HELP Bed liner restoration

[81Lcamino]

You mention restoring the bed back to original--maybe check out dustless blasting. It should strip the liner and original paint much more quickly than trying to get it out by hand, and then you'd have a paint-ready surface. Dustless (not really correct) generates less heat than sand blasting, so less risk of warping G-body steel.

 

[joesregalproject]

I plan on using Raptor for my bed in the Spring. I recently picked up a '13 Silverado short bed and the bed is like brand new. Ive had spray in liners before but I figured it would be much cheaper if I did it myself. What had to be done as far as tinting it ? My trucks white. Also what did you use as far as air pressure ? Ive been spraying 3M Body Schutz for years and I crank the pressure up to get it smoother. Same thing with the Raptor ?

I absolutely love my Raptor Liner. Its rock hard, very chip and scratch resistant and looks great. If you are used to spraying body schutz you'll be fine. It's been a while but I think I ran the shutz gun at around 45 PSI. The higher the psi, the finer the texture will be.

You mix the stuff in the bottle, 3:1 product to hardener, then up to 10% basecoat for your tint. When you buy the basecoat, make sure you tell the body shop you don't want any binders in the paint, or the finished product will take a long time to fully cure and the color may look cloudy. Because you are spraying white, you may want to call U-Pol and explain your situation. I know you can spray white, but I remember the U-Pol rep telling me that if it's done incorrectly and may look yellowish. I didn't spray white, so I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying. So if I were you, I'd call up U-Pol and run everything past them. They are very helpful.

Also the stuff does not cover as well as they say it does. I used 6 bottles on my 8 foot bed and it's still thin in spots. I probably should have used around 10 bottles. However, the nice thing is that you can apply Raptor Liner directly over itself with very minimal prep, so recoating and touch ups are super easy.

 

[mikester]

I absolutely love my Raptor Liner. Its rock hard, very chip and scratch resistant and looks great. If you are used to spraying body schutz you'll be fine. It's been a while but I think I ran the shutz gun at around 45 PSI. The higher the psi, the finer the texture will be.

You mix the stuff in the bottle, 3:1 product to hardener, then up to 10% basecoat for your tint. When you buy the basecoat, make sure you tell the body shop you don't want any binders in the paint, or the finished product will take a long time to fully cure and the color may look cloudy. Because you are spraying white, you may want to call U-Pol and explain your situation. I know you can spray white, but I remember the U-Pol rep telling me that if it's done incorrectly and may look yellowish. I didn't spray white, so I didn't pay much attention to what he was saying. So if I were you, I'd call up U-Pol and run everything past them. They are very helpful.

Also the stuff does not cover as well as they say it does. I used 6 bottles on my 8 foot bed and it's still thin in spots. I probably should have used around 10 bottles. However, the nice thing is that you can apply Raptor Liner directly over itself with very minimal prep, so recoating and touch ups are super easy.

Damn, at that point I might just do it in black and leave it at that. Did you scuff the whole bed with scotchbrite or did you use something more abrasive ? I figured I would spray at 50PSI or better.

 

[joesregalproject]

Damn, at that point I might just do it in black and leave it at that. Did you scuff the whole bed with scotchbrite or did you use something more abrasive ? I figured I would spray at 50PSI or better.

I scuffed it with 180. Its really not that hard to tint it, I had one person mixing the next bottle while I sprayed. The black raptor liner looks nice too. Here is the TDS for the tintable stuff.

 

[mikester]

Thanks for posting that. I didnt know it required using 120-180 to prep the surface. Im thinking I'll just use the black. The other trucks were done that way and it looked fine. Looks like theres a few different types though. I'll probably call U-pol before I buy it to see how theyre different.
I was also surprised to read that regular tape can be used. When I had my other beds sprayed the guy used a tape with a fine wire that cut the liner as it was pulled off.

 

[Gremlinsteve]

Dustless blasting is a local to me company
I was considering purchasing a unit that I could use to blast all my projects with

And then maybe use it as a side business