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Spray On vs. Drop In Bedliner's

13K views 18 replies 18 participants last post by  09W 
#1 ·
Which is best?
 
#4 ·
Definitely don't do the drop in. The bed of your truck bends and moves. As it does this, the drop in rubs the paint off and you will get rust. Good luck.
:yup: Heaven forbid if you get rocks or dirt in between the two- it will act like sandpaper on your bed and do some wicked damage. My advice to you is to use your truck until you start scratching the bed up. When it starts getting bad, have a pro put the spray in on. Rhino liner and Line-x are the top 2.
 
#8 ·
Drop in = things slide around all over in the bed and need to be straped down constantly.

rubber bed mat = better than drop in, at least has things stay put

spray on = best, looks better, and more grip

i have a rubber bed mat, i do like it.

my 2 cents
 
#9 ·
I had a drop-in in my last truck and have a spray-in in my current truck.

While I'm sure that my drop-in liner wiggled around and scratched up the box of my old truck, I leased it so it went back to GM long before any rust might have become a problem. With my spray-in liner I have had many, many dents all over the box of my truck, the liner hasn't let go or started pealing or anything like that but the bed is a lot more beat up looking then it would be with a drop-in liner because of all the dents.
The other thing I noticed different between the twi has to do with water n the bed. I have a rollup cover on the box and had the same kind of cover on my last truck as well and find that I have water on the floor of my bed much more frequantly with the spray-in liner. I have figured out that the moisture that would get in through the edges of the cover would actually get underneath the drop-in liner on my old truck vs. getting right into the cargo area of my new truck. While thsi water under the liner would have been worse for rust and wear on my old truckas I already mentioned, it was a lease and went back to GM before I needed to ever think about it. the real point of note is that things are more prone to getting we under a cover if you have a spray-in liner and more prone to staying dry under a cover if you have a drop in.

On my next truck I will probably go back to drop-in beacuse I would rather have a cheaper, more water resistant and dent resistant cargo area and I won't keep the truck long enough to worry about bed rust issues.
 
#18 ·
I have used Herculiner before, and after one Wisconsin summer, it had already turned an ugly gray and is getting powdery. Line-X turns a very subtle gray (the base-level stuff) after about 10 years in the elements up here, without any difference in durability.

You're paying $135 for the Herculiner route. Trust me, whether you regularly use your bed or not, it will need to be redone in another year or so. DIY roll-ins just don't hold up at all. If you keep your truck for 4 years, you already have enough into the cheaper product to have paid for the professional spray-in. Plus, many spray-in places like Line-X will fix any damage you cause to their liner for free, no questions asked.
Your friend will also need to prep the entire bed. That means sanding every square inch so the product adheres better. Line-X prep work is included in the cost.

I think you will regret going the cheaper route. It will look okay for the first week or so, but after that, it will start falling apart and fading very fast.

IMHO, it isn't even in the same universe as the professional spray-ins in terms of quality.
 
#12 ·
A spray-in liner and one of the thick rubber mats specifically designed to fit the bottom of the box are the best combination. The spray-in prevents rust and the mat prevents dents in the bottom of the box or scraping off the liner. I prefer the mat to the whole drop-in liner because the mat can be easily removed and stored when nothing is in the box, I've seen even the heavy duty mats go flying on the highway or in a car wash.
 
#13 ·
I prefer the SPRAY ON type as the drop in CAN cover the tie down points OR have HOLES in them where stuff can fall inside between the box and liner
I also find liners harder to clean after a load of loose materials like gravel as the channels are a LOT deeper and narrower making a good place for stones to get stuck in
 
#14 ·
Even aside from the fact that drop in liners don't seal as well because of their holes and mounting points, they also actually can cause the bed of your truck to rust faster because they will rub the paint off and then the rust has easy access to the bare metal of your trucks bed. There are also some pretty easy DIY spray on solutions out there that work nicely.
 
#15 ·
#17 ·
Factory spray in liner, no questions asked. No rust, no pealing, no chips, and who cares about dents.
 
#19 ·
I had a liner in a long bed for 15 years and 146K miles, I took it out when I sold the truck and although the paint was abraded, there was zero rust in the bed (in NJ). Galvanized, you see.
Have had 2 trucks with drop-ins - both have also always had a fitted rubber mat- nothing ever flew out and the mat makes it easy to clean. The quality mats are far too heavy to fly out/move around: you could NEVER get enough air under them to lift them out of the bed.

That said, I will go with a spray-in on the next truck (plus a mat).
 
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