Bed Liner----Gen 1 consensus opinion: remove bed liner or leave it in?

I have a new (to me) 2005 Tundra step side. Are most of you guys leaving in the bed liner or removing it and applying some sort of coating in its place?

 

What does the bed without the liner look like? Is it in good shape?

 

Yes, it is in good shape. The truck has had a tonneau cover on it for a long time it appears.

 

I took mine out after a year. It didn't do much damage but it scuffed the paint up a bit. Had lots of mulch under it too.

 

Did you leave the plastic rail caps on?

 

I bought my 2002 AC in December and embarked on setting it up as a clean, reliable truck. Kudos to this board for many good ideas. It came with a fitted rubber bed liner that I initially liked, though it did reduce bed depth a bit. There was no cover, though, so I suspected rust under the liner. I intended to install a Diamondback SE cover and decided to remove the liner in favor of a spray coating after any necessary surface rust treatment. My shop took care of all bed rust before applying the liner. The rail caps were left in place, as recommended by Diamondback. I much prefer the painted liner under the cover now.

 

Remove it. Probably you can keep it if you live in SoCal or Arizona but anywhere not really dry, remove it.

 

I bought mine bare with just the metal bed and I've been wondering what to do myself. I've already hauled a load of dirt and taken two trips to the dump and feel like I'm scratching it up a good bit but not going to matter much if I go with some line-x in the end.

 

Whatever gives better gas mileage, I'm all-in!

 

2002 Tundra owner since new. Removed my Original Bed Liner (Plastic) about two years ago for the first time. Inspected things with only a couple little spots of surface rust (no bubbles) and mostly paint scuff from liner rub on paint. Lots of mulch was trapped, as well. My truck is 1D6 in color with solid paint. My area receives lots of rain and is subject to coastal storms.

As I always liked the Plastic Liner due to its ruggedness, I cleaned things up and Sprayed Rustoleum Bedliner on the Bed as well as both sides of the Plastic Liner and then reinstalled it. Holding nicely and total cost of 5 cans at $7 each.

Most bed rust is unfairly attributed to the Plastic Bedliner when in all actuality the rust usually bubbles up from under the bed at the cross bars supports. You can crawl under and look for that.

 

Take it out. It’s loud when the rear window is down/open.

 

Remove it. Personally, I've always hated the plastic lines. Spray-on is where it's at, preferably Line-X. My truck came with Armorthane and while it's better than a plastic liner it's nowhere near the quality of Line-X.

 

Yup, and the part for the tailgate

 

Gen 3 but 7 years, 158K miles of concrete construction use, this is what the OEM bedliner did- https://imgur.com/a/QN6SlqE

 

Pull the plastic. I had line x for 16 years in my previous truck. Last summer I went with Bullet liner, made by the man who came up with Line x. Just as happy and it was cheaper. I recommend it.

 

Just got a Line-X quote-ouch. $645 for standard, $795 for premium. That is for new condition beds...

 

I think I did $525 for my bullet liner last year

 

This thread should've had a poll.....

 

Perhaps THAT can be the poll!

 

For a second there, I thought you posted a picture of a Turd.