bedliner on a hardtop?

[trust]

Has anyone had their hard top sprayed with or used DIY bedliner on their hard top? Mine is ok but faded and sort of blotchy and I was thinking that some bedliner might spruce it up some and yet retain the texture and not look so plastic like if it were sanded and painted. Thoughts, experiences?

thanks

 

[Bugman]

I've painted a couple of tops and went with paint instead of liner material and prefer the stock look rather than the bed liner look. When repainting you don't have to sand the texture down to smooth for a new paint job. Any automotive paint store will be happy to steer you through the process.

 

[4miles]

Painting top

I was able to paint mine and keep the original texture. I degreased and multiple cleanings with a scouring powder and pressure washer. Sprayed with an epoxy primer and then an acrylic enamel. I wanted to use a single stage urethane, but the paint supplier said he could not flatten it enough because of the hardener. Turned out good and is holding up.

 

[scrambler1]

I cannot find any pics to show you but 4 or 5 years back I painted the hardtop on my YJ with brown Durabak UV 18 bedliner and it came out great.
I sold the top last fall and it still looked good.
2 qts was plenty with 3 thin coats.

 

[trust]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the input.... My top has a few scars which I thought th eliner might hide but I guess I can treat them conventionally before I prime it and then just pain. Sounds good to me!

Thanks

 

[Robert Slone]

I used Herculiner on mine and it turned out fine. But within a year it had faded, so I taped off the windows and coated it with black rustoleum. It's been 2 years and it still looks good.

I'd use the money to just buy paint and not worry with the bedliner.

 

[NCAL]

Has anyone had their hard top sprayed with or used DIY bedliner on their hard top? Mine is ok but faded and sort of blotchy and I was thinking that some bedliner might spruce it up some and yet retain the texture and not look so plastic like if it were sanded and painted. Thoughts, experiences?

thanks

I used a coat of regular black Durabak Bedliner on my tops, with a top coat of the black UV protected smooth Duraback to keep it from fading. I had a bunch of small cracks in the fiberglass of both my full & half tops, and I wanted something to fill & cover them at the same time. All I did was rough the surface with scotch brite & wiped it with xylene to remove any oils or waxes before applying the DB. That was 4 years ago and it still looks good.

This is how it looked before:

These are the "after" shots:

The texture of the DB makes the surface rougher than it was originally, but it still made my 23 y/o full top look almost new. I'll probably put another UV protect (smooth) top coat on it in a year or 2 to keep it looking fresh. BTW, this was applied with a roller (not sprayed on) and I poured it thru a screen to remove the larger chunks of bedliner before rolling it.

HTH

Nick

 

[trust]

Thanks for the info guys, yours looks great Nick! just how I'd like for mine to turn out, the Durabak is available in various colors right?

decisions decisions

 

[NCAL]

Thanks for the info guys, yours looks great Nick! just how I'd like for mine to turn out, the Durabak is available in various colors right?

decisions decisions

Yep. Picked up some Red to coat my wheel wells and cut back on some of the road noise, just haven't applied it yet.

Good luck T.

Nick

 

[trust]

cool, thanks!

 

[84CJ8AKPostal]

Hey gang,
I still own sprayed on truck bedliner equipment. I operated a few franchise locations.
One thing that we did for retail trucks, was place a UV top coat over the spray liner called Restorez. It was a product made by my vendor that was not an activated product (it air drys) but it was specifically made to bond to sun dried plastics and ploymers. I did a CJ hard top with it 4 years ago, a double coat, first coat then a light scuff with a green dish scrubber, and then a second coat. I sold the jeep to a friend, and the top still looks great. The product that I would regularly use was a gloss black product that made worn spray bedliner or new bedliners in retail trucks shine really nice. It was not exactly OEM finish but they do make a dull variation of this product.

If this was to be packaged into a bottle, called Hard Top Restorz for Jeeps (in enough to put to generous coats on a regular top/with enough left over to do a long wheel base top) How much would you be willing to pay for this??