Herculiner Bed Liner

My old Ram 1500 had a Mopar under rail drop in bed liner. Maybe I'm weird, but I actually liked having a "slick" bed. When I loaded up for a camping trip I could set something on the tailgate and with a good shove, send it to the front of the truck. There were only two things I didn't like about it. One is that it rubs on the stock paint pretty bad so rust in the future was inevitable. Second was that water collects under the bedliner which also increases the risk of rust.

I debated heavily the pros and cons of drop-ins, spray-on, paint-on, and mats. Eventually I decided on Herculiner based on price, "ease" of installation, long-term protection, ease of fixing / maintenance, and looks. There are quotes around "ease of installation" because it wasn't all that easy. The prep work of scuffing / scoring the stock paint in the bed, dealing with headache inducing M.E.K. and the nasty gooey mess that is Herculiner over a two day weekend wasn't "easy".

I decided to give Herculiner a shot for a few months to see if I really like it. If not, then my plan is to buy a Mopar drop-in bedliner and since the bed will be protected with Herculiner I wouldn't have to worry about the paint scuffing problem I mentioned above so much. If the Herculiner started to wear, I could just do a touch-up on it.

Click on a picture for a larger, higher resolution view.

Removed the tie-downs	A bit uneven in places for sure	I was still worried it would look bad
Scuffing the wheel humps	Removed the tie-downs	Still scuffing
Using the paintbrush to Herculine the hard spots	Using the paintbrush to Herculine the hard spots	Finally, on to the floor of the bed
Looks horrible	Finally, everything scuffed	Let dry for 4 1/2 hours
Switching between roller and brush to get the nooks and crannies	I was worried it was going to look like hell	This is going to take a while
Picked up again early Sunday morning	Starting on the floor of the bed	Still doing floor
Still scuffing	Still scuffing	Still see a lot of red in there
Still scuffing	Herculiner clumps up quick, keep M.E.K. handy for spills and thinning	After wiping down the bed with M.E.K.
Flat surfaces were easy	Still doing floor	After more scuffing and more M.E.K.
Still scuffing	Difference of scuffed vs. unscuffed	More of first coat
First coat all done	Joints were really tough too	I decided not to do the tailgate
I stopped here for the day on Saturday to get ready for a dinner party	Still scuffing	The bed mat and tailgate mat that were in there
WOW!!! After the second coat	Scuffing paint with a green scouring pad	Still first coat
I was pretty surprised at how good it looks	The ribs were hell	Hoping it'll be more of a flat black
Waiting to see if the shininess goes away	Still some shiny spots	Still scuffing
First coat is supposed to be light	The floor of the bed is easiest