Let’s face it. Your pick-up truck is no small investment, and it’s a necessity for work and chores at home, too. But, as soon as it rolls off the dealer’s lot and goes to work–whether heavy duty or light duty–the bed will get:
- scuffed
- dented
- scratched
- corroded
- chipped
- baked in the sun, drenched with rain, or covered with snow
What’s the best way to make your truck last a good long time, retain its resale value and let it keep its like-new good looks?
The answer is a spray-in bed liner. Sure, there are drop-in kinds available from every car and truck customizer around. But the current industry gold standard is the spray-in product. Most often consisting of UV (ultraviolet) resistant polyurethane, these truck-toughening products can be applied professionally, or the smart DIY guy can buy any one of a number of quality products out there on the market today.
The advantages of a spray-in bed liner
Spray-in bed liners are really a form of low-cost insurance for your truck. When done right, that beautifully-painted, but easily damaged, truck bed gets a good coating of a tough, yet flexible shell. In addition, liners help keep your cargo, tools or whatever your carrying, in the truck where it belongs. In other words, the cargo will tend to stay where you put it.
Unlike liners that are installed by simply dropping them in the back of the vehicle, spray-in liners:
- fit any size and shape of truck bed
- fill every nook and cranny of the bed and have virtually no holes, seams or openings to let in dirt, water, road salt or pests such as mice
- are quiet because they don’t jiggle or vibrate with every rough road or pothole
- have additional uses and can be sprayed on rust-vulnerable areas such as wheel wells, grills and bumpers
- dry and cure very quickly, allowing you to get your truck back to work right away
- are easily repaired when time and hard use wear them down
- clean-up easily
- do not reduce the size of your cargo area
What spray-in bed liner to buy
Of course, you get what you pay for. So, don’t go the cheap route, and purchase just any product whether you do it yourself or have a professional do it for you. Do some on-line research, and pay extra attention to customer reviews. People who have had a product in their truck beds for a while will know how well it is holding up, whether or not it was worth the price and how the application process went.
Be sure to pick a spray-in bed liner that comes in a variety of colors to match or contrast with your vehicle and bonds well and holds up to sun, wind, snow, rain, dirt and salts. Customer reviews should also reveal that overall, most people are happy that they decided to take time to protect their big investments.