Bob_Skurka
Super Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,615
We bought a new Chevy Silverado pickup for work and I had my general manager price out RhinoLiner bed liner. The price to spray a 6.5' bed was about $400, and that was after a $100 discount, from a local licensee. I had already looked into spray in bed liners and had been told by several sorces that the best ones are 2 part epoxy sprays with rubber added. I also had looked into Herculiner and similar products. I also looked into the products sold on Ebay as well as other brands. For about $160 + s/h and several hours of fairly easy work, I ended up spraying my own pick up bed liner.
Let's just say, if I can do it, and get a very good result, anyone can do this project!
The key is preparation. As I was spraying down a new truck, I didn't have rust and corrosion issues so I suppose that made things easier. Basically I cleaned the bed. Taping off all the areas to protect them from overspray proved to be time well spent. I covered the exterior of the bed as well as the entire back of the cab. I SHOULD have covered the TOP of the cab /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif At one point I was hooking up the spray gun after refilling the gun and a shot of spray hit the roof and went over it to hit the windshield and hood. It cleaned up easily with mineral spirits AFTER the spray job was completely done.
ONE KEY with using this stuff is to have EVERYTHING READY IN ADVANCE. It sets up quickly and you have to spray the whole bed down before it sets up, or you have to keep thinning the mixture.
Here is what I found.
1 - Have a LOT of disposable gloves handy, to keep the mess down, I ended up changing gloves every time I refilled the spray gun. I probably went through a dozen gloves or more.
2 - How ever much mineral sprits you have, you need twice as much. Buy another quart just to clean the gun!!!
3 - You NEED a respriator to use this stuff, not just one of those little disposable masks. This stuff stinks and has respriation warnings on every can.
4 - Do yourself a favor and buy a $10 disposable jumpsuit or wear clothes that you have already ruined.
5 - Goggles or a face mask would be great, I had goggles that fogged and tossed them aside, if you are careful you don't need them but they should be used.
6 - You can now buy drop cloths that already have an adhesive edge, I used one that was 100' long x 22" wide, it made protecting the areas from overspray very easy . . . but you will still need some masking tape for some areas.
7 - BEFORE you mix your epoxy, activator & rubber, have everything else done, and have all your supplies laid out and ready. Especially spare gloves. Have a place where you can pour the bedliner mixture into the spray gun container, if you use a funnel, you will need it to be a wide mouth funnel. Also make sure your compressor is already adjusted to the right pressure. Have plenty of hose!
I used "Liner Extreeme," purchased it on Ebay. I specified light grey color. My compressor is a 33 gallon Sears Craftsman, it was more than adequate for the task. The gun is an undercoating gun, they are cheap and available from Harbor Freight and other sources.
The whole project took 2 hours, that included cleaning the bed, masking everything from overspray, spraying and cleaning up. If you were not spraying a new truck, then I would say it could take 4 or 5 hours to account for cleaning the bed, getting rid of rust, etc.
The job looks very professionally done. I am very happy with the result. Several people saw the truck and commented on the box today and how good it looked.
If you have a compressor and a clean place to work and have thought about RhinoLiner or any of the similar products but were put off by the high price, I would highly recommend you to do it yourself. As I said earlier, IF I CAN DO IT THEN ANYONE CAN DO IT! And you will save 50% of the cost, even if you have to buy a modest respirator and other supplies.
Let's just say, if I can do it, and get a very good result, anyone can do this project!
The key is preparation. As I was spraying down a new truck, I didn't have rust and corrosion issues so I suppose that made things easier. Basically I cleaned the bed. Taping off all the areas to protect them from overspray proved to be time well spent. I covered the exterior of the bed as well as the entire back of the cab. I SHOULD have covered the TOP of the cab /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif At one point I was hooking up the spray gun after refilling the gun and a shot of spray hit the roof and went over it to hit the windshield and hood. It cleaned up easily with mineral spirits AFTER the spray job was completely done.
ONE KEY with using this stuff is to have EVERYTHING READY IN ADVANCE. It sets up quickly and you have to spray the whole bed down before it sets up, or you have to keep thinning the mixture.
Here is what I found.
1 - Have a LOT of disposable gloves handy, to keep the mess down, I ended up changing gloves every time I refilled the spray gun. I probably went through a dozen gloves or more.
2 - How ever much mineral sprits you have, you need twice as much. Buy another quart just to clean the gun!!!
3 - You NEED a respriator to use this stuff, not just one of those little disposable masks. This stuff stinks and has respriation warnings on every can.
4 - Do yourself a favor and buy a $10 disposable jumpsuit or wear clothes that you have already ruined.
5 - Goggles or a face mask would be great, I had goggles that fogged and tossed them aside, if you are careful you don't need them but they should be used.
6 - You can now buy drop cloths that already have an adhesive edge, I used one that was 100' long x 22" wide, it made protecting the areas from overspray very easy . . . but you will still need some masking tape for some areas.
7 - BEFORE you mix your epoxy, activator & rubber, have everything else done, and have all your supplies laid out and ready. Especially spare gloves. Have a place where you can pour the bedliner mixture into the spray gun container, if you use a funnel, you will need it to be a wide mouth funnel. Also make sure your compressor is already adjusted to the right pressure. Have plenty of hose!
I used "Liner Extreeme," purchased it on Ebay. I specified light grey color. My compressor is a 33 gallon Sears Craftsman, it was more than adequate for the task. The gun is an undercoating gun, they are cheap and available from Harbor Freight and other sources.
The whole project took 2 hours, that included cleaning the bed, masking everything from overspray, spraying and cleaning up. If you were not spraying a new truck, then I would say it could take 4 or 5 hours to account for cleaning the bed, getting rid of rust, etc.
The job looks very professionally done. I am very happy with the result. Several people saw the truck and commented on the box today and how good it looked.
If you have a compressor and a clean place to work and have thought about RhinoLiner or any of the similar products but were put off by the high price, I would highly recommend you to do it yourself. As I said earlier, IF I CAN DO IT THEN ANYONE CAN DO IT! And you will save 50% of the cost, even if you have to buy a modest respirator and other supplies.
