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Photo 1
Similar to any type of body work, remove all the bits and pieces you don’t want coated or will be more work to tape up than to simply remove. In our case this included the tailgate and associated hardware, drain plugs; tie down hooks and the plastic rail covers, which had scratched the paint down to bare metal over the years.
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Photo 2
Once again, like other bodywork, preparation is the key to success. We used a cheap variable speed angle grinder ($29 from Princess Auto) with Al’s Nylon Brush to scuff up the majority of the bed and then 180 sand paper on a sponge sanding block (3M) to get into all the nooks and crannies.
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Photo 3
A roll of plastic sheeting, a roll of 2” painter’s masking tape and a large tarp protected everything we didn’t want to overspray.
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Photo 4
The Al’s kit provides primer and sprayer, which you apply prior to the bed liner compound. Getting an even spray proved a bit challenging, the key is to start pumping and never stop.
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Photo 5
As simple as A, B, C, you add B and C to container A and mix the three part polyurethane coating with the supplied mixing paddle. A few pairs of latex gloves during the mixing and spraying process is a great idea. Al’s Liner is harder to get off your hands than an ex-spouse after you win the lottery.
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Photo 6
Bryan test sprayed onto newsprint first to get the texture we wanted then did the inside of the tailgate. Better to warm up your spraying technique on the least visible part of the bed.
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Photo 7
Our only mishap occurred when the funnel popped off the gun. The secret here is to attach the hose clamp at the bottom of the funnel. Any higher than this and the O-ring on the gun forces the funnel up and off, dripping pools of bed liner on your perfect job. In hindsight, having a roller on hand to smooth out these ‘bumps’ in the process would have been handy. Spray it on, take off the tape right away and you’re finished.
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Photo 8
Done.
Story and Photos by Perry Mack and Bryan Irons
We had been hearing great things about a DIY liner kit that was as good as a professional spray in. Our natural skepticism drove us to order in a kit, convince a friend with a 2006 Toyota Tundra into believing that we knew what we were doing, (buy us lunch) and try it for ourselves.
Al 's Liner DIY Truck Bed Liner is a ‘three part blended polyurethane high solids coating’. We ordered the Air Texture Gun and Cup Brush in addition to the kit to test the entire package and liked it right out of the box as virtually everything we needed was in the kit, truly a complete off-the-shelf product. According to Al’s, you can use the product not only as a bed liner, but also as a sound deadening layer inside your cab, undercoating for your vehicle and even on your deck or patio.
While you can tint the product for a customizable look, we went with basic black for our project. We would give it a difficulty rating of five out of ten as some spraying experience is helpful and you’ll need a decent compressor to spray it on. However, you can also roll/paint the product on which would reduce the difficulty to two out of ten.
While Bryan dressed in his Sunday best, I checked the inventory in the beer fridge for the post-job celebration. We all have our strengths. With three guys on the job we were finished in 4 hours. For a couple of hundred bucks and a Sunday afternoon with the guys, we had a bed liner that looked the part of a professional $700 spray-in job.
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