The beauty of a pick-up truck is that you can toss just about anything in the bed and be on your merry way. That loses some of its allure when whatever you put in the back moves around and damages the bed. Fortunately, there is a solution. Bed liners are a way to protect your truck bed from damage and preserve or improve the vehicle’s value.

What Is a Bed Liner?

You bought the truck because it’s hardy. You want the bed to hold up against whatever it is you haul in it, not be scratched, dented, or punctured. A bed liner is designed to protect the bed of your pickup truck by adding a layer between it and whatever you are hauling. It can also help secure your cargo, protecting it as well.

Bed liners come in many shapes and forms, ranging from a mat or rug that you lay down for one trip to permanently applied coating. Here we focus on the two most common commercially offered options, slid-in and spray-on.

Slid-In Bed Liners

Slid-in liners, also called drop-in liners, stand on their own and are placed into the truck bed. They are thin, often made of plastic, and are designed to be form-fitting. They are relatively easy to install and uninstall. In fact, you can pick them up at most vehicle service establishments and install them on your own if you choose.

Spray-On Bed Liners

Spray-on liners are a permanent truck bed-protection option. They are made of a polyurethane compound and are applied like a coat of paint, coating the interior of the bed. A spray-on liner can also be applied at home, but the best results come from professional installation in a designated paint booth.

Some permanent liners are designed to be rolled on with a brush, though that process is generally less efficient and more time-consuming.

Benefits of a Bed Liner

The benefits of truck bed liners cannot be overstated. No matter what kind you use, they maintain the structural and visual integrity of a vehicle and preserve property value. They also provide a smoother ride for your stuff, minimizing the harmful effects of sliding around on the road. Any bed liner is a good choice, but depending on your priorities, not all liners are created equal.

Slide-In Liners

If you’re not planning to keep your truck for a long time, or if a tight budget is a decision-maker right now, slide-in liners may be a good fit. They are not nearly as sturdy as a protective coating, and they are easy to replace if they get damaged. Installation is easy to manage on your own. We do not offer drop-in liners at Layton Carcare because they are not very effective.

While they attempt to be custom-fit, they still leave gaps where the truck bed is exposed. This allows dirt to slip in and grind away paint over time. Any kind of precipitation—rain, snow, etc.—makes a drop-in liner slippery, defeating the purpose. Maintenance is very involved, requiring frequent cleaning and threatening rust if the truck bed is not completely dry before the liner is replaced.

Bottom line, slide-in bed liners are generally less expensive because they are more trouble than they are worth.

Spray-On Liners

Spray-on bed liners don’t just preserve a vehicle’s value: they permanently improve a vehicle’s value. The spray-on super durable coating molds to every curve of your unique truck bed, becoming part of the vehicle and offering a layer of long lasting protection that will never shift around. It is a good choice for well-used trucks that could use a freshening up and brand new vehicles that you want to keep looking like they’re fresh off the lot.

At Layton Carcare, we apply the most advanced spray-on bedliner on the market, the Speedliner. It constitutes an environmentally safe urethane layer that is corrosion resistant. The non-skid textured surface keeps cargo from moving around and protects the bed of your truck from weather, including rust-causing rain, hammering hail, and the harmful UV of sun rays.

Spray-on liners like Speedliner are wonderfully versatile. Because they aren’t formed in a mold, they can be added to much more than just truck beds. Boats, trailers, recreational vehicles, agricultural equipment, hunting equipment, speaker cabinets, and much more are all candidates. Speedliner also offers a wide color selection, so in addition to being tough as nails, it can match whatever look you want to create. Speedliner is also known for its colorfast guarantee, so your spray bed liner is sure to retain the perfect shade.

The Perfect Line-Up

If you are looking to protect your vehicle from the test of time and clunky equipment or bags of gravel, it’s time to look into truck bed liners. Come to Layton Carcare with your questions or to find the perfect fit for your vehicle.