A good truck bed liner can help certain parts of your truck last longer. Choosing a truck bed liner that is good, though, isn’t always easy.
Luckily, there are some tips you can use to figure out which truck bed liner is best.
In fact, if you keep reading, you’ll learn exactly what you need to know about choosing the right bed liner for your truck.
Let’s begin!
The Different Kinds of Bed Liners
There are many kinds of bed liners. Because of this, we’re going to spend the rest of this post, taking a look at the varying kinds.
You can then use what you’ve learned, to figure out which option is best for you.
Drop-in Bed Liner
One kind of bed liner you can invest in is the ‘drop-in’ bed liner. This is a plastic bed liner. It is molded so that it will securely fit inside of the bed of your truck. It is also secured in place thanks to the use of bolts.
These tend to be the most popular kind of bed liner. They do a good job at protecting the bed from heavy items such as bricks, pieces of wood and even stone. Due to this, the drop in bed liner tends to be a popular choice amongst those that work in the construction industry.
One of the good things about these bed liners is that they can be easily replaced. This means that if you were ever going to sell your truck, you can just install a new bed liner to make everything look up to spec.
Drop in bed liners tend to be one of the cheaper options available for people looking to invest in a bed liner. It’s hard to say exactly what you will pay for such a bed liner, but estimates are around $180.
Spray-on Bed Liner
The other option is the spray-on bed liner. This kind of bed liner is good for people who want to change the color of their truck bed. If you are someone who deals with a lot of hazardous chemicals, this option can be a good one.
That is because this kind of bed liner makes it easy for you to wash away all the chemicals. If you used a drop-in bed liner, the chemicals might get under the plastic. But with a spray-on bed liner, this is not possible.
Spray-on bed liners can take some time to ‘install.’
You will generally find it takes around five to six hours for the entire process of applying these bed liners to your truck. Most of this time is because of the work that goes into making your truck ready for this kind of liner.
You will need to remove any of the paint that is currently on the truck. This is a long and arduous process. It is also quite hard to do the right way. Because of this, you should think about hiring an expert to help you with installing this kind of bed liner.
If you have managed to install your bed liner yourself, you might have a special skill for installing bed liners. If you’re interested, you might even want to learn how you can install bed liners for a bit of extra money on the side.
If this is something you’d like to learn more about you can read more here.
As with other bed liners, it is hard to say what you will expect to pay for such a bed liner. Estimates tend to be around $500-600. But this cost can also be as high as $800. It will depend on who is helping you with this and the exact kind of spray-on bed liner you are using.
Bed Mats
You also have the option of using something known as ‘Bed Mats’ to help line the bed of your truck. Bed mats are essentially mats that are often made from recycled tires.
Due to the nature of this mat, you won’t get all the protection you can expect from the other liners we’ve covered so far. But this is a good option if you just need something to hold items in place.
That’s because the rubber element of this liner means that items are less likely to slide around when placed upon it. This helps prevent damage to the truck bed itself, as well as the sides of the truck.
Estimates for this kind of bed liner are around $100.
Bed Rugs
There is also the option of using something known as ‘Bed Rugs.’ As the name suggests, this kind of bed liner is almost like a rug. But, it does not contain any of the fabric you would expect to find in a normal kind of rug.
The kinds of bed liners are normally covered in some kind of polyester fiber.
With this kind of rug, you aren’t going to be using any bolts to hold it down and so you won’t have to do any kind of drilling. This bed liner is normally held in place, due to the way it is molded to fit the shape of the truck bed.
If this is done properly, it means that nothing should get underneath the bed liner too. As a result, you might want to think about hiring someone to help you install this kind of bed liner if this is the right option for you.
This bed liner is good for people who tend to do a lot of crawling around, in the back of their truck. If you tend to have dogs in the back of your truck, this kind of bed liner can be good for them too.
One of the good things about this bed liner is that it is easy to wash. You can easily wash away any dirt and debris, using a power washer.
Estimates for this kind of rug tend to be around $500.
Found the Right truck bed liner?
Bed liners can help extend the life of your truck. But finding the right truck bed liner for your needs isn’t always a simple task.
In this post, we’ve taken a look at some of the varying bed liners that are on offer. It is important you know what you want your bed liner for. When you are aware of your needs, it will be easier to narrow down which bed liner is right for you.
Want to learn more about how you can improve your vehicle? Check out our blog for our latest content!