So, I did this project about a year ago and due to all of life being fairly crazy right now, am just getting around to posting about it.
First, "Bed lining" the pretty parts of your vehicle is either a love it or hate it kind of thing. I would like to posit that a reason one might wish to do this is... Kids. I have kids. They have bikes. Bike handlebars often come into contact with the pretty shiny painted parts of the car and end up scratching them. The other area of the vehicle that I was tired of trying to maintain is the paint on the roof. I could either ignore this or go for the nuclear option. I chose the nuclear option. This whole process cost me about $400 bucks.
This isn't going to be a How To write up because there are so many good videos out on YouTube that cover the how to aspect of this process. Do your research, check out as many videos about the product as you can, then decide for yourself. There is no going back once you do this.
Application impressions:
I was a professional painter for about 10 years. I have sprayed paint and texture a bunch. Spraying this stuff was just like spraying texture and easy to make look great. 10 out of 10 for ease of use. The key with any 2-part product system is to keep your tools clean while not applying product.
Video I recommend to get the idea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZUlWlCKiSg
This video is awesome! He goes over all the steps to the process that I will NOT be breaking down because I hate redundancy. Truly, awesome.
Product and tools:
Raptor liner was purchased on amazon and I got the 8-liter kit that came with their gun, 8 liters of U-Pol product, 2 rattle cans of product, and 2 liters of hardener. I had 2 liters of product left when I was done with the project. The 2 rattle cans of product that came with the kit were more of a bonus, I did not use them on the vehicle, but kept them around for some side projects. They were the exact same product, but the texture that they produced was much finer.
I also purchased their Adhesion promoter for plastics. This product is to be applied after prep but before paint and I used it as more of an insurance policy on the plastics (not the roof). 1 can was more than enough.
The scuff pads were used to scuff everything I was going to be painting.
duct tape will be for ensuring masking and plastic sticks to things like the ground, tires, frame, suspension components, and really anything but painted surfaces. The worst thing possible is having masking come off and stick to your freshly painted surfaces.
1 kit - Raptor Liner 8 Liter kit
1 Can - RAPTOR Adhesion Promoter 1K Aerosol UP5024 12.4 Oz
1 Gal - Kleanstrip Prep-All Wax & Grease Remover, Gallon
1 Gal - acetone to clean the gun
1 Pack - Dura-Gold SP-7448 6"x9" Fine Grade Scuff Pads 1 PKG of 20 Premium PAD
3 Rolls - 1.5" Scotch Blue tape (in my professional opinion this product is the best when you want to protect things u are sanding against)
1 Roll - Really good duct tape
1 roll - 12" Hand masking paper
1 box - white rags (can be purchased at any paint store)
couple new lint free microfiber cloths -OR- tack cloths
1 roll - 8' painters’ plastic
Tips and tricks -NOT- a How-to
:
-Wash the car. Duah.
- Main principle here is to COMPLETELY mask everything that you don't want to get paint on within about 6 inches of the parts you do want to get paint on. Then cover everything else on the car with plastic.
- Start with masking around all the areas you want apply the product using just the 1.5" tape. I decided in the beginning, that on areas like the door plastics, I was not going to do any painting that would require the door being opened. I wanted to simplify how much masking I was going to do.
- Note that the top of the door plastic trims have a rubber strip that is part of the trim. Mask this off and don't paint it.
- I opened all the doors and masked off the jambs completely as I didn't want to spray them.
- I picked a line on the front bumper under the grill that I decided I liked and masked it. I left the hood unlatched and open slightly to accommodate spraying the bumper areas under the hood.
- I did the same at the rear lift gate. I picked a line on the bumper that I liked and masked it. I left the gate in the open position when I was ready to spray.
- once I had everything framed in masking tape you I ran my 12" paper tape in such a manner that I would still be able to drive the car out of my garage when ready. I just masked it so that I could still open and close it. Tip: don't do what I did and tape the floppy end of the paper down to the car just yet, tape the paper to itself so that it is basically one continuous piece, but don't attach it to the car. When you are ready to spray you will want your plastic under the paper. I just got lazy.
- Once the masking was complete, I scuffed everything with the scuff pads really well. You want the entire surface to dull considerably.
- Next I used my compressor to blow the entire vehicle off and remove as much dust as possible. After this I grabbed my microfiber cloth, added Kleanstrip, and wiped everything I was going to paint down. Twice. Get in the cracks and wipe the tape directly adjacent to the parts down as well. We want fairly dust free.
At this point I drove the car out of the garage and used my masking plastic to cover everything on the car that I did not want to get paint on. Follow the instructions on the video above, do the edges first, keep the gun a uniform distance away from the surface, move smoothly keeping a continuous speed, and always pull the trigger AFTER the gun is already in motion (don't pull the trigger THEN start moving) while letting go of the trigger BEFORE you stop moving. Practice on a nice sized piece of cardboard.
These pictures all show after the first coat has been applied and I am ready for the second. I believe 2 coats is the minimum and 3 coats is about as many as you want to go max.
And here are pictures of the finished product:
Ohhh pretty!
A week or so after doing this I got my Victory 4x4 Rack installed.
And Promptly put it to use!