Truck bed lined Baja

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SpencerKG
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Truck bed lined Baja

Post by SpencerKG »

Hey, everyone! Planning on lining my 03 baja with raptor liner. Wondering if anyone else has done this? I know plenty of people have done the side cladding, but does anyone have a fully lined baja? Planning on going black and tan.
walfredo
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by walfredo »

Might be problematic as the plastic bed material needs to be removed in order to access some areas of the vehicle, such as the rear tailights, or the spare tire.

Keep that in mind that if you bed-line it, much of that stuff is not going to be removable if its coated over.
SpencerKG
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by SpencerKG »

I'll be getting to the actual truck bed at a later date. For now it's just going over the faded paint and scratched up body. Black cladding and tan body.
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Guacamole
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by Guacamole »

Wait, SpencerKG, do you mean spraying over the factory plastic bedliner or removing the bedliner entirely and spraying the bare metal?
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ZUBAJA
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by ZUBAJA »

It sounds like he is planning to "paint" the vehicle with liner. On the plus side, it is very durable and holds up great for serious off roading (a friend just had her entire full size Dodge camper van lined $$$$$$)
On the negative side, once it's on, it's a BEAR to remove (if you ever wanted to go back to original paint). You'd end up having to replace the plastic cladding as the liner wouldn't come off that w/o destroying the plastic. It will probably depreciate the value of the vehicle. I would recommend taping off the mating edges where any lights or fixtures mount so they will fit back in after the lining (or leave them on and tape carefully around them).
NOW MY 10.00 question: My factory bed lining is seriously discolored. Anybody have experience with spraying liner on the factory ABS lining? Dennis
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Guacamole
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by Guacamole »

ZUBAJA wrote: Wed Oct 10, 2018 3:38 pm
That's the thing I'm concerned about- you actually can't paint the bare bed without damaging it and other things.
bed1.jpg
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These are pics of my bed when I took the liner off to clean it. You CAN NOT paint over the metal. If you do, you will have to rewire the tail lights, seal the gaps in the metal panels, and cut open new holes for the pressure flaps somewhere on the body (I don't know what they're called, but they allow air to escape the door wells when you close the doors).
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walfredo
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by walfredo »

Yeah this is what I was getting at. Theres no way to access underneath the plastic liner if you bedline over it - will cause problems in the future.

And as you can see by guacamole's photos, to bedline after removing the plastic liner wont work either - too many holes and recesses.

When I worked at the GM dealership that did spray-on bedliners, the technician actually had to sand the paint a little bit to get good adhesion, which means its pretty much permanent at that point.

I would be wary of doing it.
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by SpencerKG »

Sand the truck bed pieces with 120 grit and spray raptor right over it. I plan on doing roll on for that specific area. That way I can make the corners and mating surfaces smoother. So they still get a coat and can still align properly. For anything that needs to make contact I plan on rolling it on with a smooth roller. Some people (pros) are able to roll on the whole car and get a perfectly smooth texture and still get the durability. That would be super cool, but I'm doing this to save money, time, and fix my horrible paint.

PS. You can use linseed oil on your truck bed plastic on pretty much all truck beds and it will really help get that dark black again. It will be oily to the touch for a few days and your car WILL smell like a freshly baked cake! I prefer that smell over the chemical smells from products specifically made for this such as "Back to Black". Probably cheaper too.
walfredo
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by walfredo »

You could probably line your bed if you are going to disassemble all of the OEM plastic bed pieces and bed line them individually, off the vehicle, taking care to tape off any areas which need to have precise fitment. Then reassemble everything back into the Baja, keeping all screws accessible.

I know with some bedliners, they can turn chalky in a matter of time whereas some higher quality bedliner material is more rubberized and glossy which ends up retaining the color better. From my own experience, there was a guy who did bedliners at my dealership that didnt have the material mixed quite right and it always came out very matte finished which then eventually turned chalky due to UV. Then we had a new guy come and he adjusted the mixture so the material came out more glossy, rubberized finish, and stayed that way.

I used the bedliner in a can stuff once on a front grille and it turned chalky in a couple months, so keep that in mind. From your latest posts it appears you will be actually painting the car and not the bed - post some photos when you are done, would love to see.
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by SpencerKG »

I'm going to be using Raptor Liner, which claims to be UV resistant. Looks like people are very happy with how it's holding up. Will definitely post updates once I find time to do it. Can't bring myself to sand off the paint :? Just ordered the pigment for the tintable liner yesterday. Going with "Desert Storm Tan" and black.
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by ZUBAJA »

Yeah, my intention would / will be to remove all panels (have already had them put for inspection and to see what was underneath), and spray them with the good stuff liner after cleaning, scuffing, and taping.
The experience I had with using "Gatorliner" on the roof of my Isuzu pickup (I tried coating it to cover body imperfections, butthe crap came out looking like cottage cheese). Gatorliner was the only brand that offered white. Took me 3 weeks and 3 different very aggressive abrasive wheels to get it off. Dennis
SpencerKG
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by SpencerKG »

Raptor liner tintable offers white now! Might wanna check that out. Here's an amazon link:
https://www.amazon.com/U-Pol-Products-R ... ptor+liner
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by ZUBAJA »

Actually, the white was for the roof of My pickup (to reflect sun heat). When I get around to doing the liners of my Baja, I will go with black or possibly a reddish tint. Dennis
SpencerKG
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Re: Truck bed lined Baja

Post by SpencerKG »

Sweet post updates here if you get around to it! My pigment comes in the mail today. Only problem is we're getting 6" of rain in the next 2 days and no garage :(
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