2017 - Volume #41, Issue #3, Page #16
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Quick & Easy DIY Bed Liner
“Customers like how easy it is to use and that it is a 2-component product,” says Rich Seaman, TP Tools and Equipment. “The urethane activator makes it harden for greater durability. A lot of single stage bed liners just won’t be as durable.”
The company sells a standard kit with 4 bottles of bed liner base and a bottle of hardener. The kit includes an application spray gun. All the user needs is an air compressor. Seaman recommends a minimum 50 to 60 psi compressor that can move at least 7 cfm.
Preparation is simple, with a wax and grease remover recommended for all beds. New beds require only a light sanding to barely scuff the surface. Seaman suggests using 80-grit sandpaper or a nylon cup brush on an angle grinder.
Older beds with rust need to be cleaned down to bare metal and coated with an acid etch primer before top coating with the bed liner.
Planning is likely the most important ingredient in the process. Application should only be made when temperatures are between 60 degrees and 85 to 90 degrees.
“The hotter and more humid the temperature is, the less time you have to apply,” explains Seaman. “Once you mix the materials, you have about 30 min. before it starts to gel. At 95 degrees when it is humid, you may have only 10 to 15 min.”
Seaman advises letting the fresh coat cure in a dry environment for 24 hrs. and waiting 3 to 4 days before using the bed.
While a single coat will protect the bed and provide some insulation, multiple coats will do even more to deaden sound, suggests Seaman.
“Customers restoring an older car will put it underneath the car or under the carpeted area,” he says. “Once an application has started to tack up, you can put on another application.”
The bed liner can also be rolled on when touching up a cracked or chipped area. As the material touches the surrounding initial coat, it softens it, allowing the 2 coats to bind.
The Raptor Bed Liner Kit comes in black or a tintable material. Any automotive base urethane paint can be added to the tinatable bed liner to match preferred colors.
TP Tools and Equipment is a distributor for U-Pol Raptor Truck Bed Liner. Seaman says the company offers technical support to customers. He encourages anyone interested in applying the bed liner to call his company.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, TP Tools, 7075 State Rt. 446, Canfield, Ohio 44406 (ph 330 533-3384; toll free 800 321-9260; www.tptools.com).
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