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Bedliner material to protect lower body panels

G

gator_grabber

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Gainesville, FL
I've seen this discussed here before, but can't find the thread for the life of me. I'm considering spraying the lower body panels of my MJ with one of the bedliner materials when the truck goes in for paint this month. Could someone please advise me if this is a good idea? If you've done it, what material did you use and would you do it again? Thanks!
 
Search for Herculiner, Durbak, Duplicolor and ah HOOTUS too.

From what I've read Herculiner is great but doesn't come in as many colors as Durabak and it also tends to "wash out" more than Durabak.
The faded color can be fixed with a shot of spray paint
Durabak comes in a number of colors and in 2 different "grits".
It looks to be more expensive than Herc and harder to get too.
Duplicolor is very cheap. The locos at Vatozone tell me it gets down to $24.99 when it's on sale. But you get what you pay for.

The key thing about all these products is the prep, meaning your project will only be as good as your prep.

Be sure to look up Hootus....you don't want this to happen to you.

Hope this info. helps, Good Luck.
 
i did my rockers and bumpers, lower door edges, door thresh hold/sill, and door framing up to a few inches below the door hasp. I really dont like the herculiner, its very hard rough, dry and thin. I wish i just got it professionally sprayed on instead.

I havent used these guys http://www.goprocraft.com/permatech.html

but they so have a shop that does bed coating in detroit, if you look at the features and benefits it seems like a superior product to line x and rhino. Cant say i know much about durabak.

The duplicolor bedliner is reeeeally thin also. For the amount of preparation required for herculiner or duplicolor it just doesnt seem worth doing for such a poor product.
 
Ah yes, who can forget the Hootus thread... :laugh3:
Actually, I'm not really looking for opinions as to which is the better bedliner material, I'm looking for feedback from those who have used the stuff on the lower body panels. It seems like a good idea, but what a pain it'll be if it's not! :eek:
 
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I did it to my old white one and I loved it. Then I did it to my red one (actually one of these days it will all be black, I just ran out of the herculine cause I had leftovers). In any case, prep it by roughing it up with either a scotch pad or sand paper, wash it down with some sort of a solvent and brush on (it's more of a plop/brush/plop movement) and put about 2 or 3 coats on (you will have spots shining through after one pass.

Anyways, I'm getting up there.
 
RedBluffBoy said:
Duplicolor is very cheap. The locos at Vatozone tell me it gets down to $24.99 when it's on sale. But you get what you pay for.
Click to expand...
If you do it yourself, stay awy from duplicolor. And Herculiner isn't that bad either: 69.99 on sale for a gallon and you get $20 mail in rebate on top of it.
 
It will keep you from having to repair scratches in the paint, but it won't do a thing to prevent dents and body damage. Also, I've seen bumpers and rock rails done with spray on bedliner and the rocks are tougher than the bedliner. Good steel door and fender guards are a better idea, and probably about the same cost. Paint them black, and as they get scratched up just paint them again.
 
Goatman said:
It will keep you from having to repair scratches in the paint, but it won't do a thing to prevent dents and body damage. Also, I've seen bumpers and rock rails done with spray on bedliner and the rocks are tougher than the bedliner. Good steel door and fender guards are a better idea, and probably about the same cost. Paint them black, and as they get scratched up just paint them again.
Click to expand...

Very good point although I had herculined door dent in without damging the herculiner but.... I had also herculiner scratched off with a rock.
 
Very helpful information. I have a slightly different reality here in Florida...what's a rock? :D Our problem is with sand and brush abrasion along the lower body lines and undercarriage. Mix that with salty ocean air and you get rust. If you bolt or stick anything onto the body, you're just asking for problems as it provides places for salt to hide. High quality spray or brush-on material seems to be the answer.
 
I've used Duplicolor on body panels and front bumper.

It's not the best stuff out there, but it holds up pretty good and is easy to fix when a little piece gets knocked off from rocks or trees.
 
I did my last trail rig's rockers and lower section with Rustoleum's bedliner crud. Looked good and worked well, highly recommend doing it. My current trail beyotch is completely Herculined and that stuff definitely fades and soaks up dust and dirt. You can paint over it with a heavy oil-based enamel which will smooth out the roughness and little and make it look decent again.
 
The problem I've seen with doing that is peeling. When you cut or scrap it (and you will) it peels instead of just scratching. That makes it very dificult to keep nice.
 
I'm not that concerned about cuts and "rock rash", I'm more concerned about sandblasting and paint scratches that leads to rust. You would laugh at our little girlie rocks here in FL! Now, if you want to talk about mud...
 
gator_grabber said:
Now, if you want to talk about mud...
Click to expand...
I've also seen guys blow it off with a pressure washer, though.
 
True enough, but I'd have to say that improper surface preperation may have had something to do with that. I've seen some of the better material used in construction truck beds that will not be coming off in my lifetime.
 
I just did my rocker panels with Duplicolor and cannot attest to how well it's going to stand up. (But after the next Buffalo winter will be a good test!)

It went on VERY EASY and is extremely close in color and texture as my bumper end caps on my 2000 XJ. It looks absolutely factory.

Many people have told me how bad it's going to peel and crap out on me. But for now, It's cheap, easy to install, looks perfect (after two weeks ...) and we'll see how well it holds up!
 
The Line-X is by far the best stuff, in my opinion. Ive always had great success with it, whether it be for bedliners, rocker panels or even underbody. It can be sprayed on in layers, however thick you want it, and doesnt cost too much. Well worth it, the stuff is very durable and I have NEVER had it flake, scrape or chip off, It just doesnt come off that easily. Just find someone in your area who sprays the stuff and tell them where you want it, simple as that! Make sure you prep the area good, because whatever is on the surface and gets sprayed over is never going to come out, including sub-surface rust.
 
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