| color Matched Line X spraying Liner
Spray-in bedliners are nothing new. They have been around the industry for many years and, for the most part, come in one standard color, black. By now, we should all know the benefits of a spray-in bedliner, but if you have forgotten or this is the first time hearing about this, we will go over it a little later in the story. What we are talking about is Line-X Corporation's newest offering to the market, Line-X Xtra. The company has come out with a new color-matched spraying system for the enthusiast who wants a liner, but black just won't do.
In the past, the only option you had was to get the liner in black and then cover it with your paint. The problem with that approach is Line-X is made to be ultra durable, and with that comes one small problem: Paint doesn't stick to it very well. The company locked its scientists in a room with some guys from DuPont until they made a few secret chemicals that not only make urethane paint stick to it but also make it translucent. This way, the base lining can be tinted, so if you gouge it, the mark won't stand out like a sore thumb. It's also repairable even if the most unlikely mishap occurs. Your Line-X dealer can seamlessly repair the surface to like-new condition.
The Xtra shares all the same features as the standard, thick polyurethane/polurea elastomer, black Line-X, including the nation-wide warranty. Once it's in the bed of your truck, this stuff is tough as nails because it's fortified with DuPont's Kevlar. It resists most chemicals, including pool chlorine, auto fuel, diesel fuel, paints, bleaches, organic solvents, fertilizers, and much more. Basically, the only thing we have found that even touches this stuff is brake fluid, so keep that stuff out of the bed. The surface of the Line-X looks great and will keep most of your load from sliding around while you drive. One of the best things is the rust prevention. This stuff molds to every contour, bonding to the truck bed and preventing dirt, water, sand, and gravel from ever getting in contact with the metal of your truck, which stops rust and corrosion. It also leaves the normal drainage system of your truck bed intact.
We took a Dodge Dakota with a silver paintjob, one of the hardest colors to match, to our good friend Marcel Venable of Line-X of Huntington Beach. His crew had the job done in a few hours, and the results were fantastic. So, check out how it is done, and see if Xtra is for you.
So, here is the Dakota we took over for the color-matched bedliner. It is the factory silver and one of the hardest colors to match; we figured if Line-X can do this, it could do anything. From the close-up image, you can see this truck gets used, and the bed shows the wear.
The Final WordNow this is no show truck, but it is a workhorse, and the bed does see a lot of action. A few days after this photo was taken, the truck was used to move a whole condo's worth of furniture. After the move day, the bed showed only a few small scuff marks that surprisingly wiped off with no problem. If you are in the market for a liner for your full-blown custom or just want the bed to match the truck, check out the Line-X website, where you can learn a little more and find a dealer near you.
