Carpet vs bed liner

[doghows72]

So my project half cab is coming along and. I need to decide on wether I should bed liner the whole thing inside or put carpet inside the cab and Bed liner the pick up area only.
The truck is going to be a street cruiser, log road type truck. No hard core wheeling for this one.
Show me what you guys did, I'd love to see some with carpet. My last one was bed liner through out.

 

[bronconut73]

I would say do both.
Bedliner to protect the floor pans from rust again and insulation and carpet for sound deadening. If not carpet maybe vinyl....

 

[Broncobowsher]

personally I hate bedliner. I have walked away from rigs that have had the whole floor sprayed. For some reason people think it magically increases value.
I have seen bedliner delaminate and bubble up from exhaust heat.

I don't mind it in a truck bed.

Carpet has much better heat and sound isolation while weighing in less. It can be removed for cleaning, repair, replacement. "It will hold moisture and rot out the floor", well seal the floor first, problem prevented.

 

[TX SS]

My truck is street and fair weather only cruiser. I went with carpet since a reproduction parchment vinyl mat is not available. I'm happy with the carpet and the insulation I put underneath as it cut down the noise and heat significantly. My carpet is from Stock Interiors, which is ACC carpet. I have the ultra-plush type with the mass backing. Fit/molding was pretty good but you will have to trim the edges and likely fill out some areas underneath to get a smooth finish. Here are some pictures.

Carpet thickness

Mass backing

 

[00gyrhed]

they both aren't worth the trouble as far as I am concerned. If I was going to drive it everyday but not keep it forever I would just run carpet. But I run off-road as much as on and mud is a problem with carpet. I used duracoat (I think) and I regret it. I wanted to avoid liner because I have already needed to make changes to the floor. You are supposed to be able to recoat it but even after several attempts and following their instructions to the letter it peels so don't go there.

if you have to patch your floor or something I have never seen a liner patch that looked worth a crap either.

If I had to do it all over again I would have bought stainless and welded it in and then sandblasted it. It worked out very well on my tunnel covers.

Or I would have just painted them with a common rustoleum and make some rubber floor mats from those big sheets they use for horse pens at tractor supply.

 

[SSDDBRONCO]

Wow TX SS i really like the fitment of that carpet that you have!!

 

[spap]

I agree that carpet looks really good

 

[zonian]

Ditto, great looking carpet. I have the TBP version and it works great but the fit was much looser. I too am a fan of carpet over the bedliner......

 

[Nellybell]

I really like the Bedrug universal pad trimmed to fit. Impervious to most stuff good noise and heat installation and relatively cheap.

That carpet looks damn good though.

Ted

 

[fordwheeler]

Run bare floor with a rubber mat?

 

[rastiss]

I've been topless since April. I don't think the carpet would be a good option for that. I'm leaning toward the liner because of that.

 

[Dutton]

I used the Sims Rocket liner and I thought that it looked awesome until it stated to lift in a couple of spots. I tried to repair the bad spots and it looks like hell. I am in the mix of installing a vinyl floor kit now. Hopefully it will turn out ok.

 

[Pa PITT]

... OK RUNNING BUDDY finished his long before I did. We almost choked To death on the dust inside his the 1st years we went hunting in NEW MEXICO.
.. SO I put bed liner down 1st I thought It would seal up the dust. GOOD But not Perfect yet. So 2ND I PUT IN MANY CANS OF 3M Undercoating ... I knew that the undercoating would help with the noise & dust control both. Then Next I just cut Black Thick Carpet .. and placed it in place .. and I'll swear the carpet did the most good.
... But with Spray Bed Liner on the under side and on the top side both. Under coating on both sides .. and a 3rd layer of carpet on the top side. Mine did not leak much dust into the cab.

 

[twisted 66]

Raptor liner is awesome for a D.I.Y. I did it in mine and it looks as good as a pro shop incase you go liner option.

 

[Bronco1970man]

Personally if I was doing a half cab and the top was going to stay on I would do both for max sound deadening and the plush finish feel of carpet. If worried about it holding up and lasting, research a good shop that offers a warranty and have the liner professionally sprayed.

 

[Whoaa]

The one I'm working on now isn't built for hard-core wheeling. I wanted quite when driving, insulated, and a comfy feeling.

I rebuilt the top by welding in some extra bow's, then new paint inside & out, 1/2" semi-rigid foam insulation, and then 1/4" bubble-wrap insulation, then fitted in a new headliner.

For now I choose not to spray bedliner on the inside foor, because it's still in pretty good shape. After another 10 years go by I'll probably change my mind and blast it and then coat w/ bed liner.

I'm using heavy wool-type of auto carpet insulation for the floor, then a good quality & well fitted carpet. I bought all of the carpet, including the hard-to-find inner wheel well carpet from ACC.
Next, I used the bubble-type of insulation to wrap the inner fender wells. It seems like a lot of noise -not the least of which is rock's getting flung up from the tires and then pinging on the inner fenders that seems to make a lot of noise inside.
After insulating the inner fenders, I installed some pre-fitted, pre molded, carpet over/around the inner fenders. I choose to use hot glue for the adhesive to keep the insulation & carpet in place for the inner fenders...my thought here was that if I don't like it, it'll be fairly easy to remove versus some really good adhesive from a caulking gun. During the process I learned that using a hot glue gun works perfect! It sticks good, not messy to work with, holds securely and sets up fast.

And to finish off I wrapped some auto carpet around some 1/4" plywood that I had fitted for the inner bed. For a final touch I added some lights and speakers in the panels.

Along the way I put ALL new seals in all of the doors, did away w/ the old slides for the rear upper door and changed to gas shocks, spent some time making SURE the rear area of the Bronco was rattle-free, took some time aligning the upper rear door & tailgate. Now it seems much quieter for daily driving....and of course, NO rattles, NO exhaust fumes, and very little road noise.

 

[doghows72]

Here's the update. I tried the DYI liner and it failed, way to thin and not very durable so I blasted it out and took it to Linex for a good sprayed in liner.
I think in the long run I will put the carpet in as well but for now the money needs to go towards getting it driving and reliable. Then we'll go to work on the bling. Thanks for all the posts and picture I love the finished carpet look.

This is the Line X

 

[Whoaa]

The Line-X brand bedliner in your half cab looks great! I really debated whether or not to use bedliner, or not, as the base and then insulation and carpet to finish.

IMO, the bed liner will help seal, offer some sound deadening, and rust proofing and probably sould be used for most rebuilds today. Of course if you're climbing in & out all the time in the mud & grime no carpet nessesary.

And the nice thing now....you can always add insulation and carpet later if you choose to