Making Your Car Interesting

A spray-in truck bed liner is an effective way to quickly and cheaply improve the durability of your truck. However, installation has to be done properly for the best possible results.

A truck bed needs to be prepped before the installation of a spray in bed liner can begin with the following five steps:

Grinding down the bed

A spray in liner should not be installed until the truck bed has been stripped down to either the primer layer of paint or to the bare metal. Any other layers of paint or other materials can be removed through either sanding or grinding. 

Cleaning the surface once it has been ground or sanded down

Grinding or sanding the surface will inevitably produce a lot of dust and debris, and this needs to be carefully cleaned away before the installation of the spray in liner can begin.

Cleaning away debris should involve washing the truck bed down carefully with water and making sure it is completely dry before proceeding. 

Applying a chemical cleaner to finalize the grinding process

It's usually not enough to just clean the ground down truck bed with soap and water. A chemical cleaner can ensure the deepest possible clean so that no dust or particles will get dried onto the actual liner once it is installed. 

A chemical cleaner can help to dissolve debris so that it can more easily be washed away. Debris can get stuck on to the bed during grinding or sanding, and a chemical cleaner can free up this debris through chemical reactions that weaken bonds between debris particles and the base layer of the truck bed.

Protecting the area around the truck bed with masking

One of the most important steps in the prepping process is putting down a later of masking that will protect parts of the truck outside of the truck bed once spraying begins.

You want the spray in liner to only hit the truck bed itself and not the painted area of your truck or your cab and fenders. 

Locating the vehicle inside a spray booth or somewhere where it is isolated and away from other vehicles

You also need to protect other vehicles and surrounding objects from the spray in liner once installation begins, so locating the truck in a spray booth is a good idea if possible.

Otherwise, you can situate the truck at a distance from any buildings or other vehicles to avoid hitting other items with the spray in liner.