet if you have those in your area, you'll see the kit (gal of the Herculiner, stirrer for your drill, roller, scuff pads) on sale and watch for a $20 factory rebate. I got mine at Farm and Fleet for right at $50! Their regular price was something like $80, it was on sale for $70 and I got a $20 factory rebate. It took around 2/3 of a gallon to do 2 coats on my FJ40. At that price, I could give it a coat every year for as many years as I've got left and still be ahead of Rhino et al.
My Tacoma has a shell on it. I bought a piece of 3/4-inch thick foam carpet padding ('way back in 1990, MOF) and cut it to fit my 1987 Toyota. I bought a black rubber mat with wheel well cutouts from Pep Boys or some place, and trimmed it to fit over the carpet padding. The front of it folds up against the front of the bed (and stays there, praise the Lord). When I bought the Tacoma in 1998, I just moved the stuff from the old truck into it. Works fine. I don't haul rocks, dirt, or gravel in the truck, but I do haul lumber, pipes, bags of cement/compost/fertilizer/groceries, and the camping gear (ice chest, camp table, boxes, etc.) does leave black marks on the bed's walls. Each Spring I simply clean them off with some auto cleaner when I remove the pad and mat for cleaning.
The foam prevents dust and stuff from scratching the paint underneath. The pad and mat keep all my crap from bouncing and sliding around when I'm off-road, and make for an extremely comfortable mattress as well.
