I bought a plasti-kote bedliner kit from Wally World. It comes with a gallon of black coating, a roller pan, a brush, a scuff pad, a roller handle, and a heavy nap roller cover.
My bed has some flaking paint in places, so I plan to remove that with a wire cup brush on my grinder.
Other places are primer. Some caulk here an there.
1) Should I paint the inside of the bed with a uniform coat of paint and let it cure before coating?
2) Will I be better off buying a coarse sponge type roller cover, like I have seen in some kits?
3) One heavy coat? Thin coats? Go back over it as it sets up, to get more texture? etc. Looking for sucessful techniques, here.
4) How long should I wait to start using the bed to haul stuff again?
I intend to read the instructions, but I am mainly looking for the kind of info that they don't tell you on the package. The real-world stuff.
Prepping the bed is the biggest thing from what I've heard. Matt had to have his redone because it wasnt prepped properly. It will come off in pieces just like paint.
The line-X guy here told me that he recommends ruffing up any old paint, and cleaning the bed real well, then priming any bare metal with a quality primer. He says it's kinda like painting, and it just needs a good base to adhere to.
get rid of all loose paint, sand and primer the places that need it, once that's done I would go with a thick coat
When I worked at Camper City I was the bed liner guy.
First tape off where you want to to be if you want it on your bed rails or just right above them whichever its up to you. Its up too you if you want to tape the bed bolts or not. Take off the tail gate and put it on some sawhorse or along the likes. Tape it off as well just around the tail gate and again its up to you how high you want it to come up to the top of it. Along the back can be tricky. Just be sure to tape under where the bottom of the bed meets the bumper. Where the bottom of the bed skin meets with bed where the tail gate meets the bed. Its kind of hard to explain in words. Just be sure to get under the bed skin at the tail gate area. Also take out the bed tie down cleats. With the front of the bed take a old tarp and shove it down between the bed and cab.
You pretty much just need to scuff up all of the paint in the bed. Even if its rust or flaky paint just scuff it all up not to the metal (seen that happend to the guy that I replaced funny stuff). Also try to get up under the bed rails. With the tail gate just take out the bolts if you want too.
Then clean the whole bed out. I used one of those air nozzles and sprayed it out. Then whiped it all down with a cleaner. Be sure you don't touch it with your hands after you clean it and if you do or sweat gets on just whip it away.
For the application of it the more you put it on the thicker its going to get. Also the more you put on the courser its going to look. The oppsite if you put less on. Its really up to you on how you want it too look. If you have any old body panels laying around prep it and try different ways before you do it to your bed. What we did is we sprayed it on heavy (Reflex liner) to get it a course look.
We usally tell them to wait a day or so before hauling things.
I don't know much of anything about sponges and the wallyworld type rolll on bedliners. Thats just how we did it spraying it. I am sure its the same way just rolling it on instead of spraying it. I am not exactly sure how your gonna do the sides but I would say stay in one motion don't go back and fourth to side to side.
Good luck take pictures when its done.
Thanks. That answers a lot. Still curious about the roller cover, though.
Does it require a special spray gun? I wonder if an automotive paint gun will work.
we used a special gun and everything. If you have any scrap metal to practice on try out different amounts of liner to roll on. You could use a body panel, lawn more, sheet metal, etc..
I do not believe that stuff will spray through a regular spray gun. The viscosity is too high. Definitely loose the flaking pant and prime any bare metal. Scuff it real well, water hose and 3M ScotchBrite pads work well. It will probably take 2 or 3 to get it scuffed well. Can't answer the roller question.
Yeah, the can says it can be sprayed with an undercoating gun. I'll go with he roller. I will probably dosome tests like mudcrawler suggested.
It will behave like paint, that is, the roll marks will settle out as it dries. If its thick enough.
Mine took a long time to dry, about 4-5 days before I felt comfortable with it.
Extra thick coat though.