Trucks are the backbone of every great American adventure, from camping in Yosemite to taking your dog for a walk. But when you come back from an amazing day on the trails, what's waiting for you in the bed of your truck? A scratched bumper and a dirty mat.
But there are ways to avoid this.
This blog post is for all the northern Arizona truck owners, motorcycle enthusiasts, gearheads, and off-road warriors. Hopefully, this helps save a truck or two.
There are many reasons why you should protect your truck's bed. The most important one is that it can save you money and avoid costly repairs.
The metal in a truck bed becomes so brittle over time due to the elements, such as mud, dirt, and desert sand, that it can easily be dented or scratched by small rocks found on the side of the road. These scratches and dents will lead to rusting, which eventually leads to holes and leaks.
Without protection, this process could happen within just a few years! Protecting your bed can also help keep water out for longer periods of time. This means fewer rusty spots on your vehicle, less maintenance required for your truck, and more money saved. If you're ready, these are the top 10 things that damage your truck bed.
You're no doubt familiar with many of the items on this list. Some of these most all of us deal with on a daily basis. However, there might be a few that surprise you.
This one is specially directed at gearheads and repair guys. We know how often you have to haul chemicals like gasoline, oil, transmission fluid, and other damaging and abrasive liquids.
Even when they're properly secured, it's not hard for these liquids to end up on the truck bed after a few bumps. After a few months of consistent day-to-day transport, your bed will start to show the signs of the damage these chemicals do.
We've probably all dealt with this type of damage once or twice. When you start hauling around heavy objects and loaded trailers, dents and dings can sometimes go unnoticed. Before you know it, you've got a few on each panel, and the bed is loaded with them. These can really sneak up on you.
We may not have to deal with the snow too much, but we certainly deal with the rain during the monsoon season. Rust can be a killer for a truck bed. In the mountains and cold areas of the country, snow can be even worse. Not only does the snow lead to rust, but the salt and chemicals on the road are even more damaging than the precipitation.
Here we have another hauling problem. Scrapes and scratches normally come from moving things like work equipment, furniture, rocks, and other items. And if you do landscaping or tree work, branches and limbs can leave some serious gauges on a truck bed.
A few misplaced items can lead to the whole load sliding around. This equals big damage to the bed of your truck.
Trucks don't always come with everything you need to carry bed loads. Purchasing extra ratchet straps, tarp, and other equipment to secure the load can lower your risk of damage.
If you don't have the properly rated straps to secure a load, things can go flying and really bang up your truck's bed.
This is too common when it comes to damaging a truck's bed. We can get in a hurry and don't tie the proper knot or secure the load correctly, and before you know it, things are sliding, and your bed is on the business end of this chaos.
Your truck and bed are rated for certain weights they can carry. Exceeding this load is a sure way to damage your bed and truck's rear end.
It's a given that water is going to make its way into the bed of your truck. If the bed doesn't drain automatically, you need to sweep this water out so it doesn't lead to rusting.
Luckily, there are presently many ways to protect the bed of your truck. From technical bed liners to simple mats, there are options for every level of protection and price range.
A spray-on bed liner is a rubbery protective coating made from polyurethane that gets applied to the bed of your truck. These liners mold perfectly to the shape and texture of your bed and offer high levels of protection and additional grip.
These are an excellent choice for drivers because they offer minimal maintenance and last a lifetime. This is the most efficient option and the best bang-for-your-buck.
Bed mats are basic throw-on liners normally made from rubber or plastic. These are efficient enough to get the job done but aren't as secure as a spray-on bed liner coating.
Rug liners work similarly to bed mats, but instead of a harder material, they're made from wiry polyester fibers. They're weather-resistant, pretty durable, and are efficient for lighter loads.
You can call using these supplies the old faithful method. When all else fails, ratchet straps can secure even the heaviest loads and moving blankets can offer protection if the trip isn't too long.
These are good for people who work out of their trucks or enjoy the outdoors. Using storage drawers to keep your tools and work equipment in can save your bed. Campers also find them useful for storing their gear.
LINE-X makes an incredibly bold statement: Their product protects your truck's bed like a suit of armor. We can vouch with 100% certainty that LINE-X doesn’t disappoint.
To back their statement up, LINE-X put truck beds that had been equipped with their spray-on bed liner through insane types of damage tests. We're talking 150-foot drops with all sorts of heavy objects. Each time, the bed liner stood up to the test.
Other bed liners do a decent job of protecting the bed of your truck. But when you need a product that stands up to extreme temperatures, impact, scratching, scraping, rusting, weight, and any other element you can throw its way, accept no substitute. A LINE-X protective coating is the real deal.
LINE-X is so confident about their product, a lifetime warranty is given on every liner that gets sprayed. It doesn't get much bolder than that.
If you demand a lot from your truck bed, there are several potential solutions. However, there's only one final solution. When you need a bed liner that's going to stand up to the test of time and literally last a lifetime, contact Flagstaff Collision Center to set up an appointment to get your very own LINE-X spray-on protective liner.