Al's Liner vs Herculiner? Need new bed cover too
 

I plan to redo the bed this spring of my 04F150 and I was curious as to which you would all recommend.

Al's Liner was mentioned to me on Spike tv and used on a Tundra

while the Herculiner had previously been used by the previous owner on the bottom half of the truck all around, and it looks great.

I don't mine trying the new one in the bed just wanted your opinions?

Also, need a new bed cover, preferably a roll up that is somewhat watertight and can offer some security. Currently came with one from TruckSport which isn't watertight and needs some upgrading.


Thanks for your help

Juat saw it too I'm going to order it and try it out looks good

haha from where? they dont have many distributors with websites? and none near nj but if you try out before i do, post a review or let me know. I won't do mine til April.

I also saw that ad for the Al's liner, $55 for that gun with a huge hopper and like $125 I think for the materials. Might be worth a try.

Al's makes some pretty big claims on their website. I have requested the MSDS and technical data specs. I'll report back when they email it to me.

thanks, any good bed covers as well, that are somewhat waterproof, affordable and offer security?

OK, I have the info.

First let me say that I have never used Al's and I have no opinion of the product.

After reviewing the information and doing a little research on the web, I have the following comments.

It looks like it's a retail packaged Scorpian Liner. So, if you want to look into it further, you may want to Google Scorpian Liner.

Some of the information they give is in the wrong context. For example, the TDS states, "...Al's Liner is acrylic-reinforced aliphatic aromatic polyurethane....(aliphatic aromatic blend polyurethane has incredible strength)..." Well, there is NOTHING special about an aromatic/aliphatic blend as far as strength goes. Aromatic (open chained hydrocarbons) and aliphatic (closed hydrocarbons) have to do with UV stability, not strength. Also, most polyurethane products boast that they are EITHER aromatic or aliphatic, but not both. So, while aliphatic is good, it has nothing to do with the context of their statement.

Polyurethanes are also either acrylic or polyester. Polyester is the best but acrylic is less expensive. Al's is acrylic.

Their website states, "Al's Liner is vastly superior to all DIY Kits in critical areas such as tensile strength, UV stability, and tear strength. It is not cheap epoxy or polyurethane with filler and solvents added to reduce cost." That's absolutely not true. Their MSDS for the resin component states, "Stoddard Solvent 14-18% weight by volume." Stoddard solvent is a common organic solvent.

At this point, I don't know what to think. It's as if some person was given some information about the product and had to write something about it, but didn't understand what he had to write about. So, now it's like I would have to sift through the information and figure out what they really mean.

Their website also states, "Al's Liner is more UV stable and tougher than Rhino, Line X and blows the doors off the liners like Reflex, Armor thane, etc." Well, this could be seller's huff, I don't know what they mean by "tougher" or "blows the doors off" :D If I were to have a discussion with Al's or Scorpian, I would ask if their products are applied to U.S. Pentagon, U.S. nuclear subs, military Humvees, etc. like LINE-X. I think you see my point.

Again, I've never used Al's. You may be very happy with it. But, their public information is rather wishy washy. If anyone decides to use it, report in and post some pics!

so do you recommend we stick with herculiner and just buy their spray gun to adhere it? lol

You can buy a cheap spraygun and spray any of the DIY bedliners. Just make sure you use the right tip size.

any recommend brands? I'm all new to this and just want to do it right the first time.

Of course I know it won't be perfect. :)

Honestly, if your truck is still in fairly good condition get a professional someone who uses the high/heat system.

With DIY kits it seems like only 1 in a 100 actually turn out good with looks and durability.

That Al's liner may have higher hardness around a shore D of 70 for instance(hot systems are usually shore D of about 55). So in turn most DIY kits the product is just more like a heavy duty paint. Harder is not necessarily better either if its too hard it can't absorb shock from loads because its almost brittle.

Here's the other thing with DIY kits in order to achieve just a 1/16 of an inch would require at least 3gal. of product because it's only 85% solids, the other 15% evaporates into the air. A professional system gives you at least 1/8 in with 5gal. The average truck bed is about 70sq. ft. so you'd have to buy over 6gal. and at $125 per gal.??? You do the math. And it's not like you'd just be able to put it on that thick in one shot, coat by coat, lettin it dry.

So how much would a professional bedliner cost and which do you recommend? I don't have much to spend but if you say its a better route and you are making sense with how many gallons I would have to use, as well.

Average price to do the spray in type bedliners around here is 500-700 depending on options and colors and such.

I have installed 8-10 Herculiners myself and never had one problem. The oldest one is about 3 years old now and still holding fine in a construction vehicle. The most recent was mine just a couple weeks ago and added the UV top coat to mine as well.

I got the whole kit including an extra quart of Herculiner and the UV top coat for less than 100 bucks delivered to me off Ebay. Even if for some strange reason a few years from now, I need to go over it and redo a few spots, who cares? I still didn't spend even 1/4th of what the spray in liners cost and this one looks every bit as good as those do.

I just can't justify spending that kind of money when I can do something that looks and works just as good and can do it myself.

oh yeah i agree and thats why I don't feel like $500 to $700, thats crazy.

What does the UV top coat do to it? Does it give it a somewhat glossy appearance because the sides of my f150's herculiner doesnt stay somewhat black unless it gets a really good wash and sprayed with lots of wax and soap.....it appears in a greyish color which doesnt look as appealing as when its black............any ideas? Clear-coating it?

Yes the UV coat is a clear coat that keeps it glossy and shiny just as if you sprayed on a real clear coat on it.