Raptor Liner and similar products are not safe, but they can be used as a precautionary measure. They create fumes when applied, and proper face masks with filters and eye and skin protection are essential. The author plans to use Raptor Liner inside their Jeep this spring, sparing most interior plastics from the Flex in UPOL Raptor Liner. They also received a care package from Gearhead.
Raptor Liner is an all-inclusive kit that contains almost all the materials needed for vehicle enthusiasts to protect their investment. Once installed, it dries into an ultra-hard coating that can protect bare metal from chips. It is an affordable and easier-to-apply option for DIYers looking for a more affordable and easy-to-use product. However, for those looking for a more durable option, Raptor Liner is a better choice.
The spray on bedliners can release toxic chemicals into the cab, potentially leading to cancer or other health issues. To avoid this, it is recommended to leave the doors open and let air flow through for a few days after application. Bed liner is not suitable for enclosed spaces due to health risks associated with its chemical components.
Light sanding is acceptable, but Raptor Liner can be directly applied to wood and plywood substrates. It has been tested as a sound deadener, but it has toxic qualities and is not recommended for confined spaces. Line X is an industrial non-toxic protective coating, not a bed liner.
In summary, Raptor Liner is a safe and effective product for protecting vehicles’ interiors. However, it has toxic qualities and is not recommended for confined spaces. Line X is an industrial non-toxic protective coating that can be used as a sound deadener, but it is not suitable for confined spaces.
📹 SHOULD You Bedline Your Truck? Here Are The Pros And Cons Of Using Bedliner Instead Of Paint!
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📹 MUST WATCH for first time Raptor applicators. Do not spray Raptor Liner until you see this video.
Tips and tricks by Raptor Indonesia Official on how to do perfect job for Raptor application. we don’t export our Raptor Paint. we …
I have done this twice now. Use the reducer to thin it by about 10%. Spray it at the highest pressure (60psi) and regulate it at the gun, not the tank. Then spray it far away (18 – 24 in) and in 3 coats. First coat should give about 50% coverage. You want it too be thin so it fits in the gaps and door hinges well. This will result in a fine texture that is just as durable as a traditional bed liner.
I’ve always been intrigued by the concept of bed lining a truck and the beige and green trucks look sick! I agree with your suggestion of blacking out various parts of the truck too. A new back bumper, new headlights and taillights and maybe even new rims would greatly elevate the exterior as a whole. I love that you do these articles on projects occurring in your personal “off-camera” life. I don’t currently have a truck to bed line but if I ever did I’d definitely reference this article!
The issue with the look of bedliner (coming from a person that has used raptor liner alot) is the spraying technique. If youre heavy with your sprays while using a dark color you will see every stroke (like matte auto paint). Lighter colors do a better job than darker colors at hiding it. My personal approach is to get the color coverage on the first coat then on the second and third coats i step back and do light mists with even, feathered off coats to smooth the texture and it gives good results.
I did my 08 taco in white Monstaliner about 7 years ago. Been holding up great. Won’t hold up as well as Linex, but nothing beats the rock. Easily repairable too. LInex said it would add 700-1200 lbs to my truck if i used them. Monstaliner was 3 gallons, so 25 lbs ish. Do the bed, mirrors, grill, and bumpers in black raptor lining. Maybe even the flares if you have enough left over.
After Monstaliner bed liner on my Hijet mini truck this fall (interior and exterior), I’ll order two gallons of black and paint the exterior of my black 2005 4Runner next year, so I won’t need to paint the door jams. I’ll probably fill the cracks in the dash (manufacturer’s defect) and roll on bed liner to fix the dash. The Monstaliner texture can be controlled to a large extent by the application technique so I should be able to match the light pebble surface of the dash. Monstaliner has no chopped rubber to provide texture. The texture is created by how the material is applied.
Looks good… I am very much on the side of the bed liner job on a off road vehicle. I have seen a couple that are street trucks that look great too.. You Tube website Rustbelt Mechanic…. I personally would have removed the bed to allow access to the back of the cab and front of the bed.. just a personal thing. You nailed the one con… very difficult to remove. Additionally if for some reason you want a body shop to apply it… not so easy. Because they will not do it in thier booth… clogs things up… and if you have a body shop remove the product for a repaint… costly. Keep some for use in case of future repair… and you have to repair or replace a body panel. Some people clear coat or ceramic over the surface…just to enhance the color. But… it is a great finish to use affordable and durable, for a off road vehicle and in harsh weather climates… snow and the such. The other runner up is a wrap.
It is better than pain! Except for 1 con (decreasing the value of the car) espicially in my 2003 RED ford explorer. The paint faded from florida sun 🌞 and i did this Tan bed liner not because it is cheap but because of durability in the sunshine state! I am not planning on selling this car ever, so i did not care about decreasing the value! The only con that i have is the red original pain on the tiny spots when u open the door or the hood. I wish i would have put the extra mile of work and painted them as well! It would have been much easier if i just repainted the fades red roof & hood and kept the original paint on it! But i like the tough look and feel of the bed liner. I don’t think wait is an issue! Thank you for thr awesome article!
To spray or not to spray, that is the question! Some vehicles look better with this liner as a topcoat, and some don’t. I think these small’ish pickup’s do look better with the coating, especially if they’are going to be used for the great outdoors. This one, shown here does look good,…but I have a little tip that some may find helpful, when you use a spray gun, any spray gun to paint a surface, try to keep the gun/nozzle help at a 90 degrees to that surface. Doing that will help minimize ‘thin looking’ edges to the paint or coating ( as in this case ) In other words holding the gun at 90 degrees will stop the ‘fanning’ effect of the paint, especially at the end of a panel. Interesting article Kase, thanks!
Watching this after having bedlined my Tacoma red and black. I used the same kind, the company is called U-Pol and the product is called Raptor Liner. You can apply vinyl decals if you use a heat gun. Also if/when you do the bed, get some sand blasting sand and mix in with bedliner to make it more grippy.
After seeing the finished paint and considering the pros and cons I would still have to say that i would likely stick to a more glossy smooth appearance. Dont get me wrong, i think it looks great along with being super durable. I just cant escape the appeal of that glass like appearance on my vehicle.
Did a hail damaged 2017 GMC Sierra and 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander with Raptor in my tent garage. Its great in that you can do quick, rough body filler on the dents and not worry about it being perfect as the liner covers over any small scratches and imperfections. I did use a 2k primer first however since you can’t apply the raptor liner directly over the body filler. Still far cheaper and quicker then the $10000 to $15000 and the 3 to 4 weeks I was quoted by body shops for a normal restoration with factory paint.
Staying on topic of spray on Bedliner (vs engine swaps) if the paint has crapped out and it is old, no harm in protecting it from rusting out. It does not make much sense to me to ruin good paint to protect the truck when you have to ruin the paint to do so. Get your money’s worth out of the existing paint job 1st. 😉
If you own a SUV or truck that goes off-road sits outside rock chips oversized tires not bling wheels when the paint starts to show bad bedline it we bedlined floors on our jeep my trucks we always bedline factory wheel to wheel steps and about 6 inches up we bedline the lower vehicle body to keep rock chips and salt damage to zero we either buy black or white vehicles and 1000% rhino linex raptor ECT sell black and white
Not a good idea, it really depends on the material underneath but it’s known to dramatically accelerating rust. Sooner or later a rock will punch a small hole through it. Once that happens moisture will attract and build up underneath causing more rust and the coating to slowly separate. In the early ’90s it was popular for folks to spray bed liner on the undercarriage. Soon folks realized it was not a goof alternative to oil coatings and made the problem of body/frame rust significantly worse. It depends tho on the climate and the material under it to a very large degree.
Thanks for the article, I’m actually thinking about do this to my work van. It’s a 2001 and runs great,the out side not so nice. I think its a quick, cheap way to make it look nice & durable. My thoughts were on rolling it or spraying it. Being a contractor rolling always goes on thinker the spraying. Thanks again
I love the liner and want to do my camry. The guy I took it to, talked me out of it, for a while anyway. I haven’t been able to find ANYONE that agrees with me that it’s awesome and looks good – for the camry. I’m female, the car is paid for, I don’t intend to trade it in. it’s a 2014 with 65k miles on it. red sport. I was trying to find out if it cracks. Apparently it does not. I go on backroads a lot, in the country. I wouldn’t have to wash and wax it or deal with the rock chips.
I’m definitely into this, if textured right, washing it is not an issue, I have a Jeep xj, and simply did spray out of w can on just the front and down the lower sides of the panels, it washes awesome and is a thinner texture but still textured, it’s also a black liner spray out of a can, it’s been on almost three years and it has chipped in some places but overall has actually held up surprisingly with just out of a can, my question is, I plan to do a raptor line on other parts of the Jeep including respraying over top of what I did from the can, so I wonder if you could spray over top of what I have already done because I want the same color which is black and I wonder if it would be fine . Again the reliability of it is awesome and if you have a Jeep or off-road vehicle then this is a great option .it completely eliminates the scratching of tree limbs, and looks great.
Trust me, it isn’t worth it. You may think you’re making it “indestructible,” but ultimately you’re applying a material which doesn’t breath and can create under surface rust corrosion. It’s also hard to clean once dirty and rarely looks good. It’s a fad so maybe it’s cool now, but unless you have a ram or Chevy, you’re gonna wanna keep your truck and you’ll regret it down the road.
Guys who have done this to their vehicles have told me they see a drop in fuel economy because the bedliner texture causes drag during freeway speeds. Obviously not something you might care about or even notice on a rock crawler or other offroad vehicle, but for a daily driver especially if you commute long distances it may not be worth it.
That sand colored Tacoma looks good. It’d look better with an hour of Bondo work before applying the bed liner. It’s hilarious that the body has bed liner but there’s no bed liner in the bed. I’m old and don’t have much mojo. I’ve been prepping my 1996 Hijet for a Monstaliner bed liner paint job for over a week, an hour here, an hour there. Today was going to be the big day but I got a late start again and balked. I’m going to take Monstaliner’s advice and wait for two good weather days next week, do all the masking the night before and have the entire day after that to apply the bed liner. I’m painting the interior and exterior, but that was too much to do in a day, so I’ll paint the outside, then paint the inside and the two ammo can tool boxes (inside and outside) the following week.
I Raptor Lined my 1988 Ford Bronco. Used a $100 compressor. It is awesome! Blacked out all chrome, grille, badges, and top in heavy textured Black and the body and cab in Granite Grey using the adjustable sprayer for a finer texture. I would sell as is. Nothing but eyes on my Bronco it looks so good. Caught a guy the other day taking photos. I removed my doors and taped and painted all interior surfaces Black plus Clear coat to make clear lines when the door was opened. Did the whole project under a $100 Harbour Freight cover. Oops a bug…Spray over it..gone. Cons… Unlike the vid commentary, using the adj sprayer for a fine texture will show slight dents and other irregularities, but only at certain angles and at a certain light. Too bad I cannot post photos here.
I’ve had bedliner on Toyota Tundra for 5 years, I only sprayed one coat, and it looked absolutely awesome, going on year 5 of spraying, there’s a small amount of chipping, and the black had really dulled, so I’m going to respray it this summer, I used raptor liner as well, it was 400$ to do my whole truck. It’s extremely durable and every truck I own from now on I’m going to spray it. No scratches and it gives it a real aggressive look. Be forewarned, with all the hills and valleys of the stucco like texture, it can be tricky to clean and picks up dirt easy. Overall, would recommend!
Generally hate them. Just seems like one step up from primer gray or a rattle can. That truck just looks like a cheap pair of Dockers now. It’s funny when someone advertises their bed-lined truck as though it’s a selling point. People are scraping the popcorn acoustic coatings off their ceiling for a reason. However, if your truck’s paint and bodywork are too far gone…I can see the case for it as a last resort.
I’m the original owner of a ’95 4WD Suburban, and Texas heat has taken a toll on most external soft parts. My fender flares were taking a beating and I just recently coated them with black Raptor, which made a heck of a difference. Since some of the paint is peeling, I’m now considering doing the entire truck. The tan Tacoma looks really good…just wondering how the Suburban would look since its a much larger vehicle.
i’m assuming if you do this and it changes the color of your truck you need to tell your local vehicle registration office or something? i’ve been thinking about doing this in black but assumed to get it done would cost in the thousands but I already have a compressor (much smaller than the one y’all have!) and orbital sanders and plenty of sandpaper…
If you have the money and want to be able to revert back to stock/paint there is a way. You could cover the entire surface that’s to be covered in a clear film, like 3M, then spray the liner on top of that. It would add thousands more to the job but allow for a removable and durable film. But that would be a lot of money.
The “adds to much weight to my truck” comments crack me the hell up! Take the bottles of bedliner and hold them in you hands….. NOW THIS IS HOW MUCH YOU’RE ADDING TO THE TRUCK!!!! Oh yeah….minus the actual bottles….and minus the thinners that allow you spray it as these evaporate as it cures! So on average…..10 pounds! There’s no need for a “pounds per square inch per panel” explanation. In fact, when a conventional paint job, by the time you purchased body filler (paint is NOT as forgiving as bedliner and will show imperfections if areas are not filled), primer, paint, and clear coat, a paint job can weigh near 20 pounds or double a bedliner coating. And no one complains about a paint jobs weight! That’s like saying your backpack is slowing us down bro!!!! LMAO! And OMG, you don’t have to texture spray it! It doesn’t add durability at all. The bumps are to prevent items from sliding in the beds flats surfaces. You simply increase the PSI at the gun and thin this liner some. No pimples make it so much easier to clean also!!!!
What I don’t understand is why do they have pickup trucks that don’t have Bedlined truck beds?? why aren’t they sprayed at the factory? I really wanna know who out there wouldn’t want their bed lined??? Anyone?? Anyone? I had one ram truck that I had to pay out of pocket to get lined. I just never understood why they don’t make it standard to have the truck beds lined in the factory. It’s a necessity if you ask me and I’m sure millions of truck buyers agree. Like I said I really wanna know who wouldn’t want it lined and why?? I’m curious.
#2 Con – This isn’t a Lambo or Ferrari or some other rare/expensive collectible. It’s done almost exclusively (I didn’t say All people, so calm down) to off-road vehicles (typically older) getting used as such. It absolutely wouldn’t make sense to spend thousands on a professional paint job. This is a loooong stretch for a Con. #3 Con…….completely insignificant. I don’t even know why people bring this up, just stop it. The only “Con” is if you don’t like the look. Done.
The weight aspect is stupid. The MOST weight it can add it whatever the initial weight if the paint/liner cans were. So, weight then full and then weigh them again empty. IDK how much paint it takes to cover a Tacoma, but even if it’s 3-4 gallons, the maximum amount of weight is what, 50 pounds (what does a gallon of rinoliner weight?). If your truck can’t handle hauling around 50 extra point every day, then something’s wrong with your truck
Don’t care for the monotone look. Our eyes are attracted to contrasting points. A single colour, rough textured coating on EVERYTHING makes a vehicle look like an overlooked garage appliance. Maybe two tone divided by the horizontal line along the side of the vehicle would help a lot. Laughed a lot at NOT having applied “bedliner” to the bed. Be sure to use a contrasting colour for the bedliner in the bed itself or the whole thing will look like a mud brick.
All you have to do is soda blast the bedliner off. If you’re really wanting to restore your truck later for about 1200 bucks you can have someone come out with a a truck and clear it all off. I look at it this way if you love your truck and don’t exactly have the money cause you’re young and just starting life at least you can have a nice truck for the time being. Good luck everyone from a guy undercoating his crew cab 8ft bed OBS.
Easily worth it when the trucks old paint is flaking off or damaged, Just would recommend not using a smooth bed liner and a roller when doing so. I got a 5ft paint job going on a 91 ranger. But ultimately i wasnt caring how it would look but rather just getting all that old paint off to return it to a single color again
Most of these DIY bedliner kits don’t have UV protection and will fade over time not to mention the warranty is trash this why i will ONLY use Line X bedliner they have UV protection and a lifetime warranty no matter if it was your fault they will fix it free of charge the only thing that the warranty will not cover is any damages caused by a auto accident in which NONE cover damages caused by auto accidents
Wow, only $400? Tan looks great on the that truck! Anyone know if I can find this bedliner spray in bright blue? I’ve got a ’10 F-150 SuperCrew. Might as well “paint” my truck lol. Also, is it hard to clean, or could I run through carwash or power-wash it to clean? What would it take to get it to chip/come off?
Congratulations, sir. Your tutorial on the specific spray painting techniques required to achieve an even, professional finish when applying Raptor paint is invaluable. Most of the articles I have watched fail to address the vital painting issues which you discuss in detail. I now understand why so many article presenters say that, while they are satisfied with the overall end result, there is one area which did not come out exactly right. Obviously, you can not expect uniformly satisfactory results without employing consistent (and correct) application techniques. Thanks again, Marco, I would quite likely have botched my Raptor paint job for8 without your article advice. Now I feel like I have a better chance of doing it right. . . .
I must say that I’ve watched multiple articles on this topic where they show the actual application of it while explaining some things, but although you did not show the application, what you explained was very informative! I learned tips that I had not heard on the other articles. Thank you for posting this!
I must have watched this article dozens of times in preparation to raptor line my 01 Yukon. Out of the many articles out there on raptor which I probably watched them all, this is by far the absolute best informative article on raptor liner. I did exactly what you said especially on ters on distance and keeping the gun perpendicular to the panels. My truck came out damn good. You brother, have the best article on this topic and I will definitely recommend it to everyone I run into interested in raptor lining their vehicle. Cheers!
I watched every article on youtube you are the best i seen ..i know the others didnt show it but waiting to take tape off the next day i know they not get perfect paint lines i know this now i hope to see more article you may have more tips i just getting started with Raptor an i feel like a pro first time cause i watched this article
Thanks for such an awesome resource! I’ve been considering trying this on my 2002 RAM 1500, with the factory paint having looked like trash ever since I got it 3 years ago. Seems like something I should be able to do at home, which sounds awesome! After the 21-day cure time, is it safe to take a raptor-lined vehicle through a car wash? Mine tends to get pretty dirty after I get home from the trails, haha. Also, what’s the best way to color match Raptor to a similar gray? I think I recall seeing something about buying tint on their website? And last question, is there a specific type of primer I should be looking for, or is it better to apply the Raptor directly to the body after surface prep is complete? Thanks again!
Great article,thank you… I’ve started painting my Hj47 troopy with this but thinned out 25% to get it flatter and 3-4 coats… I’ve being toying shooting kbs clear over. It..what would be the best prep now my panels have been sitting for months with raptor fully cured????? Cheers From Dictator dans Australia
Divide the 3.5 by bottle here, ok and spray directly into here, ok, but not door as it has different density starting here, ok. Finish there, Raptor begin here, ok, base coat or water pour in, ok! Spray the Raptor with thinner, ok, some say Reducer like can words. Nice texture less density WHAT! Thanks, but I will read the lid inside ok! Thank god I bought mine before perusal this. Does anybody understand what he is saying?
Awesome thanks! I made notes of all the main points should anyone else find useful: 180 grit to abrade whole vehicle Don’t texture door jams because seal can fail 3:1 paint to hardener in measuring cup For the hlvp base coat add 10-15% thinner hlvp base coat 1.5, 1.8 or 2.0 tip texture coat. standard schutz gun, 3 to 3.5 bars, distance about 45cm practice first varying distance and air pressure to get desired texture do full horizontal strips around whole vehicle spray direct onto edges always keep perpendicular keep distance always the same, even on the windscreen pillars keep consistent hand speed keep stripes close together to avoid tiger striping every 2 bottles (litre) switch to thinner only bottle to clean gun. put into thinner and put on full air pressure to clean. mix each bottle just before you use it. Do not mix all bottles at the same time. This is because the viscosity changes as the paint ages. coarse: lower pressure to 3 bars and spray at 40cm fine: pressure to 4.5-5 bars and spray at 60cm also may add 5% thinner to give finer texture while spraying keep trigger pressed continuously if get some small inconsistencies in texture, use some twisted and folded over masking tape to dab and fix the inconsistencies keep finished vehicle away from water for one week
Thank you very much for the useful tips! This is the best explanation I’ve seen. Can I ask you two simple questions? 1. If there are spots where I sanded down the original paint to the bare steel, do I have to paint it with some primer, or can I spray the Raptor over the bare metal too? 2. Is it bad if I wait few hours, maybe a day between the Raptor coats? I’m thinking of spraying my totally disassembled body parts one by one, then wait till I can touch them, assemble the car, and do the texturing spraying. Greetings from Hungary!
Amazing article.. I am new to Raptor and this answered so many questions… thank you so very much for this article… I cannot stress how good this article is… I want to spray raptor with very little texture because I want a smoother finish without it being so aggressive in texture but still give me the tough durable finish.. You answered this perfectly… Thank you my friend….
Would it be ok to mix all the bottles together with the tint to get a consistent color throughout the different batches, then separate them back into individual bottles, and then add the hardener to each bottle as you use it, or would the color variation be negligible if you accurately weigh/ratio each batch?
Wow. This article is just what I needed to see. Thank you for posting. I am going to save this article so that I can watch it again before I respray my truck bed. I previously used another brand bed liner kit that I brushed on. I don’t like how it turned out so I am going to redo it with the Raptor liner kit.
1. If base coat is before texturing what is being sprayed during vase coat then? 2. If I’m using the gun attached to the actual plastic bottle do I just pour the hardener into the bottle and Shake along with the color? If so how much of the hardener do I dump into the actual bottle? I understand it’s 3 to 1 ratio but what would that actually be? So I have an entire bottle of raptor I open the cap now how much hardener do I pour into the big bottle?
Hilarious that the #1 tool Raptor Indonesia recommends for blotting up a blob of the sprayed-on liner is a cigarette butt. You can find one in the mouth of practically every adult man over there. Take it out of your mouth, blot, and then place it back in your mouth. Can’t be worse for you than the cigarette itself.
Best tutorial on Raptor . I’ve been shooting Raptor since the 90’s. Today 2023 April I’m using the turntable kit that comes with pre measured Hardner,and pre measured Tint. Extremely Smart move on Raptors part to do pre measured kits. This is why I liked them in the 90’s . They had the measurements built into the Spray bottle, simple intelligent, product!
I’ve never done anything like this, but it would seem that spraying parts (doors, hoods, etc) disassembled/off the vehicle would help with consistency, especially for parts like doors and hoods that are at totally different angles and heights. Going from a horizontal surface to a vertical surface while trying to maintain consistency, distance, and hand speed seems more difficult than removing them and spraying them in the same plane. Spraying at the same time and place makes sense.