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Bed coatings, paint, powder etc.


mkvacik

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From everyone's experience, what is the best way to go on the bed?

I am in the process of building a bed now, and considering my options on it. Roll/spray on DIY bedliner on the deck? I am generally very tight and prefer to do as much as possible myself, however, I have been doing better on this project at realizing that if I build this right, it will last me the rest of my life if my needs don't change in the next 50 years. (LOL, right....) So that said, I would entertian the idea of having a name brand liner sprayed on if there isn't a good quality DIY product out there.

Just saw another poster had the whole bed powder coated, I had not really considered that as an option, but could check into who would have that large of a booth around here.

I guess my original plan, which still may be the plan, was to find a direct to metal type industrial paint/primer in one, but I don't want to be regretting that decision in a couple of years.

What to do....

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Look at Raptor Bed Liner if you consider do it yourself. YouTube has several videos on it. I have no personal experience with it but do know one of the high end fifth wheel trailer manufacturers was using it as their under cap rock guard.

2006 Volvo 780 "Hoss" Volvo D12, 465hp, 1650 ft/lbs tq., ultrashift

Bed Build by "JW Morgan's Custom Welding"

2017 DRV 39DBRS3

2013 Smart Passion Coupe "Itty Bitty"

 

"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first!"

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I am like you and have successfully used Liner Xtreme out of Texas. I sprayed it myself on many different things. I dont like powder coating anything that may get chipped, as once rust starts under powder coating, its just a free for all for the moisture on carbon steel leading to rust. The underside will do well with Por 15, topside spray liner.

Marcel

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I am like you and have successfully used Liner Xtreme out of Texas. I sprayed it myself on many different things. I dont like powder coating anything that may get chipped, as once rust starts under powder coating, its just a free for all for the moisture on carbon steel leading to rust. The underside will do well with Por 15, topside spray liner.

 

Por 15?

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Do it yourself Tutorial.

 

We used Scorpion products and kit, they shipped it to us from Rhode Island to New Hampshire where we were building the truck. We bought everything we needed, prep tools, spray gun, chemicals, rubber crumble and a 5 gallon minimum kit, around $700 bucks for all.

5 gallon (4 parts) kit will do at least couple of beds, or four pickup beds, after doing this bed and the tire walls protection on tool boxes, we had about half a kit left. The kit is about $500, the balance of the $700 was for the tools we bought, that's about half what it would have cost for Linex. After you are done you could do couple of pickups for friends and make money or be a real good friend. The actual spraying took 15 minutes, the whole job a day and half.

 

We mixed enough to fill the spray gun hopper comfortably (not too full and heavy).

 

DSC_0437_zpsamj46lj6.jpg

 

The gun would go through the hopper full in 5 minutes, we filled the gun three times to do the bed, hence the 15 minutes, the mixing took lot longer than application. The four parts in the kit are: the epoxy, the hardener, the color (black in this instance) and the rubber crumble. You can add as much or as little of the rubber crumble you desire to get to desired roughness (or smoothness) of the bed surface. We used four graduated beakers to measure precisely the four components to have the same consistency in the three mixings.

 

DSC_0438_zps0mihf5uo.jpg

 

So if it took 15 minutes, what's this business of day and half, in three words, masking, masking, masking. The gun does not spray the mix, it literally farts it out in globs, so the crap flies all over. Not only we had to mask the bed to get the right and sharp spray lines, we had to cover the entire cab and since we were doing it in friend's (heated, it was winter) work shop, we needed to cover the floor, the walls and the equipment he had in there.

 

The bed was painted in oil based industrial metal primer and finished in gloss industrial oil base. The kit includes a spray can of surface prep to etch and make ready the surface for the coating. You wait few minutes to let it do its job before you start coating.

 

DSC_0436_zpsjpc2962g.jpg

 

DSC_0435_zps4qii7mdg.jpg

 

Done ready for the epoxy to set.

 

DSC_0440_zps4remxief.jpg

 

They tell you not to leave it for a long time (like overnight), we pulled the tape in couple of hours, it was still soft to give us nice clean lines. This wasn't the fancy tape with wire in it, just plain $3 bucks stuff. The results below.

 

Can't give you the "result" the stupid photobucket stopped working, they got hacked recently and bunch of naked people who thought their "storage" was secure got exposed, since the "software fix it" it runs like crap.

Later.

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The results and "the end product"

 

DSC_0445_zpsj5ec12ae.jpg

 

We put down the edging tape first, then attached the masking tape (and the protecting plastic) to it.

 

DSC_0444_zps9brohfal.jpg

 

DSC_0443_zpsqmuvxlz1.jpg

 

The thickness of the covering depends on three things, the time you spend applying it, the number of coats you put on it. the amount of rubber crumble you mix into the epoxy. We did only one coat, applied it a little thicker and didn't use too much crumble, more crumble makes for rougher look. The truck had four storage boxes bolted on, the walls exposed to the tires (back walls on front cabinets, front walls on the rear cabinets) were also covered with this stuff. The repairing or re-coating the bed is not a problem, the coating loves to stick to a previous layer according to the manufacturer.

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So, this would make diamond, or tread plate, unnecessary.

 

I'm hoping to finish our bed this summer. As I built it, I've been painting it with rattle cans, so it's pretty ugly. When it's finished, I want to coat the top, and paint the sides to match the cab.

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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So, this would make diamond, or tread plate, unnecessary.

 

I'm hoping to finish our bed this summer. As I built it, I've been painting it with rattle cans, so it's pretty ugly. When it's finished, I want to coat the top, and paint the sides to match the cab.

 

3/16 plate with 16" x 16" lattice pattern of support in the forward section where the Smart rides. Why rattle cans when for less than $20 bucks you can get a spray gun from Harbor Freight, used them and they work OK. Their $40 or even better $60 models do a magnificent job. Yea, yea, I did (and do) own a DeVilbiss pro gun I bought at an insane price, so all you pros don't give me any crap.

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I am like you and have successfully used Liner Xtreme out of Texas. I sprayed it myself on many different things. I dont like powder coating anything that may get chipped, as once rust starts under powder coating, its just a free for all for the moisture on carbon steel leading to rust. The underside will do well with Por 15, topside spray liner.

I have a Dodge Flat Bed that someone had powder coated the bed at some point. There is no way I would ever do that. As stated, once you get a chip, you're screwed! The corrosion gets started and you now have a bubbling rust bubble that just festers!

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Why rattle cans when for less than $20 bucks you can get a spray gun from Harbor Freight, used them and they work OK. Their $40 or even better $60 models do a magnificent job. Yea, yea, I did (and do) own a DeVilbiss pro gun I bought at an insane price, so all you pros don't give me any crap.

Cuz I was just doing small sections each time. I also have an HVLP gun and a Sharpe for finish work. Perhaps not pro grade, but decent. Heck, yesterday I was touching up some areas with a brush. That will all change once I'm satisfied the welding is done.

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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I have a Dodge Flat Bed that someone had powder coated the bed at some point. There is no way I would ever do that. As stated, once you get a chip, you're screwed! The corrosion gets started and you now have a bubbling rust bubble that just festers!

 

I used to powdercoat ETs, sandblast and powdercoat immediately. Looked beautiful when done until you saw them 2-3 years later exposed to elements, rust bubbling here and there all over. Switched to epoxy paint. Talked to another powdercoater years later. He said "know all about it, great on aluminum, on steel you have to go through another prep step and do a surface conversion after sand blasting using phosphoric acid and then washing it good to remove all of it. then powdercoat". The cost to do it right and powdercoat was not competitive with epoxy (two coats, primer and final coat).

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We have Line-X on our bed and it works well IF it is installed properly. Make sure they put it on THICK enough. Also be aware that unless the franchisee will give a warranty on it the company WILL NOT. In the fine print somewhere they will tell you that it is only guaranteed for use on pick up truck beds. I went through this with them after I ripped up the coating. I went up the food chain to a VP. I have had mine done twice. An additional word of advise. DO NOT have it put on any surface that will be bolted against the product. I had it on the bed and they put it on the bottom of my wheel chocks also. When the 2 surfaces are bolted together they will fuse after a few days and you will rip the product off the bed before they come apart. I removed it from the bottom of the chocks and have had no problem since.

 

Brad

Brad and Jacolyn
Tucker the Wonder dog and Brynn the Norfolk Terrier
2009 Smart "Joy"
2004 VNL630 "Vonda the Volvo"
2008 Hitch Hiker 35 CK Champagne Edition
VED12 465 HP, Freedomline, 3.73 ratio, WB 218"
Fulltiming and loving it.

 

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Cuz I was just doing small sections each time. I also have an HVLP gun and a Sharpe for finish work. Perhaps not pro grade, but decent. Heck, yesterday I was touching up some areas with a brush. That will all change once I'm satisfied the welding is done.

 

This is exactly my worry, although not totally true info. I have some experience with powder coat, back when I worked at an OEM. We had all kinds of problems with powder, but once we started sand blasting the parts before powder it was the toughest paint you could ever find. Surface prep is the key, and if you don't rough it up, it will rust like that. I just don't think the blast and powder cost is justified for this thing, but I really don't even know what it costs at this point.

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I used to powdercoat ETs, sandblast and powdercoat immediately. Looked beautiful when done until you saw them 2-3 years later exposed to elements, rust bubbling here and there all over. Switched to epoxy paint. Talked to another powdercoater years later. He said "know all about it, great on aluminum, on steel you have to go through another prep step and do a surface conversion after sand blasting using phosphoric acid and then washing it good to remove all of it. then powdercoat". The cost to do it right and powdercoat was not competitive with epoxy (two coats, primer and final coat).

 

Gotcha, I guess I didn't know what the coater was doing to them after we blasted. That is good to hear! I have one of your hitches with powder, I think it still looks pretty decent for the age, but I really have no idea how old it is.

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We have Line-X on our bed and it works well IF it is installed properly. Make sure they put it on THICK enough. Also be aware that unless the franchisee will give a warranty on it the company WILL NOT. In the fine print somewhere they will tell you that it is only guaranteed for use on pick up truck beds. I went through this with them after I ripped up the coating. I went up the food chain to a VP. I have had mine done twice. An additional word of advise. DO NOT have it put on any surface that will be bolted against the product. I had it on the bed and they put it on the bottom of my wheel chocks also. When the 2 surfaces are bolted together they will fuse after a few days and you will rip the product off the bed before they come apart. I removed it from the bottom of the chocks and have had no problem since.

 

Brad

 

You have a beautiful rig as well! I have pics on my phone of yours from the rally as well! Mine isn't going to be near that sharp, but I am doing my best to be detailed on this project.

 

It looks like I may already be buying a 4 door jeep instead of 2 door, because that is the best deal on a total I have seen right now, so it all may end up as paint if I do that because I will have a ramp like BigUgly has anyway.

 

Time will tell, thanks for the advise guys!

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I am like you and have successfully used Liner Xtreme out of Texas. I sprayed it myself on many different things. I dont like powder coating anything that may get chipped, as once rust starts under powder coating, its just a free for all for the moisture on carbon steel leading to rust. The underside will do well with Por 15, topside spray liner.

The thing I have learned as I have done more projects with this liner product, is

1) Dont use ANY crumb on surface that you will subject to traffic unless you overcoat the crumb product with some non crumb product. The crumb can be rubbed off and then you will have less protection.

2) Dont bother saving the material, dont be on a budget with this stuff. It will bite you in the butt later. The company applied products are thick for a reason. Follow their lead, LAY IT ON!!

3) Its nice to have color options. I coated a removable service bed I bought for my work truck. It was previoulsy painted white and I sprayed it grey. The only change I would make to it, #1 & 2.

Marcel

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U-Pol has a line as well called Raptor.

http://www.u-pol.com/us/en/product/raptor/bed-liner-protective-coating/1-liter-raptor-kit/1-liter-raptor-kit

 

The have a Tintable line that works decently. I had a local Napa dealer that carried the line and he was able to tint the base Dodge Patriot blue. Although the bed was lined, from a distance it looked just like an unpainted bed. It was tough stuff. Had scratches in the surface but never went thru it.

Alie & Jim + 8 paws

2017 DRV Memphis 

BART- 1998 Volvo 610

Lil'ole 6cyl Cummins

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Gotcha, I guess I didn't know what the coater was doing to them after we blasted. That is good to hear! I have one of your hitches with powder, I think it still looks pretty decent for the age, but I really have no idea how old it is.

 

Can't connect the name with your forum name, send me an email (hjszmyt@gmail.com) or PM. Also send me a close-up picture of the ET. There were three periods: the original design, the first improvement and the second improvement (current style), by looking at it I can tell you which version you have. Powdercoat is porous so moisture can get under it and starts rusting under the paint, sand down those areas and coat with black gloss Rustoleum (rattle can), the two paints are compatible.

Did you buy this hitch originally, or do you have someone else's truck, some of the ETs are on second and third owner?

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