At the SEMA Spring Expo earlier this year there was a company that was looking for dealers for a clear spray in bedliner. They were fairly new to the bedliner industry but they may have had some other experience with spray on protective coatings. Has anybody seen or know somebody who has one of these clear liners? They looked interesting and of course they threw their whole sales pitch at me. I have absolutely no experience with spray in bedliners so all the technical terms they threw out trying to make the product look like the superior choice meant nothing to me. Definitely looked interesting though. No need to mix different colors or anything. Just use clear and let the original paint show through. Of course that doesn't help if you are coating a used truck where the bed is already scratched up but they did offer colors too. Anybody hear anything good, bad or otherwise? Anybody have an opinion as to whether this is a good idea or not?

 

If it's polyurethane, unpigmented resin is not unique. All brands have unpigmented resin. My opinion is that I don't think it would look as good as your thinking.

 

I was under the impression that for the spray-in to properly adhere, the paint on the truck had to be 'scuffed up'?
I guess this must not be the case with the clear liner?

I have also been perplexed about the reasoning for a spray-in bedliner.
I have one, I sprayed it and forgot it. I chuck wood into the bed, slide appliances around on it, shovel it, rake it, never wash it except to blast out the drain holes.

If the bed is going to be worked, it seems colored spray-ins would show a lot of scratches and a clear liner would be even worse than that.

If it is a show-truck, the factory paint is nicer than a bedliner.

What good is a clear liner?
It would be easier to repair a paint scratch than a scratch in that stuff.

 

Hmm.....Didn't think about the paint needing to be scuffed for it to adhere properly.

You're right about the scratching too. Unless they made it extremely tough in which case it would probably also be slippery when wet.

Looks like the clear bed liner sounds neat until you actually look at the details. All the points you brought up explains why nobody else is offering a clear liner.

Thanks for the insight.

 

The material is a Polyurea Polyurethane Hybrid, it is not just an "Un-pigmented resin" it was specially developed to be a clear bed liner from day one. The reason nobody else does it, is because they do not have the technology yet.

They may have Un pigmented resin, but those are generally not clear, also most of the spray techniques in use would add micro bubbles to the resin, so even clear resins would not be clear after installation.

The guys that are buying the clear liners are high end truck owners that want to protect their truck, with out compromising the looks. It's very tough to scratch and its textured so thats it's slip resistant, and if you do scratch it its very hard to see. It's definitely a premium product, not for your average Joe!

It is not intended for the industrial or commercial user. If you beat the crap out of your truck who cares if the bed is black?

 

Hmm, I would consider something like this for my painted front bumper...

 

It's called Crystal Liner. Neat idea, but it's my guess that most people will pass on it. Pigmented products are much nicer looking.

If you want something clear for your bumper, consider 3M's clear film.

 

Yeah lot's of guy's are using it for body protection, fender flares, bumpers, bug guards etc. The 3m film is good stuff, but it's really hard to apply to complex contoured surfaces.

 

got a website? googled crystal liner and got nothing close.

 

if its clear i would think that is might turn a yellow tint and get stained, so i am guessing that it will end up looking really bad. But of course i know nothing about this product i am just sayin it could dis-color

 

Here's their website: www.clearbedliner.com

 

It's funny, when they compare their product to the Rhino Tuff Stuff - one of their linings has lower elongation and they call it a positive for them. the other has much higher elongation than the Rhino and they call it a positive again. Gotta love split personalities!

 

sounds like an interesting liner, but getting a full pigmented liner would look best, Rhino or Line-X

 

in my experience with spray on liners, i have had to sand the bed so that the liner would adhere better...wonder how long that clear liner would last...