If you own a truck with a bed for on-the-go storage of tools, furniture and other goods, it’s essential that you look into refreshing the layer of bedliner when the surface becomes slick. Spray-on and brush-on bedliners are used to protect the truck bed from scuffing, gouging and weather-based damage including corrosion from acid rain. Acting in much the way that paint or stains do for your deck or driveway, bedliner provides a buffer against harmful elements while improving traction.
In this article, we’re going to cover six best spray-in bedliner products from six reliable brands. Each serves a different purpose depending on your specific situation. It’s important to know which one you need in order to adequately protect your truck bed since replacing the bed itself can be expensive. The traction that’s gained from applying a fresh coat of bedliner can also prevent carriage from applying pressure to the bed door, or in a worst-case scenario, sliding off the back of the truck in transit.
Some traits of bedliner that you’ll pay attention to are as follows:
- Type (high-pressure [hot], low-pressure [cold] and do-it-yourself [DIY])
- Material (urethane, polyurethane, polyerea, epoxy, etc.)
- Spray-on, brush-on or drop-in
- Ultraviolet (UV) resistance
- Traction
- Scuff, stain and gouge resistance
- Soundproofing and vibration absorption
Spray- and brush-on bedliners require cleaning and preparation prior to application. We’ll help you find the best spray-in bedliner that’s not only most convenient for your needs but also meets your carriage requirements down the road. Read on!
Best Spray-In Bedliner Comparison Table
Product | Volume (Gallons) | Coverage* (Sq Ft Per Gallon) (2 COATS) | Spray Gun in Kit | Price |
---|---|---|---|---|
Herculiner HCL1B8 Editor's Choice | 1 | 55-60 | No | |
U-Pol Raptor | 0.88 | 65 | Yes | |
LinerXtreeme | 3 | 35 | Yes | |
Al’s Liner ALS-BL | 1 | 45 | No | |
Speedokote SMR-1000-K4 | 1.7 | 60 | Yes | |
Custom Shop | 0.22, 0.44, 0.66, 0.88, 1.7 | 65 | Yes |
Best Spray-In Bedliner Reviews
Herculiner HCL1B8 — Best Ready-to-Use Spray-in Bedliner
Manufacturer and First Impressions
Herculiner is one of the top brands on the market when it comes to bedliners. They’ll be a tough one to beat, offering a whole lot of good for not a lot of coin. They’re one of the most widely used, trusted and referenced names out there when you need a bedliner that does the job best, and we’re hard-pressed to tell you much more than that. They back everything up with a warranty, and of course, there’s a website to grace the end user who’s interested in finding out more about their policies.
Features
While this is advertised as a brush-on liner, you can optionally spray it on instead if you like. It doesn’t really matter either way because you’re getting a glossy coat of tough polyurethane with a pleasantly gritty texture that holds carriage to the surface. The skid resistance is met with the full spectrum of protection against weather conditions, temperature fluctuations, corrosive agents and more. It’s physically immune to abuse, but we don’t recommend dropping nuclear bombs on it or firing lasers into the truck bed only because the truck itself could disappear and leave the bed behind.
You can choose one out of two colors: black or medium gray. It is not much of a selection, compared to that of its competitors. For example, LinerXtreeme is available in fifteen colors, and Al’s Liner comes in six colors.
Installation and Usage
This is one simple product. There’s no need to mix anything; just shake, dip and brush. You can also roll or spray it if you want. There’s an included roller and brush in the kit, but you’ll need to bring your own sprayer if you opt for that route.
The fact that mixing different components is not required is considered an advantage and a disadvantage of this product at the same time:
- On the one hand, it makes your job easier: it is not necessary to calculate the proportion of the components and mix them afterward.
- On the other hand, it is important to know that the hardener is one of the compounds of the formula. Therefore, after opening the can, you must use its contents the same day. Otherwise, the substance becomes very thick and cannot be used anymore. Perhaps, this is the only one – but substantial – the disadvantage of this product.
The kit contains the detailed instructions that cover all general and special application rules. We are not going to repeat them in our article, but we will talk about those important points that you should be aware of before buying this product.
Before application, the mixture should be thoroughly stirred in order for heavy particles to get uniformly distributed throughout the substance. The manufacturer recommends using a drill with a special nozzle, rather than manual application.
Please note that only xylene (Xylol) is suitable for this purpose. Other types of solvents must not be used. We recommend buying the whole bottle of this solvent. You will need it anyway. At the preparatory stage, this solvent will be needed to degrease the prepared surface, and after the work is completed, you will need to rinse the spray gun or roller, and also to wipe any random stains.
There is an important ambient temperature guideline for application of this product. It must be at least 32 F and not higher than 95 F. Check it in advance and make sure that in your region the ambient temperature is within that range. Working with this product in enclosed spaces is dangerous, unless, of course, we are talking about professional spray chambers with industrial ventilation.
Herculiner, like all other products of this type, must be applied in two layers. The second layer is applied on top of the first layer in 20-60 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature.
Verdict
- Protects from a wide spectrum of damaging elements
- Extremely durable
- No mixing needed; just shake and apply
- Can be brushed, rolled or sprayed on
- Glossy finish
- Highly renown bedliner company with warranty to back it
- An open can cannot be stored. The substance will quickly harden and become unusable
U-Pol Raptor — Best Component Spray-In Bedliner
Manufacturer and First Impressions
This is a world-famous company that specializes in production of adhesives, fillers, aerosols, and all sorts of paints. Registered back in 1949 in Great Britain, today this company is the world leader in production of the materials for car body repairs. U-POL has offices in 12 countries of the world and supplies its products to 109 countries.
The name U-POL is an abbreviation for the main component used during production of the fillers – “unsaturated polyester” and it reflects the history of the company. After all, it was U-POL that, for the first time in history, introduced the auto body filler to the European market. The company creates innovative products even today. This is one of those brands you can rely on “with your eyes closed”! So, if you are looking for the best spray-in bedliner, stop your searches and choose this product.
Features
Who says bedliner has to ship with just the chemical itself? Raptor comes replete with materials that you’ll need to get the job done, including a bedliner spray gun with an adjustable nozzle, gauge, and regulator. The spray-on chemical itself also comes rife with protective features that keep your truck bed safe from extreme temperatures, water, salt, corrosion, and abrasion. Vibrations and general shock from roadside bumps, bruises and dings will also be nullified to protect carriage. If you care about how your truck bed looks, you’ll be pleased to know that Raptor is stain-resistant too.
There are two options of this product available:
- Black.
- Customizable. It is a colorless mixture; you can create color yourself by adding the desired dye to the mix. According to the manufacturer, you can use the dye by U-POL or any other automotive paint.
The kit comes with a fairly high-quality spray gun. But you can also buy and use the HVLP Gravity Gun to reduce product usage by up to 25%. If you want to treat your car only, it won’t be cost-efficient. But if your work volume is great, this is something to think about.
Installation and Usage
It doesn’t take much effort to get this effect since the chemical mixture has been formulated into a neat shake-and-spray process. Apart from the usual prep work that precedes an application of chemical bedliner, you’ll simply add hardener to the mixture beforehand.
Make sure that you’ve stripped all the paint out of the truck bed, sanded, cleaned, dried and primed before you begin spraying it in. It’s a fairly standard and easygoing process among bedliner projects.
An interesting feature of U-Pol Raptor is its ability to let you decide whether you need a smooth or a textured coating:
- If you apply the mixture at a pressure of 60 psi or less, you will get a textured coating.
- A smooth coating can be achieved by applying the product at a pressure of about 80 psi.
If, after applying the bedliner, you want to paint the surface, wait for 24 hours. As for complete drying of the product, it takes up to seven days.
Customer Service and Warranty
U-Pol offers a standard one-year warranty on all products unless specifically stated otherwise. The warranty only covers products that were used responsibly and aren’t defective due to any fault of the customer’s. Basically, it’s what you can expect from most large companies that honor their goods and services.
Verdict
- Highly durable
- Offers a wide spectrum of protective factors to the truck bed
- Aesthetic is suitably rugged yet attractive
- Relatively simple to apply
- None
LinerXtreeme — Best No-Primer Spray-In Bedliner
Manufacturer and First Impressions
LinerXtreeme is, in fact, an awesome supplier for bedliner goods, and they’re not afraid to say it right on their home page.
“Why are we better than the ‘others’?” they ask. They “tuffen all your toys” with a Kevlar-laced epoxy-urethane bedliner mix that doesn’t require primer. They also have a pure polyurethane offering for those who prefer lighter colors and need better UV resistance.
Features
To make a point about their product’s versatility, LinerXtreeme went ahead and noted that their bedliner isn’t only meant for lining truck beds. In fact, it’s also good for trailer hitches, trailers, carriage cabins and basically any heavy-duty piece of equipment that you’ll be using on the road.
The benefits are many: UV resistance, a significant traction boost and an overall bump to the physical resilience of your truck bed. You can count on weatherproofing and long-term durability in LinerXtreeme’s offering as shown by the consistently superb results that many customers have as well as the repeat clients that come back to the company time and again. It seems we have a winner here.
Installation and Usage
Their bedliner comes with a spray gun and 3 gallons of Kevlar-enhanced goodness that doesn’t need primer — well, in most cases at least. You’ll still need to strip of old layers of paint, gloss and bedliner in addition to cleaning and drying before laying this stuff on. However, the product itself only has one page of instructions needed.
Customer can choose one of two products:
- Black bedliner. Three gallons of this mixture can cover up to 100 square feet of the work surface.
- Bedliner with dye. The product is available in fifteen colors. At the time of placing an order, you should tell the sales consultant what color exactly you would like to obtain. The LinerXtreeme color bedliner provides less coverage than the black bedliner. Three gallons of color bedliner can cover up to 80 square feet of the work surface.
As in the case of U-Pol Raptor, you decide which coating you want to achieve – a smooth or a textured one. But an important distinguishing feature of this product is the Kevlar additive. And it is up to you to determine whether to add it to obtain a textured surface, and, if added, in what quantity:
- To obtain a textured surface, add Kevlar additive to the mixture before spraying, and spray the product at 60 psi or less. The coarseness of the texture is determined by the amount of additive and the spraying pressure. The lower the pressure, the coarser the texture.
- To obtain a smooth surface, do not add Kevlar additive, and spray the product at about 80 psi.
Verdict
- Extremely resilient
- Offers a wide spectrum of protective factors in addition to traction enhancement
- Special Kevlar bedliner allows for a super-simple, no-primer application project
- LinerXtreeme’s customer service is exceptional
- Many color and grain options
- We’re not sure if there’s a warranty on their goods or not
Al’s Liner ALS-BL — A Reasonable Alternative
Manufacturer and First Impressions
Al’s Liner Systems features a clean-cut website that gets right to the point: liners, HNR and automotive accessories to deck out your truck for the long haul. They don’t seem to feature products for cars in general, just trucks, and their primary product is bedliner. This seems like a good choice for you if you’re interested in a company that focuses solely on one general idea than spreading itself thin over many different kinds of vehicles and chemicals.
Features
It’s a solid product; we can tell that much from the outside in. It’s resistant to UV and provides similar protection to the truck bed itself, and it’s advertised to prevent corrosion. You also shouldn’t experience any issues with leakages that occur in the truck bed with oil, solvents or other chemicals that eat away or destabilize metal, plastic and other common materials.
The manufacturer introduced this product as a premium bedliner for non-professional use. To be objective, it is difficult to point out any obvious advantages of this product compared to those of its competitors. However, there are no obvious drawbacks either.
Customers are offered kits of mixtures in six different colors. Moreover, by adding a certain amount of dye, you can obtain the desired color shade.
The kit comes with a sprayer. But its presence should not mislead the customer: it is very flimsy and more suitable for very small projects or even for test sprays for you to select the desired color shade. For a serious project you will need a solid tool. If you do not have it, you will have to buy it, which will increase the total cost of the tools and materials needed for your project.
Installation and Usage
Okay, this is where things get sticky. Many users had similar complications with mixing the various components that are delivered with the product. Yes, unfortunately, Al’s Liner doesn’t ship as just one or two chemicals that can be mixed, applied and called finished. Instead, you have about five different containers with product that needs to be mixed in varying degrees, and if you get any part of the process wrong, you’re prone to end up with something akin to Play-Doh. The pot life is also reportedly terribly, again likely due to a poor mixing of the given materials.
Adding insult to injury, there are no measuring tools provided with the kit, so your exact measurements will be dependent upon the assumption that you already have the means of getting just the right amount of each additive in the mixture. Yeah, this is a little more complicated than LinerXtreeme, which inversely was a simple matter of spraying it on without primer.
On the other hand, the kit contains the detailed, easy-to-understand instructions: surface preparation, component mixing and application to the surface. Full hardening of the coat occurs within 72 hours after application.
As with the previous cases, the structure of the surface depends on the spraying pressure. The higher the pressure, the smoother the coating.
Verdict
- Provides the full spectrum of protective features
- Reasonably durable
- The product comes in multiple components that need to be mixed exactly right
Speedokote SMR-1000-K4 T-Rex — Best Traction
Manufacturer and First Impressions
We’re not sure how to pronounce that name, but we’re guessing that their bedliners provide a speedy coat. In any case, we’re happy to inform you that this isn’t just another obscure manufacturer that operates through secondhand retailers and keeps itself totally anonymous from the front-end. They don’t appear to be well-known, but their reputation is quite good among those who have given them the chance to shine.
Speedokote offers many products for different purposes spanning across trucks, boats, industrial equipment and even recreational gear. We haven’t seen this kind of versatility in the other manufacturers’ offerings. With that said, we’re comfortable with this company and think you should give them a peek.
Features
As usual, Speedokote’s T-Rex bedliner comes with an industrial-quality spray gun, with 2K-grade urethane and a measuring cup to mix the activator with the liner.
The bedliner covers from rust, salt, oil, high and low temperatures, water and general shock. It’s a well-rounded solution for protecting the truck bed in addition to any carriage that’s on it. There’s also a great deal of traction here, making this better than other options when you need to keep things in place on the move.
Unfortunately, this product has no color variations. There is only one color available –black, and no dyes come with it. Perhaps, this is the disadvantage of this product that consists of several components that are to be mixed before application.
Installation and Usage
Mixing and installing is easy. You’ll simply add the activator, shake and spray. You’ll still need primer to make it stick, but that’s expected of most bedliners. They have detailed instructions on the exact temperatures and other conditions that need to be considered when applying this product to your truck bed, so we recommend that you read carefully.
The texture of the coating is to be chosen by the user – the higher the pressure during spraying, the smoother the coat. However, this is not a unique feature of this product: it is one of the features of almost all other similar products.
Verdict
- Protects from a wide spectrum of damaging elements
- Reasonably long-lasting
- Easy to mix and apply
- Great traction
- Comes in black color only
Custom Shop — Largest Coverage Area
Manufacturer and First Impressions
There’s little to say about Custom Shop seeing as they’re evidently a manufacturer that sticks to the back end. Without mention of a warranty or any company background, it’s hard to generate first impressions. All we can say is, companies that don’t have their own website are usually not ideal in our eyes because of the disconnection that’s formed between the company and the customers. With that said, they do receive great ratings, so they clearly sell a good product.
Features
This product can come with either a gun or a roller to spray or brush down the bedliner. The usual array of protections are in place whichever route you go: rust and corrosion resistance, oil-proofing, shock absorption, and traction improvement. It’s also said to protect from salt and extreme temperatures, which are marks of a quality bedliner that you’ll want in your truck bed. Last but not least, waterproofing goes a long way to protect what’s underneath the bedliner from rust and retention.
The durability is also great on this offering. However, the finer point here is that Custom Shop offers enough product in a single order to cover those supersized truck beds . If that was ever a concern for you with other products on our list, you now have affirmation that Custom Shop will ship you enough to get it done completely in one run. Oh, and that’s just the 4-liter offering; they also have 6 and 8-liter shipment available if you need it.
Installation and Usage
It’s as simple as adding the chemicals together, shaking and spraying. This is a common way of going about the mixing process for many top-of-the-line bedliners, and we appreciate this easygoing approach. Of course, you still have to clean, sandpaper and the whole nine prior to application, so be mindful of that.
Customer Service and Warranty
We don’t see any complaints about customer service, but that’s probably because the product just works out of the box. With that said, the lack of a website or any mention of their warranty means that coverage is out of the question and probably provided through a third party instead.
Verdict
- Protects from a wide spectrum of damaging elements
- Easy to mix and apply
- Highly durable
- Looks great
- Plenty of product included in a single shipment, covering the largest truck beds
- None
Best Spray-In Bedliner Buyer’s Guide
Factors to Consider
We recommend paying special attention to the following factors when choosing the best spray-in bedliner:
1. The manufacturer’s reputation. Buying a product made by an unknown manufacturer can result in wasting money and wasting time. Our article is dedicated to the products by the best manufacturers that have been on the market for years. The only company we could not find information about was Custom Shop. Nevertheless, based on good customer reviews about this particular product, we’ve decided to include their product in our list of the best spray-in bedliners.
2. Resistance to aggressive environmental factors. Before making a purchase, make sure that the selected product is resistant to UV, rust, physical impact, extremely low and high temperatures, salt and gasoline. As for the products reviewed in this article, all of them are polyurethane-based – made with the substance resistant to all the external factors listed above. Therefore, you can confidently pick any of the products described above.
3. The type of product. All bedliners can be divided into two main groups:
- Ready-to-use product. The best product in this category is Herculiner HCL1B8. Just open the can, stir the contents thoroughly, add solvent, if necessary, and apply it to the surface.
- A component product that comes in several containers the contents of which must be mixed together before application.
The product from the first category is convenient because it doesn’t require mixing the components in a certain proportion. But its major drawback is in the fact that storing such a product after opening the can is impossible.
4. Color. Most motorists use black color, and all manufacturers produce bedliners in this color. But some prefer colors other than black. Some manufacturers we’ve mentioned offer bedliners in different colors. But there are those that offer colorless products that require adding a dye of your choice to achieve the color shade you need.
Best Spray-In Bedliner FAQ
Is there any marked difference between spray-on and brush-on?
Spray-on bedliners are aesthetically pleasing but require more preparation prior to applying it. They can ruin the stock paint that was on the truck bed, which isn’t terrible in itself since it was bound to be dinged up when loading and unloading carriage; however, it’s worth keeping this in mind because it could void your vehicle warranty.
Brush-on (or roll-on) bedliners are less expensive and easier to lay on without the prep work that goes into the spray-on variety. They typically offer more protection while staying aesthetically passable, but applying them is a time-consuming process. Brush-on bedliners are considered a less stressful option in the long run, but it’s not a game-changing difference.
Neither type is particularly better than the other since both fill the same basic task with similar efficiency. Honestly, if you’re looking for an option that’s markedly different from the norm, you’ll want to pay attention to the chemical mixture (polyurethane, polyurea or some other combination) or check out drop-in bedliners.
What’s the difference between chemical bedliners and drop-in types? Does it matter?
Drop-in bedliners usually consist of a rubberized mat or plastic shell that’s cut in a specific shape to fit your truck bed dimensions. They’re considered a more effective option for protecting your truck bed while offering better utility than chemical variants. Drop-in liners are also easy to remove, clean and replace when the time comes to do so; chemical liners must be stripped off, however, and can leave lasting damage to the paint that can ultimately void your vehicle warranty.
The purpose of spray- and brush-on liners is to provide a flexible solution that sticks around as part of the truck bed itself. Drop-in liners are a separate object from the bed itself, meaning they can slide around and lose their function and aesthetic oomph over time. Chemical alternatives don’t suffer from these issues. On the other hand, the amount of prep work that goes into applying a chemical liner as well as what can go wrong if you do it improperly are points to consider and could very well make it less suitable to use spray-on bedliners for your truck.
How should I prepare my truck bed for spray-on bedliner?
This is normally a situation that you’d hire a professional for, but some folks are more confident and independent than that. If you’re one of them, the process looks a little like this:
1. Unless otherwise stated on the product, strip the paint off the truck bed. You should have bare metal or primer exposed on the surface.
2. Sand the exposed surface to level it out.
3. Thoroughly clean the result. Have you ever painted a deck or driveway? You want that kind of thoroughness when cleaning out the stripped and sanded result.
4. Just as thoroughly, you want to dry the cleaned surfaces until there’s absolutely no moisture left. Make sure no debris attaches to the surfaces that you want to treat in the process of drying them off.
5. Use masking tape or some other cover to protect painted surfaces near the area that you’ll be treating. While you are stripping the paint inside the truck bed itself, any paint that isn’t stripped will be destroyed on contact with the chemical liner.
6. Apply primer if necessary. If you only stripped the paint off the truck bed and not also the primer, then you’re good to go.
7. Carefully apply the liner per instructions. Typically, you’ll want to be careful to apply it evenly before allowing it to sit for some time to set and dry.
8. As the chemicals are highly toxic to inhale, you’ll want to fully protect your face and body while applying spray- or brush-on liner.
What happens if I don’t use bedliner?
You’re not required to use it. Many people don’t bother with bedliner in their trucks. It depends on how often you’ll be loading and unloading carriage, especially heavy or dangerous objects and materials that could scuff or corrode the bedliner. You may find that carriage doesn’t grip the stock paint inside the truck bed adequately, or the paint’s traction may have ground down over time; in these cases, you’d consider using liner unless you can settle for a dinged-up, not-so-grippy truck bed.
Glossary
Spray- or brush-on bedliner: These are chemical applications that can be sprayed or brushed into the interior of a truck bed to protect it from outdoor elements in addition to carriage-based damage that can scuff, gouge, stain or fade the bed. Spray- and brush-on bedliners typically require preparation in the form of thorough cleaning, complete drying and even application of the bedliner product. Afterwards, it must settle before it’s ready for use.
Drop-in bedliner: This is a non-chemical form of protection for your truck bed that involves dropping in a physical barrier to protect the bed underneath. These are generally easy to remove and clean, and they don’t require preparation like spray- and brush-on bedliners do. However, it’s important to procure one of the right size for your truck bed. Chemical liners are more convenient in this way since they can be applied to any truck bed regardless of size.
Polyurethane: Polyurethane — essentially plastic — is one of two common materials that a spray- or brush-on bedliner will use. It’s a general-purpose lining agent that provides well-rounded protection from UV rays and physical damage while providing grip for carriage.
Polyurea: This type of bedliner is typically not found in its purest form due to how expensive dangerous the chemical can be. Polyurea bedliners are usually applied by a professional for high-end protection, and as such, this material isn’t needed or easily afforded by most people. Most cases of polyurea liners will occur as hybrids. However, such a material is far more aggressive in preventing damage to the bed.
California state Proposition 65: In a nutshell, this is a law that requires toxic chemical products be labelled as such so customers can make an informed decision before committing to a purchase. The warnings entail what chemicals are present and their known or suspected effects if the customer is exposed in certain ways. Californians will see this warning when they shop for chemical bedliners.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, spray-on bedliners are quite useful but difficult to apply and remove as needed. They aren’t modifiable or capable of being transferred between trucks. When you lay in spray-on bedliner, you’re settling on that truck and its bed for hauling cargo and benefiting from the liner application. If this doesn’t suit you, you’ll definitely want to consider drop-in bedliners instead.
Bedliners aren’t essential by any means for the average Joe or Sally to use in their pickup, but people who frequently carry heavy objects or corrosive materials may consider using a liner to protect their truck bed. Furthermore, even if you opt never to use a bedliner, your truck bed’s paint job will eventually wear down and require a new chemical layer or traction mat to function like it used to.
Remember that if you stick by a chemical bedliner for your truck, you’ll want to serious consider hiring a professional to do it for you. If you choose to do it yourself, do some research and protect yourself thoroughly from the chemicals since they diffuse into the air and are highly toxic.
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