Got a new truck and I went with a drop in from the dealer - couldn't beat the price. Thinking it may not be a bad idea to use an underlayment. I've seen that paintsaver pad thing but I've heard of people using flooring underlayment as well. I've got some extra pergo laminate flooring underlayment from a project about 6 years ago. It's a dense thin foam underlayment - think this would work? I ripped some out of this house - don't know how long it was in there, it was stained but it didn't look like water bothered it at all.

 

jdew-

I have a drop-in liner, but nothing under it. You got me thinking about the laminate floor underlayment. I put Armstrong laminate in a room last summer and probably have enough of the thin pad to cover the bed of the truck. It's a green closed-cell foam about 1/16" thick. I think it's a great idea, and don't see any problems it could cause as long as the pad doesn't hold water.

-CJ

 

Probably the same stuff I have.

 

I'm sure floor underlayment would work as well as any other product. However, it might be worth considering the potential for corrosion damage due to decreased ventilation under the bedliner vs any paint protection offered by an underlayment.

 

Why would you all spend that kind of money on a new truck, and then nickel and dime your bedliner to save a few bucks?? It's the part of your truck that's going to get the most beating and you want to put down an 80.00 drop in and home depot vapor barrier?? that's crazy.

 

I wouldn't do it. I think it may trap moisture and possibly start rusting. I'm going to sell my liner and have a Line-x liner done with a rubber bed mat to cushion the floor against objects being dropped in it. I did it in my 2001 screw and that worked well for me...

 

Take a look at the DualComp liner - Designed to accomplish the same thing, except it's engineered to work that way. There's lots of threads talking about it recently. The big advantage over your plan is that the sidewalls get dent protection from the hard, polyethylene sides.

I work for Dualcomp, so feel free to ask if there's any questions.

 

Not going to get into a debate on this, but in my opinion a drop-in is more durable than a spray liner, and I do not think that using a drop-in is going to destroy the bed as many seem to believe.

The underlayment is not a "vapor barrier", its a thin foam pad similar to other products that are used specifically as a liner for a drop-in. I don't think I NEED to use this, but if I have extra material on hand than I figured why not. Plus I hear it may cut down on some of some bed noise.

Personally, price being equal I would gone with a dual-comp but I couldn't turn down a good deal on the liner I got.

 

The idea that drop-ins tear up the bed and cause rust is fairly new - came on the scene about the same time the spray-ins did. Without the underlayment, they do rub off paint, right at the trailing edge and on the wheelwells.

Rust is really the myth. I've removed hundreds of bedliners, virtually every time the rust issues relate to something beyond the bedliner. Think about it, the same action that rubbed off the paint will keep "sanding" the same spot. You end up with bare metal and maybe a little surface rust. I have never, in hundreds of rust belt removed bedliners seen rust through caused by the bedliner chafing the paint.

My objection to drop-ins is slipperness. I like to drop and go - if I have to tie it down I don't want to mess with it.

Bottom line is still: If it works for your needs, it is still the right bedliner for you!

 

Bryndon-

I applaud your honesty in not putting down the poor drop in to promote your product. I've had several drop ins and never had the alledged horrible damages professed by Line-x and Rhino. These companies play on false fears to promote their products, as you can see, most in this forum have bought into their marketing.

I got a drop in for my new truck a few months ago and it is fine for my purposes. Had I known about Dual comp I would have gotten that instead.

To me $500 is too much for a liner, the cost of a Rhino plus the coating you will need to pay $100 to keep it from fading.

In a few years there will be something better than spray ons and they will be the "must have" over the obsolete spray in.

 

I agree, drop-in's aren't going to rust a hole in your bed or rot it off your truck, it would take ten years to eat a hole in the bed of a truck. However, regardless of marketing or anything else, they do wear the paint off the bed of your truck and do promote surface rust. I have a Ford F250 light duty short bed and it came from the dealer here in NW ohio with a drop in. When I pulled the drop in out to have it Line-X'd there was several full shovels of debris (stray, dirt, gravel) in the front of the bed that had been there for years. Not only that, but it was all soaking wet because it had no way to dry and it had plugged the drain holes. The wheel wells were worn to the metal as was the bottom of the bed in every area where the drop in sat.
Was my bed in danger of rusting off ? NO. It probably would have taken a decade to rust through, but it was FULL of surface rust and the bed was probably in as bad of shape had it not had a liner. As for Dual comp, it could be a great liner, but it's still just a drop in with a rubber mat, this is the same as anything other products out there. GOOD (drop-in), BETTER(dual comp), BEST (Spray-in),just depends on what you want to spend and how serious you are about your truck.

 

Funny - but when I label those types of liners based on my personal use sprayed-in doesn't come out as "Best".

And what in the world does the type of bedliner you have - or god forbid if you don't have a bed liner have to do with how "serious" you are about your truck?

 

DualComp is not a drop-in. It is installable and therefore un-installable. If you can pick it up and set it back in as one piece, it would be "drop-in". Calling DualComp a drop-in is the same as calling Herculiner or Duplicolor a "spray-in".

Due to the tight fitment, there is no chattering or chafing - that is what causes the drop-ins to remove paint. If your paint stays intact, you don't get rust - simple, and it works over the entire outside surface of your truck.

The mat is easily removable, therefore you can check if anything is building up underneath - although in 18 months I have never found enough there to bother pulling a mat out.

As I have mentioned many times, the is no "best" for everyone. It depends what your needs are. My needs and many others needs include not having their cargo slide or getting dents in their truck bed. For that, DualComp is second to none.

Oh yeah, one more plus over a spray-in... no maintainence, it doesn't fade or deteriorate like they do. Remember, there is "cost" and actual cost... you pay "X" for a spray-in, plus your waiting time, plus running around dropping and picking up your truck. Then you have maintainence supply costs and your time to do that...

Don't know about anybody else, but my time is worth something... especially my free time. Rather wrench and play, than rub and scrub.

 

Only washed my Line-X out with the hose over the last 4yrs and it really doesn't look any different then the day I picked it up at the dealer. Not sure what maintenace your talking about because I've never had to do any. As far as having it done, the dealer just made the arrangements and it was done the day I singed the loan papers. just my story.

 

jdew1920 - You need to talk to these LINE-X customers:




This LINE-X bedliner (with LINE-X Xtra) is guaranteed to always look just like this, no fading, no maintenance.