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Any reason *not* to coat the tub with a bed liner

wardhog

Newbie
Joined
Feb 7, 2021
Messages
9
Feels like there are a lot of pro's to using something like LineX in the tub of the Bronco.

Curious if there are any negatives? any long term downsides to consider?
 
Last edited:

sprdv1

Contributor
REBEL
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
81,964
I'm sure there's some out there, but my thoughts are the pros outweigh the cons
 

armynavy17

Contributor
Full Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2010
Messages
361
At the end of the day it all comes down to preference.

There are some who argue it devalues the rig since rust issues can be more easily hidden with bed liner vs paint. Of course this is all in the eye of the beholder and only may be an issue if you go sell AND the buyer has that opinion. My thought is this can be overcome with plenty of pictures of the bodywork and prep prior to application.

The only other thing that comes to mind is it's a pain to take off, which is kind of the point. I would say most have bed liner on at least one side of the tub.
 

reamer

Contributor
Bronco Guru
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Mar 20, 2008
Messages
1,249
There is a post on FTE (I believe) about not using a "bed liner" on the inside because of VOC outgassing for years, Lizard skin is supposedly OK, but does not protect as well as Dynamat,, Don't use a bedliner on the engine side of the firewall either It's a fire accelerator....
 

DirtDonk

Contributor
Bronco Guru
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Nov 3, 2003
Messages
48,743
A couple of things come to mind to at least factor into the equation when making this decision.

1. It can be heavy. A good thick coat of professionally sprayed bedliner is added weight, sometimes substantially.
2. The possible off-gassing, but lots of people have done it so it might depend on the brand. Or leaving your Bronco topless for awhile.
3. VERY ROUGH so if you and/or your spouse and kids intend to crawl around on your hands and knees to work on the Bronco, or to just play around in the back, choose your liner material carefully. This is where the Raptor really shines in fact. it's got a nice texture. Some are like sandpaper. With teeth!
4. The aformentioned "hidden rust" issue. This is an issue because liners are used to cover rust and crappy repairs LITERALLY ALL THE TIME these days. We see it almost every time someone shows up with pictures of a Bronco being flipped.
The cure for that is as was mentioned. Take lots of before and after pics to prove it's not a coverup. More and more buyers are becoming savvy to this.
5. It's not much of an insulation for heat OR noise. However some are much better at it than others, and you would think that they would all at least reduce noise. But this is not the case. I guess the harder it is, the less it confounds the transmission of noise through the panels.
6. Most of them are not good heat barriers, but someone recently added ceramic beads to one of them (Raptor Liner I think) and so far the reports are very good about the heat reduction.

Those are just some potential negatives. But as you can see most of them can be overcome (or just avoided) by researching the individual brands you like and seeing samples up close and personal to be sure they fit your need.

Paul
 

armynavy17

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Full Member
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Jan 9, 2010
Messages
361
One more thing, some bed liners tend to hold dirt and dust more than paint and are more difficult to get clean. This is another one of the reasons many suggest against putting it in the engine bay.
 

tirewater

Sr. Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2011
Messages
1,044
Loc.
San Francisco Bay Area
If you get the textured surface you'll never be able to clean it without a pressure washer.

I'm curious to why add bed liner? If you're hauling bricks, rocks and other pointy stuff, sure. Otherwise just use a bed mat (stock if you have it) to protect it from the random thing (*cough* small gas can) that gets put in it.
 

Broncobowsher

Total hack
Joined
Jun 4, 2002
Messages
35,392
It is a one and done finish. Turns the body into a throw away item. Impossible to match if a repair ever needs to be done. They fade bad. If you get a bad paint job, it can be repainted. A bad bedliner job, nothing can fix that.

If you are building a throw away trail rig, something that will be driven into the ground and scrapped when done, it will be fine.

I have yet to hear of any of the benefits of doing bedliner on the body. It won't make the panels dent proof. Maybe scratch resistant? As long as what is doing the scratching is soft (driving through brush) but won't do anything about something hard (rock, tree stump).
 

bronco t

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Sr. Member
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Jun 28, 2010
Messages
786
Loc.
San Diego CA
I have interior bed liner on the inside of mine from the PO, and I wish it was not there! At first I said - cool water resistant, easy washout - but Fixing rust (which these things have) is a nightmare, and you can never match the fading color.

Even Rattle Can paint would be better!
 

phred

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Aug 25, 2006
Messages
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Loc.
Earth
I used Morton’s urethane coating. It’s thicker than paint, thinner than bedliner, has a slick glossy pebble like finish. Doesn’t hold dirt and cleans easily. I sprayed the entire inside of my tub in a medium gray.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Nothing Special

Sr. Member
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
828
Personally I'd never put bedliner on the outside of a body. I don't see any pros to that and a whole lot of cons that have already been mentioned.

I do have a DIY bedliner (Durabak I think was the brand) on the inside of my Bronco. I like it and would do it again, but it's not for everyone.

For me the biggest plus is that it does have some teeth. True, you don't want to slide your knees across it. But the nice thing is that stuff doesn't slide around much.

Another plus is that it doesn't hold water like carpet. I only have a soft top and whether it's on or off, it doesn't really keep water out. Plus I 'wheel it, and I don't feel bad about getting in with dirty boots.

It also stays in place rather than blow around like mats do when driving with the top off.

There are a lot of cons, most of them already mentioned. But none of them matter that much to me. It not insulating against sound or heat is the biggest drawback. But since I wasn't going to have carpet I didn't really have many better options. I don't plan on selling so I'm not worried about resale. Yes it's impossible to get actually clean, but that doesn't bother me.

I put it on pretty thin so it doesn't add that much weight, but the flip side of that is it's not as tough as it would need to be in the bed of a pickup. But it's not in the bed of a pickup, so that's a fair trade.

I never noticed any issue with outgassing, but the Bronco sat for quite a while after I lined it before I could drive it, so it might have just happened then. Also I have pretty good ventilation %) which helps reduce any odors.
 

johnbeck

Sr. Member
Joined
Aug 11, 2015
Messages
534
,There are certain elements that effect the look, the feel that I want of my Bronco. When I purchased my Bronco it had a worn, black bed liner on the interior. For me, bedliner on my Bronco was like having skip trowel texture on the walls of an old Victorian house. It didn't complement my vision's look. I painfully sanded the liner off, painted the surface with primer, and am going to paint it the exterior color. John B
 

jim3326

Bronco Guru
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Jul 12, 2010
Messages
1,781
Loc.
Appleturkey
I guess I'm the odd man out. I put Line-X all over mine in the mostly unexposed (visually) areas underneath and all over the inside of the cab and engine bay. I carefully detailed where I did and did not want it applied. I also put down carpet.
I feel the Line-X was the single best addition I made. With all the modifications I made to the floor and tunnel using sheetmetal instead of replacement parts, this seemed like a no-brainer. All the rusted out panels were replaced with sheetmetal.
It did get about 400# heavier but that just gives it a solid feel and it did silence it quite a bit IMHO. After putting Dynamat in the doors, they close with the sound of a '90's truck.
I did have to remove some Line-X from a bumper I had to fix and all it took was a heat gun to remove the coating and lacquer thinner to remove the remaining goo which was like removing the glue from a bumper sticker.

I would definitely do it again.
 

thiswildbronco

Jr. Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2016
Messages
128
I guess I'm the odd man out. I put Line-X all over mine in the mostly unexposed (visually) areas underneath and all over the inside of the cab and engine bay. I carefully detailed where I did and did not want it applied. I also put down carpet.
I feel the Line-X was the single best addition I made. With all the modifications I made to the floor and tunnel using sheetmetal instead of replacement parts, this seemed like a no-brainer. All the rusted out panels were replaced with sheetmetal.
It did get about 400# heavier but that just gives it a solid feel and it did silence it quite a bit IMHO. After putting Dynamat in the doors, they close with the sound of a '90's truck.
I did have to remove some Line-X from a bumper I had to fix and all it took was a heat gun to remove the coating and lacquer thinner to remove the remaining goo which was like removing the glue from a bumper sticker.

I would definitely do it again.
Do you think Dynamat or something similar would work between the interior floor coat of Linex and a carpet install? Would the Dynamat adhere well enough to the Linex floor? Thanks!
 

jim3326

Bronco Guru
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Jul 12, 2010
Messages
1,781
Loc.
Appleturkey
Do you think Dynamat or something similar would work between the interior floor coat of Linex and a carpet install? Would the Dynamat adhere well enough to the Linex floor? Thanks!
I don't think it would stick very well but besides that, the Line-X does the same thing as the Dynamat. It totally killed the noise.
 
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