A drop in bed liner is better bed protection than even an expensive spray on bed liner. That’s because the heavy plastic material in these liners is almost impossible to damage. Protect your truck yet still use it for all kinds of rough hauling without hurting the truck at all. Here’s the problem though… The wrong liner can actually do more harm than good. Check out these tips to avoid trouble…
- Poor fit equals no paint.
A poor fitting liner moves when the truck goes down the road. It moves just from vibration or even from the wind pounding on a loose liner. All that moving equals rubbing on the truck bed paint. Over time, that means paint gets worn away. Mix bare metal on a truck bed with water and you have a rusty mess in time. That’s all hidden underneath that tough plastic lining too. There’s spray on bedliner… - Loose liner flies away.
A loose, moving liner tens to crack, especially around mounting points. Keep that up and add all that wind passing by and you may have a flying object. A plastic bed liner flying through the air is a scary thought. - Wind noise and nerve damage?
Hang bed liners out in the wind with lots of exposed edges and you likely get noise too. The design of the liner determines the amount of noise. It shouldn’t be noisy, but many are. That’s a recipe for frustration and frayed nerves. - Water traps for rust starter.
Choose a liner with good drainage. Otherwise water gets trapped under the plastic and just sits there. Give it time and especially with a few scratches and you have rust. Again, that rust is hidden and just gets worse and worse. - Does it have to be in one piece?
Usually a drop in bed liner is custom made in one piece. If the fit is good, it’s a great value. But a poor fit is a set-up for all these problems. Another way to go is to choose a multiple piece liner. That way you have a better chance for a great fit. What’s more, it’s easier to get a multiple piece liner to drain properly. So, a one piece liner isn’t the only way to get a tough liner that avoids so many of the problems above.