Cleaning Bed Liner

I have a new to me 2014 that has white stains on the black spray in liner. I'm not sure what it is, but guessing it is some form of paint. One piece looked like wall spackle.

I have tried a handful of things to clean it (DIY car wash pressure washer soap, mineral spirits, motorcycle chain cleaner, brake cleaner), but haven't had any luck. Ended up putting a nylon brush wheel on my dremel, and the only way it seemed to remove the white, was by gouging the liner.

Spoke with a truck outfitter place here in town that works on that type of stuff, and he told me the best solution was a rubber bed mat, and try to forget about them. Can't put bedliner over bedliner, and removing what is there would cost over $1000 and likely damage the bed due to the work involved.

Other option that came to mind is trying to paint the bedliner with some black paint, but that could end up making it look worse, or start peeling off before long.

I also have some rust spots on the liner, looks like a chain was sitting in a corner of the bed for a while. Haven't put much work into that yet, but I'm thinking that WD-40 may get rid of the rust.

Does anyone else have any thoughts? I don't have any pictures of it at the moment, or I could share them.

Soak it in paint thinner then hit it with the pressure washer. if that doesn't remove it, it deserves to survive.

sd790 said:

Soak it in paint thinner then hit it with the pressure washer. if that doesn't remove it, it deserves to survive.

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I was able to soak some of it in small amounts, with mineral spirits anyway (that's close right?). It is hot outside, and I have AC in my garage, so I try to stay in there to do work, unfortunately the floor is level, which means the truck bed isn't, and anything I pour on it runs to the front. I tried using some plumbers putty as a small dam, but it isn't made to hold chemicals like that, so it started getting slimy pretty quick, and I abandoned that idea. If I get some time when there is cooler weather or at least cloud cover, I'll park partially in my driveway to level the bed, and try again.

I'd try just saturating a folded rag and place it over the area for a while to see if that will loosen it. Good luck!

Try “just once”. Hit my bedliner with it this week and it helped a lot. Not greasy either. They suggest hitting it twice for best results but once was enough for me

JMod45 said:

Spoke with a truck outfitter place here in town that works on that type of stuff, and he told me the best solution was a rubber bed mat, and try to forget about them. Can't put bedliner over bedliner, and removing what is there would cost over $1000 and likely damage the bed due to the work involved.

Click to expand...

Have you looked in Line-X Renew?
https://linex.com/bedliners/renew

I wonder if this would work:
https://adamspolishes.com/products/adam-s-invisible-undercarriage-spray

crash68 said:

Have you looked in Line-X Renew?
https://linex.com/bedliners/renew

I wonder if this would work:
https://adamspolishes.com/products/adam-s-invisible-undercarriage-spray

Click to expand...

I had not heard of Line-X renew. I will look into this.

Have the same issue... watching this thread!

How big of an area are we talking? I have touched up my factory spray ins myself on my 2014 and my 2015. I had torn out a fair size section to bare metal on both tailgates, and my 5th wheel hitch got the bed pretty good on my 15 when my hoist lost a seal in the piston when I was pulling it to store. I also had some lacquer based primer spill out in the 14.

Can been done yourself with proper preparation and a rattle can of Rust-Oleum Pro Grade black spray bed lining. Since it seems you only have stains versus bare metal and full thickness loss, here's what you need to do:

1. Wash the area thoroughly with a degreaser and hot water.

2. Rinse thoroughly, and I suggest with a pressure washer.

3. Now you need to break into the oxidized layer of the bedliner. To do this, use a green 3M Scotchbrite pad and a Prep-Sol. I prefer using Prep-Sol because I have a coating background and know using a clean solvent is the best avenue for coating success. But you can use a solution of TSP and hot water from step 1 too. Scrub the area and enough overlap to blend the coating. You're not sanding here, just intensely cleaning. You're green pad will go black but you're not trying to flatten the texture or get to bare metal! Just scarifying for good tooth of your top coating. Yes, you advanced mad scientists like me know you can chemically etch too, but I'm KISSing this!

4. Rinse area thoroughly to wash away any residuals and loosened material and let it dry completely either in the warmth of sun or under a heat lamp. Any residual moisture will cause this repair to be a fail!

5. Once dry, use ample Prep-Soil on a microfiber and blot the area down. Let is flash off.

6. Shake your rattle can thoroughly! With a sweeping technique, spray the area such that you feather into and feather out from the target area. APPLY THIN and while still wet use a stiff bristle paintbrush and with
stippling strokes - basically a taping motion - duplicate the factory texture. You can work up to about an 18 inch square area at one time with this technique. Much larger and the coating is setting and you cannot blend the texture.

7. After initial dry time, you can build additional coats with the same technique until the blemish is gone.

Do this with due care and your repair will be invisible! Like I said, I've blended in full thickness tear-outs in a Saturday afternoon and a $15 rattle can.

For my 2019, I skipped the factory spray in and went back to aftermarket, which is warranted and that includes repairs!