A drop in is less than half the price of a spray in, I've never seen a bed rust through as a result of one, there is zero maintenance to one to keep it looking new (something that is impossible unless you spend an extra $200 for an additional coating with a spray in, not offered for most brands), the odds of denting your bed are much lower with a drop in, should you have bed damage that needs bodywork it's nearly impossible to remove a spray in, and you can still throw that tailgate party with a spray in should you get an install where they plug up your drain holes. The drains on the bed of a Ford truck are pretty small and will clog very easily.

They all serve their purpose and it just depends on what you want/need/deem desirable in a bedliner.

 

Both drop-ins and spray-ons have both good points and bad points. Choose whatever is right for you.

Consider the following:

Drop-ins:
1. Rattle/vibrate
2. Warp
3. Can't be repaired
4. No warranty (some do have limited warranties)
5. Trap water and debris
6. Rub the paint off the truck and can cause rust
7. Take up extra space in the bed
8. Generate static electricity
9. Does not conform to all contours
10. Can fly out of the truck bed

Spray-ins:
1. Don't rattle or vibrate
2. Don't warp
3. Can be repaired
4. Have a warranty (LINE-X offers a nationwide lifetime warranty)
5. Creates a permanent water tight seal
6. Does not create rust
7. Allows for more cargo area
8. Does not generate static electricity (most don't)
9. Dampens road noise
10. Molds to every contour
11. Will not fly out of the truck bed

 

Hahahaha... spoken like a true salesman...

List all the bad points of one compaired to all the good points of the other..

The drop-in I wound up with has a lifetime warranty against splits, cracks or warping and has as much chance of flying out of my truckbed as a Line-X liner.

All things considered and with the pics I've seen you post and the stories of how you treat your customers... if $ were out of the equation and you were the local installer I wouldn't hesitate to have you shoot a liner Gasm.

 

Thanks, man!

I think you said you bought the Ford drop-in which is made by Duraliner. Duraliner is made by Durakon, they make many of the OEM drop-in's. Durakon has a recall on some of their drop-ins (not Ford drop-in's) which you can view here: http://ebusiness.durakon.com/Pressre...e.aspx?PRID=39

 

That they do... but we talk about Fords here.. not those "other" brands that have the liner-over-rail liners in them.... they've got worse problems than their bedliner flying out.

There's no way one of their Ford liners from '97 and up are coming out of the bed.. unless you hook a chain to them and yank them out the back.

Only problem I'm having at the moment is my ATV loading ramp scratching the heck out of the factory tailgate cap.. no liner is protecting that.

 

I agree with this list and got Line-X myself, but would like to point out a plus for a drop in, which could also be considered a minus in some cases.

I load and unload pick up trucks with crates of lobsters and bait all day long and it is much easier to load and unload a drop in because of the way you can slide the crates in and out. Some of our older lobstermen have a hell of a time sliding 150lb totes of bait and 120lb crates of lobsters in and out of their trucks. They can use all the help they can get and tie down the crates when loading. Of course if you don't tie down the crates they tend to slam around the bed (because of that same ease of sliding) and thats the negative.

Thats why I say in some cases a drop in is a better choice. If you are older and need help loading and unloading it will be easier with heavy loads with a drop in. Other than that I say the positives of the Line-X far outweigh drop ins. I see 40 pickups a day that see hard use with everything from Rhino to dropins to Line-X. The Rhinos I deal with are not nearly as clean an installation as Line-X (with drips, peeling, and fading). As an aside one of my lobstermen has Ameraguard and I can't tell any difference between Ameraguard and Line-X. I went with Line-X because the local dealer made me feel better about covering any and all damage to the liner whereas the Ameraguard guy had some conditions.

I'd like to do an album with all of my different lobstermens liners because they do pound the crap out of their trucks and it would be a good comparison of working truck liners.

 

Was looking through this weave and a Google ad pooped up on top with that Onyx stuff from bostonbedliners.com. They still sell Line-X, but I start to wonder whats going on when one of the largest bed liner super stores in the Boston area starts to back up the Onyx over Line-X?

Pure corporate greed here or is there more to the story?

 

I had my truck done with a Permatech spray in liner.

If I were to do it again though, I think I'd go with a Line-X. The Permatech looks a lot like a Rhino liner, has a glossy rain-on-oil-slick appearance that's since faded somewhat (I had the liner done this past summer). I was quoted about $450 for a Line-X (6.5' bed), but I went for the Permatech based on local word around town of the quality of the installer, and that I got a killer deal on the Permatech. The Permatech does carry a lifetime warranty though, so I'm not terribly worried about it. Asthetically, the install was done very well, no runs or uneven layers that I can see.

 

It sounds like to me that they got there franchise taking away from them. They were doing some wrong stuff or something.
The one in ocala, fl stopped selling line-x and now doing that brand too. i think it is the same owner. Just what i have heard.

 

Funny thing about bostonbedliners: They kept all the LINE-X language and just changed the word "LINE-X" to "ONYX". They even are still using the LINE-X oval logo and just put ONYZ on it. Geez, you'd think they could be a little more creative.

 

You would think for them to switch to Onyx that on Google or some place else there were be a ton of evidence supporting Onyx over Line-X.

Not the case. Onyx may be good, but since I can't see or read much out there on it, I call SNAKE OIL on that one.

I'll stick with what is known best....Line-X

 

OK, here's a simple test for anyone that doesn't carefully set things down in their bed and tie everything in place...

1. Take a normal receiver, with a ball in it.
2. Toss it over the tailgate so it bounces off a wheel tub and falls into the bed (sorry, but most of the truck guys I hang with don't have the time to waste being much more careful than that).
3. Look and see where the receiver is for a reference point.
4. Take a 15 minute drive around town driving the way you normally do.

Score one point for no dent. If you have a spray in, you probably stopped before step 1, you didn't want the dent in your bed.

Score another point if the receiver was still where it landed after your drive.

Score one more point if you scored two points above.

If your score is now three points, you have a Dualcomp bedliner. cheald scores three!

Better add to the list of good point for spray-in liners:

11. no dent resistance.
12. skid resistance only slightly better than a drop-in.
13. Highest cost doesn't equal the best value.

Sorry, I tried all the spray-ins, they aren't "built Ford tough". OK for the occasional trip to the mall, but they lack in the two things that a bedliner is designed to do: Protect your truck and protect your cargo.

I'll be happy to show anyone a real bedliner - it does the two jobs required of a bedliner and looks great doing them.

Watch for us on Spike TV!!!!!!

ANd to make sure it is perfectly clear to everyone, yes, I work for Dualcomp and I came here because I found the only bedliner that works as hard as I do.

 

I got a Permatech liner, too, and I like it fine. I generally don't haul lobster crates or toss receiver hitches around in my truck, so the more rubbery surface is fine for me. We do get a lot of snow and road salt on our vehicles where I live, so a drop-in liner wasn't a consideration for me. I don't want all that junk infiltrating under a drop-in, only to sit there corroding the finish.

If I planned to use my truck to haul bricks or scrap iron, a drop-in might make more sense, but this seems to be one of those things where different needs dictate different solutions.

For the record, I'm not selling anything. I just have an F150 that I want to stay nice-looking for as long as possible!