Bed prep if getting spray in liner???

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

brooksman9

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2021
Posts
555
Reaction score
1,601
Location
Olive Branch, MS
First Name
Patrick
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Silverado & Custom Deluxe
Engine Size
350 & 305
Here is half the bed
 

Attachments

  • 20230526_100830.jpg
    20230526_100830.jpg
    232.1 KB · Views: 67

brooksman9

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2021
Posts
555
Reaction score
1,601
Location
Olive Branch, MS
First Name
Patrick
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Silverado & Custom Deluxe
Engine Size
350 & 305
Anyone just do the bed bottom and not the sides of the bed?
 

TotalyHucked

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2020
Posts
3,669
Reaction score
11,853
Location
Auburn, Georgia
First Name
Zach
Truck Year
1985
Truck Model
Sierra 1500
Engine Size
5.3
Anyone just do the bed bottom and not the sides of the bed?
My buddy Brian Harrison (Harrison's Rod Shop in TN) did it for a customer's truck. It's dark blue to match the interior/engine
You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach
 

brooksman9

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2021
Posts
555
Reaction score
1,601
Location
Olive Branch, MS
First Name
Patrick
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Silverado & Custom Deluxe
Engine Size
350 & 305
That looks nice. May have to think on that for a bit.
 

MrHorsepowerLSx

Full Access Member
Joined
Jun 25, 2021
Posts
282
Reaction score
609
Location
New Jersey
First Name
Jeffrey
Truck Year
1979
Truck Model
K35
Engine Size
454
I’ll chime in here.

My bed is quite solid for a truck that saw salt covered roads, but my truck did have a drop in liner for I don’t know how many years, but it was in there long enough to remove the paint in some areas to bare metal. While I did have my bedsides off for prepping, the same technique can be applied to any assembled bed.

1st thing to do is empty the bed and hit the bed insides ALL over with high pressure compressed air at a close distance. You will be surprised at how much junk and factory paint will flake off.

2nd thing to do is to wash the inside of the bed with some form of degreaser like spray 9, purple power, etc. and use a good brush to get into nooks and crannies then wash it out with a power washer.

3rd use a coarse wire wheel cup on an angle grinder. The this will help break up and rough surface rust and smooth raised gouges along with removing more loose paint.

4th 80 grit on a DA, keep going until you think it’s good then spend another 2hrs going over the bed again.

5th blow out bed again with air. The last thing you want to do it sand something into the bed that you missed during pre-coating and paint over it.

6th take new 80 grit by hand and sand all the ridges inside and out…….again.

7th 120-180 grit on the DA and repeat steps 4 thru 6

8th by this time the bed should look pretty “rough” which is good it’s at this point that I will wash the bed again with degreaser and blow dry the bed and look for shiny areas of paint that I may have missed. If all is good then I get out the red scotch brite pads and go to town

9th an optional step depending on preference ( I always do this step bc all the supplies are already out ) but I will wet the bed and spray some degreaser in there and use a new red scotch brite pad while everything is wet and then follow that by steel wool pads with the soap in them already to really make it clean. Name of the game is clean prep and you will get clean results.

10th wash bed out and then degrease one last time. After the bed is blown dry out of all the nooks and crannies with the bed down with acetone or lacquer thinner on a clean throw away blue shop towel. Keep wiping and flipping until all grease comes up. Also wipe in one direction only.

11th once bed is dry you can lightly spray any bare metal spots with self-etching primer and let it dry fully. Only a little bit of that stuff is needed on the bare metal.

12th mask up the areas that you don’t want any overspray and blow out the bed and lightly wipe one last time.

13th spray time. Spray whatever your choice is and follow the instructions and directions on flash time and coats etc.

14th peel off the masked off areas and sit back and admire your work and then posts pics here on the site


Phew. That was a lot, I think that’s the most I have contributed in a single post.

Here is what my bed looked like before/after



You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
You must be registered for see images attach
 

brooksman9

Full Access Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2021
Posts
555
Reaction score
1,601
Location
Olive Branch, MS
First Name
Patrick
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Silverado & Custom Deluxe
Engine Size
350 & 305
That's a lot of steps. A whole flight even. :D
 

Albrigap

Full Access Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2021
Posts
75
Reaction score
71
Location
South Dakota
First Name
Alan
Truck Year
1991
Truck Model
Suburban
Engine Size
350
Nothing will stick to oil, grease or silicone.
The metal must be clean.
 

RecklessWOT

Full Access Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2015
Posts
2,556
Reaction score
4,764
Location
New Hampshire
First Name
Kevin
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
V10 Suburban Silverado
Engine Size
350 TBI
Never understood the whole spray-in bedliner thing. You know it never comes out, right? If you bugger up a drop-in plastic liner, you take it out and throw in a new one, bed still intact. It also acts like somewhat of a "cushion", if you toss in a bunch of firewood or something the plastic soaks up a lot of the shock and it doesn't dent the heck out of the bed. I just helped a buddy bring a load of old iron engine blocks and trnsmission cases to the scapyard, the liner took a beating but that's what it's there for, the bed is still perfect underneath if he ever decides this liner is too worn out. If you spray it on, you're basically dealing with a stock bed that just has some thick gritty paint sprayed on it, any shock directly transfers to the sheet metal and you still bang up your bed, and when it gets gouged and scuffed and dented to sh!t, well, you're stuck with it. You'll have to sand it all off, and it'll still be beat up. People always say "oh the drop in liners rub off all the paint in the bed", well heck, so doesn't spraying a thick layer of gritty crap over it because to get it out you have to take it back to metal. Plus drop-ins are slick so you can slide stuff in and out of the bed, herculiner/rhinoliner is like adding grip tape to the stock bed. If you ever have to sliude something in and out of the bed you're either ruining the object or the bed coating. A drop-in is a wear item. Scrape it up too bad and toss in a brand new one, truck looks great again and no harm done to whatever you were hauling. Just saying. I remember when this spray in stuff became a fad and I never understood it, I thought it would go away soon. It hasn't, but I still will never understand it. There are about 20 cons, and no pros. I don't get it
 

Jeff Lewis

Member
Joined
Aug 2, 2019
Posts
47
Reaction score
48
Location
Missouri
First Name
Jeff
Truck Year
1986
Truck Model
Silverado
Engine Size
3.2
Clean it. Scuff it. Clean it. Grease remover. Bed liner 2 coats. I rolled mine. Used Gator I think. Get extra rollers as they dissolve quickly. Will need at least 10 rollers for 2 coats. Don't have to be like the ones that come in kit. Just foam roller.
 

Pete Murray

Junior Member
Joined
Jun 19, 2019
Posts
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Pipe Creek, Texas
First Name
Pete
Truck Year
1987
Truck Model
R10
Engine Size
4.3 V-6
And this is them working with more 80-grit. It did get down to bare metal in several places, we spray etching primer on those prior to spraying
You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach

You must be registered for see images attach
How do you get the color. I'm new to doing bed liner. Is it tinted before spraying. I like this look.
 

Grit dog

Full Access Member
Joined
May 18, 2020
Posts
6,970
Reaction score
12,220
Location
Auburn, Washington
First Name
Todd
Truck Year
1986, 1977
Truck Model
K20, C10
Engine Size
454, 350
Never understood the whole spray-in bedliner thing. You know it never comes out, right? If you bugger up a drop-in plastic liner, you take it out and throw in a new one, bed still intact. It also acts like somewhat of a "cushion", if you toss in a bunch of firewood or something the plastic soaks up a lot of the shock and it doesn't dent the heck out of the bed. I just helped a buddy bring a load of old iron engine blocks and trnsmission cases to the scapyard, the liner took a beating but that's what it's there for, the bed is still perfect underneath if he ever decides this liner is too worn out. If you spray it on, you're basically dealing with a stock bed that just has some thick gritty paint sprayed on it, any shock directly transfers to the sheet metal and you still bang up your bed, and when it gets gouged and scuffed and dented to sh!t, well, you're stuck with it. You'll have to sand it all off, and it'll still be beat up. People always say "oh the drop in liners rub off all the paint in the bed", well heck, so doesn't spraying a thick layer of gritty crap over it because to get it out you have to take it back to metal. Plus drop-ins are slick so you can slide stuff in and out of the bed, herculiner/rhinoliner is like adding grip tape to the stock bed. If you ever have to sliude something in and out of the bed you're either ruining the object or the bed coating. A drop-in is a wear item. Scrape it up too bad and toss in a brand new one, truck looks great again and no harm done to whatever you were hauling. Just saying. I remember when this spray in stuff became a fad and I never understood it, I thought it would go away soon. It hasn't, but I still will never understand it. There are about 20 cons, and no pros. I don't get it
They have their uses but nothing protects from dents like a good old drop in plastic liner.
While it may or may not be attractive to some, it does the job and the old wives tales about rubbing the paint off and trapping water and rusting the bed out are basically false. Yes it rubs paint off but if it rusts through the bed bottom, the rest of the truck is likely 69% ferric oxide by then as well!
 

idahovette

Full Access Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2016
Posts
7,267
Reaction score
15,868
Location
Weiser Idaho
First Name
Perry
Truck Year
1975-1979
Truck Model
K20-K10
Engine Size
350
@Grit dog is right, they do protect the box. The S10 we just got for Brody(G-son) has one that looks like it has been in since new. Paint is scuffed on the ridges bit between looks new, NO damage!!...........except it's RED!!!!.....lol........I don't mind red rigs, as long as they are NOT mine
 

Forum statistics

Threads
44,157
Posts
950,550
Members
36,268
Latest member
JUKA
Top