The Ultimate Guide to Truck Bedliners

Every truck owner likes to take good care of their vehicle. From the looks of it, there are more and more truck owners out there every year. Pickup truck sales increased by 8% in August 2015, and for every eight vehicles sold throughout 2013 in the U.S., one of them was a full size pickup. The most popular and well-known brands — Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors — continue to account for 90% of all truck sales.

But once you get that truck off the showroom floor, it’s up to you to customize and protect it as best you can. Protecting the bed of your truck is a no-brainer, but with so many different types of truck bedliners out there to choose from, how can you know which is best?

Here’s your guide to two of the most popular types of truck bedliners: drop in and spray on bedliners.

Drop In Bedliners
Drop in bedliners function just like the name suggests. A piece of fitted plastic, which can often be ordered directly from the manufacturer, gets “dropped in” to the bed to give it a protective coating. These are fairly affordable, but they do have their flaws. For example, it’s possible that water could get trapped in the space between the liner and the bed itself, which might lead to rust. And the plastic itself doesn’t necessarily provide the safety grip of other more rugged types of liner material.

Spray Bedliners
Again, it’s a lot like how it sounds: A spray, usually some kind of polyurethane, gets blasted on the bed of the truck itself, which then forms an adhesive protective coating that should last for a long time. There are some brands you might be able to apply yourself, but for a good finish and a thorough coating, it’s best to find some experienced spray on bedliner dealers in your area.

Ultimately, your choice of truck bedliners may simply depend on how you use your truck. People who work out of their vehicles may want the more durable protection of spray, while the more recreational types could do just fine with a drop-in. When in doubt, ask your friendly coalition of fellow truck enthusiasts for advice. See this reference for more. Helpful links.