Herculiner: Cladding & Flares

[pc1p]

Like many of us silver/light-colored T4R's in the desert SW, my 04' Sport was badly faded on the flares, cladding, and spoiler. At ~128k, I know the truck has plenty of life left, but I certainly was not going to pull money out of "Tundra Funds" (I've already started to save for my Tundra) to repaint my T4R...

So, I decided to do the next best thing (maybe) - bedliner!









Overall I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, though I still may go over it with grey plasti-dip. I still need to apply a second coat though I did apply a second coat to the edges before peeling tape. This should make the second top coat easy at least (probably less than an hour). I simply ran out of time yesterday as drying took longer than I expected (apparently moisture is what initiates curing... and I live around cactus').

It took approximately 4 hours, including taping, sanding and application. I didn't think it took that long on my XJ back in the day, but after thinking about it my XJ had Bushwhacker Pocket flares and custom bumpers so I only coated the lower doors and rockers. The texture isn't quite even, but I'm told the second coat is what helps that out. I do remember a "smoother" finish on the older Herculiner stuff. The new stuff apparently has larger rubber chunks in the mixture than they previously did.

The black/silver contrast is growing on my more and I think a darker set of wheels may help set this off.

One thing to note - no matter how slow you coat, you're going to get a lot of spatter and little rubber bits falling to the ground. I diligently cleaned up the drops with acetone and a rag, but next time I'd just do it on the grass/rock.

 

[Be_Original]

Funny I run into this post, I haven't seen any pictures of lined plastic cladding. I am a little hesitant to do it, but it looks pretty good on yours. This is high on my list but plan to remove the cladding and front and rear bumpers to spray down.

 

[pc1p]

Funny I run into this post, I haven't seen any pictures of lined plastic cladding. I am a little hesitant to do it, but it looks pretty good on yours. This is high on my list but plan to remove the cladding and front and rear bumpers to spray down.

You're going to find that it's a huge PITA to remove the factory flares - at least that's the general consensus around here. It looks like you have to remove the entire front fenders just to remove the flares in the front. IIRC, the cladding is an even bigger PITA, which is why I chose to simply tape and roll.

YMMV of course, let me know how it turns out

 

[cpark_12]

How much did you end you using on one coat?

 

[Be_Original]

Yeah I have read that it is a pain and that with the money spent on the oem retainers its almost not worth it, but my cladding is starting to come apart from the body. I will let you know and definitely post up some pictures

 

[pc1p]

I had two retainers on the driver-front cladding come loose. I tried to fix, but the holes in the door were mushroomed and I simply fixed it with double-sided molding tape.

Up to this point, I've used slightly less than 1-quart. I'd imagine a quart would do most people fine. I decided to go with a gallon b/c I have a utility trailer that needs to have the floor bedlinered too

 

[Snarf]

you have the grey cladding on the fenders and doors but not the front and rear bumpers? did you replace those with paint matching or has it always been that way? i thought the cladding went all the way around on all the 03s.

 

[FactoryRide]

Looks great!! I plan to do this on my roof, but with Monstaliner instead. No rubber chunks inside. The roller creates the texture instead. Oh and a 5 year guarantee on UV protection.

 

[Amac]

I did this same thing on my 03 with the herculiner. Looked good and liked the added protection, but was noticeabley faded and wearing down by the time I traded it in. I'm sure a fresh coat would've freshened it up but just thought I'd let you know my experience

 

[pc1p]

you have the grey cladding on the fenders and doors but not the front and rear bumpers? did you replace those with paint matching or has it always been that way? i thought the cladding went all the way around on all the 03s.

Nope, this Sport has fender flares and cladding painted the same color as the body... they were just terribly faded and peeling.

 

[pc1p]

Looks great!! I plan to do this on my roof, but with Monstaliner instead. No rubber chunks inside. The roller creates the texture instead. Oh and a 5 year guarantee on UV protection.

Back in the day, Dupli-Color had a similar product and I did my Jeep with it. I wish this wasn't as textured, but hoping that the rain has left the desert for a few weeks and I can get the second top/smooth coat applied soon.