People who own trucks love them and want to take care of them. A truck needs a good bedliner to protect that part of the vehicle from the elements and whatever you are hauling. There are several kinds of truck bedliners but the ones that offer the most protection for the vehicle are the ones that are sprayed on. This is because there is no wiggle room between the bedliner and the truck bed itself. This makes the protection more complete. The good news about these kinds of bedliners is that most people can apply they with minimal effort and equipment. The process is made even easier when you use wire tape, also called vinyl cut tape, rather than a razor blade or other kind of knife.
Before you begin the process, you need to assemble your materials and equipment. You will need:
- A degreasing and cleaner.
- Wax remover.
- Wire tape.
- Masking tape.
- Plastic masking film.
- Air powered sander.
- Sand paper.
- Air gun.
- Dry rag.
- Bonding agent.
- Squirrel mixer.
- Resin.
- Pigment.
- Low pressure spray gun.
Steps to apply spray on bedliners.
- Remove everything from the truck bed. The truck bed has to be completely empty. Take out the accessories, tools and anything else that may have fallen into the truck bed.
- Do a preclean job. Spray down the entire truck bed with cleaners to remove any wax or grease that may be on the surface of the truck bed. You need to make sure you do this before you complete the sanding step. The reason for this is simple. Both the masking tape and the wire tape will be more able to stick to the surface if you have completed this step first. It also helps the spray on bedliner adhere to the surface.
- Apply the wire tape to the truck bed. Wire tape can give you a perfect edge without doing any damage with a knife. Take the wire tape and place it along all of the edges where you would use a razor blade or a knife later on.
- Cover all other areas. Take your masking tape or your plastic masking tape and cover all of your truck that you do not want to get covered in spray on bedliner. This is an important step and will save you a lot of time later on. It is really hard to get the bedliner off later so keeping it from getting on in the first place is your best bet.
- Hand sand the edges. This will held the bedliner properly adhere to the surface. Start by hand sanding the edges but take care to not go over any of the wire tape. Even if you do not damage it too much, it can weaken it.
- Power sand the interior. Use the 5″ cub brush and sand the rest of the truck bed.
- Remove the dust. This can be accomplished with the air gun and the dry rag.
- Apply bonding agent. Use a rag to rub the bonding agent onto the truck bed. This will also help the bedliner adhere to the surface of the truck bed. Let this sit for between five and ten minutes.
- Mix your color and resin. You need to add the color you want to the resin. Mix the two together with a squirrel mixer.
- Spray your vehicle. You will need to take your time with this step. Slowly pass the spray gun over the truck bed. You will need to repeat this multiple times to get your desired thickness. Patience is your friend here.
- Let dry. Let the spray dry. You can use compressed air to complete this step.
- Remove the wire tape. This is another step that requires some patience. Take off the wire tape by pulling it at a 45 degree angle into the bed of the truck. This should cut through the bedliner as you remove the wire tape from the bed of the truck. Remove the rest of the masking tape and plastic masking film.
- The last step to applying a low pressure spray on bedliner is to remove all masking and do the final trimming.
There are a lot of good reasons to apply a spray on bedliner to your truck. The end result will be a protected truck bed that translates into a truck that will last much longer that it otherwise would.
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