roll on bedliner question

[69rangerman]

Is a self applied or spray on bedliner product a good way to retard rust? My 69 has very little rust and I'd like to keep it that way while still using it as my daily driver. It has had a repaint over minor rust in bed-do I need to strip it down first to bare metal, naval jelly it and then bedliner? I like this truck well enough to hang on to it for a long time with vague thoughts of restoring body in the next few years. Should I just bide my time and have a re-spray whenever I have the few tiny rust areas done? Something about not doing anything about existing rust makes me wince.
Thanks for any suggestions.
Tom

[alvinator]

when i did mine, i just gave the bed a good once over to get the loose stuff out of it, gave it a good wash and then rolled in my bedliner.

[FORDification]

If you're ever thinking about 'restoring' your truck, and you've got rust in the bed now, then I'd hold off on the roll-on/spray-on bedliner. If you did your surface prep right, that stuff will NOT come off....well, unless you happen to have a jackhammer handy.

However, these bedliner kits are not a rust-stoppage thing, like POR-15, for example. You can't apply this over rust. Depending on the amount of rust you have, you'll either have to weld in patch panels and then prime first before applying the bedliner or at least sand down to bare metal, prime and apply.

The roll-on/spray-on kits were not made to be applied directly to bare metal. I specifically called the Herculiner company asking them about this, because I was considering using their product on my cab interior and underside after I'd stripped it to bare metal, and they said once it's stripped down that far, you at least have to have a layer (or two) of expoxy primer, since the Herculiner won't adhere well to bare metal. Since I wasn't ready to break out the spray gun for such a small job, I went a different direction, using POR-15 and then top-coating it with rattlecan paint.

[69rangerman]

Thanks guys, I kinda figured it would be better to wait. I don't have any welding, body work skills yet and was just thinking about containment until a later date. POR 15 sounds good. Will that interfere with later patch panel welding?
Tom

[FoMoCo]

My friend and I had a bad experiance with Herculiner back in 99. It was nice but became scratchy and started to fade. After a year you could see the paint underneath. I would find an Auto paint supply store and get a spray on kit for about 150. DIY urethane kits are also available. But, IMO it's a better value to pay a shop 300 dollars, than to mess with it yourself.

Nick

[GT-Racer]

what brands have you guys messed with? Around here they sell Duplicolor bedliner in a can at the parts store and walmart. But I dont want to waste $50. on something I will have to re do later. I cant afford a pro spray on job either though.

[GT-Racer]

by faded you mean color had faded?
i intend to have a cover over my bed. I just want to protect the bed floor.

[ratfink]

I used Herculiner on a 79 bronco I had. My son and I prepped as per the instructions, and did the entire interior. It turned out great and would recomend it. I plan on doing the bed on my 68 ranger.
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