Does Bed Liner Paint Require Surface Prep?

A roll on bed liner costs so much less than a professional version, it seems a sure way to save money. However surface preparation may make it less than a perfect option. But is careful surface prep even needed. One comment I received on one of my articles suggested that it was crazy to worry about all that.

The comment suggested that the Herculiner paint was all but impossible to get off your hands, so why worry. It's so sticky just a little roughing of the existing paint would be plenty, so said the comment.

Look out for that.

That attitude is the very reason that bed liner paint may not be so great an idea. Many paints are hard to remove from your hands. Most oil based house paints must be worn off. They stick to hands like glue. That certainly does not mean they will not peel. They can and often do.

Sure, the liner paint will stay for a time even with little preparation. Over time though, you better pay attention to the directions or you'll have a mess to deal with. Peeling liner paint may be more than you bargained for.

It's foolish to leave off the preparation for painting since it really requires just a small amount of work. It's mostly careful cleaning and aggressive sanding that's required. Take the time to do it right or you likely will wish you had.

A roll on bed liner works especially well on older trucks that need an appearance improvement. Just take the time for surface cleaning and preparation and the resulting finish will be much like a professional spray on liner.

Grab more tips for applying bed liner paint at our site.

Another worthy option includes the plastic bed liners.

How To Install A Roll On Bed Liner Step By Step

A roll on bed liner should be tough and good looking. That's only if you do the installation properly. Skip steps and make it too easy and the coating won't stay in place. Here's how to get it right...

1. Clean your truck bed first. Before applying the coating, clean with an automotive wax and grease remover. This will be an acetone product. This is to remove any old wax, grease and other stuff that could make it hard for the liner to stick. Don't start sanding before you clean. I'll tell you why below.



2. Mask the bed rails carefully. Use masking tape to make straight, professional looking edges around where you want your bed liner to be. We used masking tape to define the edge of our liner cleanly. Cover what you don't want coated. This paint is hard to get off.



3. Sand the bed well. That means sand with very coarse abrasive to really scratch up the old paint. The bed liner liquid will stick better if your truck bed is roughed up with heavy grit sandpaper. Heavy sanding is the key, just make sure to clean out the metal particles left over from sanding. If you sand before cleaning, you will just drive old grease and wax into the paint. This is a bad start.



4. Consider priming any really rough or bare spots. If you're painting over the original paint, this may not be so important. If you're painting over a repaint, priming is a great idea.



5. Buy extra truck bed paint. We found that one gallon can of the liner paint was not quite thick enough for our needs. Extra bed paint would allow you to put a thicker liner in your truck bed. It also allows you to easily make repairs with the paint that you have left over.



6. Use a paint roller and paint brush to install your liner. It may seem like a spray-on liner application would look better, but we found that the material smoothes out very well with low cost paint rollers and brushes.

Applying a roll on bed liner is a simple way to give your truck bed protection and better looks, all done cheap. The real key to success is a good cleaning to start and some really heavy sanding. Do those and the coating is sure to work just right.

Read more about installing a roll on bed liner at our website http://www.bedlinerfortrucks.com .