Should I bed liner my truck?

I just bought a first gen. It has a pretty half-assed DIY paint job.. The photo actually looks amazing compared to in person. I'm using this truck for work in a "semi-professional" manner. I'm in and out of medium-high income neighborhoods. I have not really seen too many bedliner paint jobs in person, so I'm unsure of a overall appeal. I'm not entirely going for appeal, but rather just durability. The truck is used to the point I can't justify having it stripped and repainted. The body has many small dings and nicks but nothing major at all.

What's your experience or opinion on doing this. I do not plan on selling this truck.

 

I think they look like garbage after a summer. With so many different surface angles they don't look consistent and appear even more inconsistent after the sun starts to fade some of it. I have seen lot's of vehicles with all sorts of bedliner and I don't think a single one of them looked better than regular old paint. I knew the guy that owned and operated the local LineX store; he LineX'd a 79 bronco, lifted it, 1 ton axles, new stereo, new interior and upholstery, 460 swap... the works. All said and done, it looked like somebody was too cheap to pay for a paint job. I mean, it was heck-a-sweet and it represented what he did, but it still looked a little rough around the edges...

 

Definitely noted that. It's not a matter of being too cheap in my case, but for you example it makes sense.. I might just leave the paint.. I'm in florida and the sun doesn't go easy on paint. The entire body is cracking and there's a fair amount of chipping on the roof and tailgate area.

 

Could do a nice wrap on it.

 

I understand what you are saying about needing good visual appeal, but not going for glam and glitz. The vehicle is the usually the first thing people see when you pull up to their house or roll through their neighborhood. In my experience, when a customer or potential customer see's you pull up, they are more content with seeing a clean-ish older, used vehicle, than a goofball of a vehicle that stands out for an odd reason. Clean trucks, old or new, seem more welcome. I suppose I look at it like this: if somebody shows up at my door with a brand new, flashy, fancy-pants 100k truck with another 10k or 20k in accessories - most of which are probably useless - I take a hard pass because I think I'm gonna be paying too much. If he shows up in a truck that looks like it was worked over by some high school kids or immature overly-addolescent man children, I also pass because they might take the same approach to whatever it is they will be doing for me. Same for the beat to shmoopp work truck with huge dents and scratches, panels mismatched, and parts falling off, I wonder if they will treat my job with the same neglect. But if they show up in a clean truck - whether it be old or new - with maybe a few subtle mods and some "usage" even if it has some dents or dings, it looks as if they at least take some pride in taking care of something. Their truck is usually a tool; old tools work just fine as long as they are maintained, but even expensive tools do a shoddy job when they aren't taken care of and respected. And it's the craftsman, not the tool, that makes the difference. That's just my two cents.

 

They fade look like crap. Wrap it up

 

X2, it will fade and i think it looks like shit, even when its still fresh.

X2 on a wrap. A good wrap will last a few years

 

In my opinion I believe a bed liner works best even if the bed is dinged up or used. And if you are not planning on selling it and rather like the functionality of the durability, it'll go a long way just doing a bed liner. Body wise, as long as it's not going to rust to a point where it is going to break off, you should be perfectly fine.

 

I have a 4R completely done and my buddy has a 87 Blazer done body only, not the top. Pretty rad stuff if you get the right material with legit UV resistance and texture, but there is nothing professional looking about it. It is not for you IMO

 

Line-x offers a UV coating. Have it on my sliders in the Tacoma. One thing I will say it’s a pain to get the dirt out of it.

 

I did a diy product called monstaliner on my old 93 yukon. No problem with fade. Easy to clean to. I liked it and thought it looked fine. Imo red would look goofy as hell though

 

Wrap the truck....Line-X the bed

 

One thing you have to consider about a wrap is the paint has to be in really good condition for that to work. Most scenarios like the op is describing this isn't a candidate

 

Oh also cleaning was really easy. I used a stiff bristle long handle floor scrubbing brush and a bucket of AJAX and it kept it looking new all the time also it was like 500 bucks for me to do. Found some more pictures too

 

https://youtu.be/Pptf_2x1eHc
dip it

 

Very well put.