Spray-in bedliner - 2nd Gen. Tacoma

I took my 2015 Tacoma to a Rhino Liner place yesterday to inquire about having the bed sprayed. It has its share of scratches and marks from hauling things over the years, but otherwise, it looks great. So I thought a spray-in liner would cover up the scratches and look good.
The guy there advised me not to do it. He said that the fiberglass/plastic composite bed material has an embedded mold release compound from when it was made. And spraying hot bed liner activates that mold release compound ultimately causing the bed liner to peel off.
I was appreciative to him for explaining this because he was obviously turning away business, but he did it out of honesty.
Anyway, I thought I'd pass this info along to save others the time of checking into this.

 

It common for hot bed liners to have adhesion problems on certain surfaces. Solvent based liners, like Raptor are much better. You also have the option of using adhesion promoters. The reason they don't use solvent sprays commercially is money. The hot stuff cures FAST, and you are out the door.

 

For what it's worth, I had my bed done with line-x in November 2008 just after buying my 2009 model taco. At the time most folks on the Toyota nation forum were saying it wouldn't stick to the material but I couldn't find anyone that had actually tried it.

The shop said it would work great and they'd guarantee the work. I did it, and it has held up great in spite of much abuse. I know they did prep work including scuffing up the bed and I think they might have used an adhesion promoter, I don't remember.

Anyway, well worth it. I highly recommend line-x. It keeps stuff from sliding around as much and even tossing transmissions and engines (okay, old air cooled vw stuff... but still) in it, it's not all gouged up.

 

Very interesting insight here. Much appreciated. I am going to have the bed liner in my 2005 Tacoma sprayed with Line-X. The place I am taking it said it is not a problem at all but they do charge more if you have a composite bed liner. Apparently, they need to sand the heck out of it and scuff it up quite about for the Line X to hold. I saw several beds they did and they looked fantastic. But, of course, it costs more. The charge for non composite bed was something like $600 but the cost for a composite bed was $200 more.

 

Just checked my "truck folder" and actually found the receipt. It's dated 12-29-2008. It was $475 total for the line-x and reads:

"Installation of one custom LINE-X spray on bedliner on a Toyota tacoma short bed under the rails."

It's actually a long bed, but they might have called it short because compared to a full size truck our tacoma "long bed" is actually pretty short at 6 foot. No mention of an adhesion promoter or the extra prep work or Toyota up charge. "Under the rails" was because I had them stop at the plastic bed rail caps and not go up over them (which was offered if I remember correctly).

This was the price ten years ago, in my area, and I think they cut me a price break because their shop was slow. It might have also been an experiment on how well the product worked on the composite too so they gave me a break... I dunno. They might have also under charged and got in for more than they expected. Anyway, they did a good job!

Best of luck!

 

Just a suggestion. You can probably save a good bit by doing the sanding yourself, and you would know that was done right. I would use a pretty course grit, like 60

 

I just sprayed mine with Raptor Liner and I like the result - we'll see how it does with time.
I did it because it looked horrible - spilled paint and some other build up from use.
Focused hard on good prep work (wash with soap and water, degreased with water based degreaser, etched with 80 grit sand paper, used adhesion promoter, sprayed in good weather, etc.).


BEFORE


PREPPED FOR SPRAY


END RESULT