What about bed liners. Spray on or Rubber mat?

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Hipster

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I chose rubber mat. Bedliner will wear your paint underneath after years of use and are slippery to items placed in the bed. Rubber mat can be removed easily for a wash, they have textured/rubber surface for friction, and a quick buff will remove any of the little "rubber bumpy marks" left on the paint underneath when removed.

PS: Experts may chime in with better knowledge, but I'd wait a period of time before I put anything over the new paint in the bed. How long? Maybe someone else has a good answer to that.

Edit: I just saw that @someotherguy and I said pretty much the same thing. :)
Typically it's said that new paint needs to cure 30, 60, 90 days to be fully cured. Each one has it's own guidelines. That being said, we typically put emblems, small decals, mats, and bedliners back in with very little issue if the finish has been through a bake cycle.

I hate a plastic bedliner, First off, as said, it's slippery, Secondly. if it's wet, you can forget about climbing in it and walking around with an object in your hands.
 
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JoeJoe1993

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df2x4

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My red truck has had a removable rubber mat in the bed since it was new. It's kept the bed pretty nice, and hasn't caused any issues with trapped moisture or debris. I'm team rubber mat.
 

TechNova

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I personally think bed liners in older trucks that have been repainted is just an ez way out for the body shop not to prep and paint the bed since it’s a huge pain in the ***.
not really. ALot of people prefer the bedliner look inside the box. Paint prep is more hours and paint materials are more expensive,. I'll do whatever they want if they pay but usually they don't want to.
 

Supercharged111

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Man, all these plastic haters in here. It's sooooo much easier to slide heavy things in and out with the plastic liner. The rubber just fights you. I also like that the whole bed is better protected from dings and dents with it vs rubber. The bed has drain holes, so any water that gets underneath will drain. I imagine getting a snowmobile in and out wouldn't be as easy either, but I've not yet tried it on a rubber mat myself. Spray in liners are good, but they can be spendy too. Paired with a rubber mat would be pretty good IMO, just depends what you want out of the bed protection.
 

HotWheelsBurban

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Man, all these plastic haters in here. It's sooooo much easier to slide heavy things in and out with the plastic liner. The rubber just fights you. I also like that the whole bed is better protected from dings and dents with it vs rubber. The bed has drain holes, so any water that gets underneath will drain. I imagine getting a snowmobile in and out wouldn't be as easy either, but I've not yet tried it on a rubber mat myself. Spray in liners are good, but they can be spendy too. Paired with a rubber mat would be pretty good IMO, just depends what you want out of the bed protection.
Yes I can vouch for the ease of sliding things in and out of the bed, with the plastic bed liner in my crew cab. I have an old hoe(garden tool not the other kind!) that I use to pull tables, totes and boxes out with. A trick my Dad taught me, to get heavy things in and out of the Burbs, on the Masonite or plywood sheets we'd have in the cargo area.
 

someotherguy

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Man, all these plastic haters in here. It's sooooo much easier to slide heavy things in and out with the plastic liner. The rubber just fights you. I also like that the whole bed is better protected from dings and dents with it vs rubber. The bed has drain holes, so any water that gets underneath will drain. I imagine getting a snowmobile in and out wouldn't be as easy either, but I've not yet tried it on a rubber mat myself. Spray in liners are good, but they can be spendy too. Paired with a rubber mat would be pretty good IMO, just depends what you want out of the bed protection.
Sliding heavy stuff easily is all fun and games until it slides when you don't want it to. :) My '94 had a smashed bed header panel and rear cab wall. (My buddy Rob that bought it did finally get those replaced and had the whole truck painted.) Previous owner had an A/C unit back there and had to jam on the brakes, it slid forward and did that damage along with blowing out the back window.

When I'm moving pinball machines or arcade games, I don't want them to slide too easily. Spray-in bedliners tear 'em up but the rubber is fairly tame. Getting ready to order a DeeZee rubber mat for the '93, I think.

Richard
 
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