Protecting the bed of my truck has always been an important thing for me. I don’t like seeing scratched up paint, even if it is in the truck bed where most of the truck’s work is done. No one wants this space on their truck to look bad or to begin rusting.
How do you protect the bed of a truck? A truck bed will best be protected using some sort of covering such as a bed liner or a bed mat. Bed liners are the most common way to protect the truck bed and are available in many materials and styles and cover the floor and inside wall panels. Bed mats usually cover just the floor of the truck bed.
Types of Bedliners
There are multiple bed liner types such as spray-in, drop-in plastic bed liners, and drop in all weather carpet bed liners. Bed liners cover the bed floor as well as the interior bed wall panels, usually up to and often over the bed rails.
If you are looking for the best protection, with the least change to the shape and functionality of your pickup truck bed, a spray-on or spray-in bed liner is by far the best way to go. Properly applied, spray in bed liners are permanent and will last the life of the truck. They will reduce dings to your truck bed, but more importantly, they will limit scratches so that your truck bed won’t rust. This also keeps the bed looking great, even after years of hard work and abuse. Spray-in bed liners usually have a texture to them that make them skid resistant so your cargo doesn’t slide around as easily and you don’t slip when its wet. A down side to this type of bed liner is it takes more preparation and work to apply properly so it will stick well and last for years to come. This can make them more expensive up front. If your truck is brand new, the best time to install or apply a spray in bed liner is as soon as possible before you scratch up or dirty the bed surface.
Many new trucks will come with a factory or dealer installed spray-in bed liner. If the truck you have picked out doesn’t have one, ask your salesman about the possibility of having one installed as part of the sales deal.
Plastic drop-in bed liners are less expensive than spray in and are super easy to install as they just drop right into your truck bed. It doesn’t matter if your truck is brand new without a scratch or if the bed is dinged up and lined with oil and grime from your old leaky dirt bike. Plastic drop-in bed liners can be removed at any time as well if the need arises for any reason. Downsides to these plastic bed liners is they often cover your tie down hooks and they can actually scratch or rub some of the paint of your truck bed as they vibrate over time.
Carpet drop-in bed liners are also pretty easy to install and remove as needed. They usually have some sort of Velcro or other adhesive strips that you stick to the bed of your truck and the liner itself to hold it in place and keep its form since carpet is more flexible. The carpet is all weather so it won’t mold or rot in the elements. Carpet drop-in bed liners have a nicer feel than the plastic bed liners and are very popular in trucks that are also outfitted with a shell or tonneau cover. this is because they provide a very clean, finished look. They can also be vacuumed out to keep them looking nice and clean. Downsides are that the carpet can probably wear out a little faster when subject to more abuse.
Costs of Bedliners
You may be thinking that bed liners are very expensive. They may seem that way but truth is, the protection they provide saves you money in the long run and increases the resale value of your truck, especially the spray-in type.
A professionally applied spray in bed liner will likely run you about $400 to $500 USD, about the price of one payment on many of today’s trucks. Drop-in plastic bed liners cost somewhere around $200 to $300 whereas a lot of carpet bed liners seem to run closer to $400. As expensive as pickup trucks are these days, any of these bed liner options seems like a very affordable choice in order to protect your trucks bed and the investment you have into your rig. Yes, I know, trucks are not an investment but you can reduce its depreciation by protecting it.
DIY Bedliners
There are a few types of do it yourself bed liners. The most common types are a do it yourself spray in liner or a do it yourself roll on bed liner. Kits for these do it yourself spray-in or roll on bed liners seem to run about $80 to $200 depending on the kit and your truck’s bed size. I have seen many do it yourself jobs though and, in my opinion, they just don’t seem to hold up as well as the professionally applied spray in bed liners do. This is not to say that they are all that way and I am sure there are some good kits out there. Additionally, the price of these kits can be attractive, not to mention there are a good number of YouTube video tutorials to help you if you decide to go this route. I understand that many people have older trucks with beds that they still want to protect but where every penny of savings also counts and do it yourself kits can be a great option for that.
Bed Mats
Bed mats are similar to bed liners in that they cover and protect your truck’s bed but they are different in the fact that they only cover the bed floor and nothing else. These mats do not cover the fender wells, bed wall panels, or the bed rails.
Most bed mats are rubber and some are all weather carpet. Rubber bed mats are highly skid resistant so you don’t slip and so your cargo doesn’t slide around as easily. Carpet bed mats won’t be as skid resistant but they provide a very nice and clean looking surface, especially if you want to cover the bed with a shell and actually use it as a, well, bed. This carpet surface can be vacuumed just as a carpet drop in bed liner can be.
Related Questions
How long does it take a spray-in liner to dry? A spray-in liner will set up in seconds where it can be touched but you will want to wait about 24 hours to allow it to full cure before you use your truck bed.
How long does it take to spray-on line the bed of truck? When done at a professional shop, it usually takes about half a work day (3 or 4 hours). You can typically drop your truck off, have it spray-on lined, and pick it back up in the same day.
How much does it cost to spray-on line a whole car or truck? The price probably varies a lot but expect to pay as low as $1,500 to $5,000 or more.