The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Making a Stovebolt Bed Bedliner options

Hey Bolters!

Have any of you seen some good options for "bedliners" on a 52 Chevy short bed? I'm really thinking I just want something that will cover the front and side walls as well as inside wall of the tailgate. I want to leave the floor exposed but just project the walls from scratches. Any options out there like a spray on side walls only bed liner. If any of you have any pictures of something like this, please share.

About the only way I see to do that is have the insides of the bed sprayed with bedliner either at a shop or with a DIY kit. It would probably be best to do that with the bed disassembled or at least without the wood and bed strips installed. I think I'd mask off the angle strips (at least the horizontal part where the bolts go through. It would be difficult to figure out where to stop the bedliner on the front panel and top edge of the tailgate because there's no real defining line like on the bedsides (where the sides angle out.) With the bed painted beforehand and then prepped properly, it would probably work OK.

Moving your thread over to Making a Stovebolt Bed where it'll be more on topic.

Personally, I prefer the LineX product or comparable. It leaves a hard, textured, uniform finish and can be had in any color you wish.

Rhino-Liner, on the other hand leaves a mottled, irregular, semi-soft finish. It doesn't hold up as well as LineX, although it WILL last a long, long time. It just wears down sooner than LineX because of it's softer nature. It IS superior to LineX for use on the bed floor as it creates a non-skid surface that keeps things in place.

Most of the rattle-can spatter paint type bed liners I've seen are closer to Rhino-Liner than LineX but there might be a DIY product that leaves a hard uniform finish.

The 2-part DIY stuff like Raptor applied with a shutz gun would work and be more durable than 1K rattle can stuff. Also available in different colors or tintable. Bed liner can be applied either textured or smooth by the professional appliers. It's a matter of the air pressure used to apply it.
Raptor Bed Liner Kit -- Caveat, I have not tried it.

I put the Raptor in one of my other trucks. I did all of the recommended prep with fresh primer, roughing up, used their surface cleaners, everything.

It looked great for avout 6 months, then started chipping really badly. It has been about 6 years now and it looks "fine", but not good.

I would not put it anywhere that will get regular use.

Jason, I still stand by my statement of the 2-part Raptor being better than a 1K rattle can product.

But your experience is acknowledged, and helpful.

What do you mean by 1K?

1K=single component
2K=two component or catalyzed.

Link

I had very good experience with the SEM product. I used it in a 1971 F-rd, as a bedliner, inside doors, etc. as a novice I thought it was fairly easy to do. MASK WELL. Comes in a kit that includes the gun. The finish resembles a crinkle. I do use the vehicle as a truck and it holds up well.