Spray-on bedliners.

[giant_mtb]

A customer asked me if I've ever sprayed a bed liner. I said no, not professionally, but I've used similar products on other things (fender flares, etc.).  He asked if I'd like to practice on his truck bed.  I said let me think about it.  Could make some good money doing it, but I'd wanna do it right.

Biggest hurdles are choosing the right product and doing proper prep.  I don't have air, so anything I use will be spray can or roll-on.  Herculiner fades way too quickly, I know that much from personal experience (fender flares on my truck faded within a year of hercu roll-on).  Also, I found roll-on to be fuckin annoying and produced a fairly inconsistent texture.

Thoughts? Experiences?

[Tave]

My pops and his partners spray their truck beds in Herculiner, holds up well.

Yeah, the color fades quickly. I guess that matters if you're doing it to "look tough" but not actually use it? The original shade often doesn't match anything on the vehicle anyway, I'll take slightly faded non-matching liner that you can't even see because the bed is filled with junk, over scratched and dented metal/paint.

The drawback, besides the aesthetics, is the rough finish that makes it slightly harder to slide loads in-and-out, and easier to tear the skin on your knuckles.

[Soup DeVille]

My pops and his partners spray their truck beds in Herculiner, holds up well.

Yeah, the color fades quickly. I guess that matters if you're doing it to "look tough" but not actually use it? The original shade often doesn't match anything on the vehicle anyway, I'll take slightly faded non-matching liner that you can't even see because the bed is filled with junk, over scratched and dented metal/paint.

The drawback, besides the aesthetics, is the rough finish that makes it slightly harder to slide loads in-and-out, and easier to tear the skin on your knuckles.

Lots of people consider that an advantage, because shit doesn't slide around in the back that way.

[Tave]

Lots of people consider that an advantage, because shit doesn't slide around in the back that way.

Yeah it's a double-edged sword.

[giant_mtb]

I personally don't like the stickiness either. My bed is plastic with a fitted rubber mat.

[MX793]

You can probably prevent Herculiner et al from fading by applying a UV protective coating (similar to what they provide to treat plastic headlamp lenses and keep them from hazing).

[CaminoRacer]

I have a Rhino liner type spray-on. (Cold spray, not hot spray). I don't think it's faded too much since I have a bed cover.

The extra grip is nice to keep stuff from sliding around. That + scratch prevention were the main reasons I got it.

[shp4man]

Think there are enough customers to warrant a compressor and equipment to do it right? Maybe car dealers would want it, but it couldn't be a mickey mouse setup.

[MX793]

For some reason, I thought Rhino-lining (et al) installers were franchised businesses.

[FlatBlackCaddy]

I sell a product from Upol called raptor. It comes in black or clear(tintable with urethane basecoat to vehicle color). I've been selling it for years(10+). It's packaged in a gallon(ish) kit and requires a spray gun to apply. It's a fantastic product, holds up really well. I've sold it to people that have used it on just about everything(restorations, rock crawlers, race cars, etc).

It's biggest advantage is that it is 2 component and uses a chemical hardener. It's much better than anything that is a 1K.

They know package it in a roll on kit, I haven't sold many of them, and haven't heard anything(good or bad) about them. Product wise though(it's the same product) it's certainly something I would consider.

http://www.u-pol.com/us/en/product/raptor/bed-liner-protective-coating/roll-on-raptor/roll-on-raptor

Sadly it looks like it's black only for the rollable. Though I question if there is any actual product difference between the ones sold in that kit or just the standard liter/4 liter spray kits. I'm guessing it's just packaging and the fact that it include application tools(roller and tray).

It's entirely possible to buy a tintable kit, and just get some good rollers from menards(course open cell synthetic) and do a test.

edit:

Looked at the product sheet for the standard kit, as I recall, it does have a section that talkes about rolling as a suitable application method.

I highly recommend this stuff. Very flexible(usage) product that looks and holds up well.

http://www.u-pol.com/files/9844/up4802-SDS-EN