Product review- Duplicolor Truck Bed Coating Kit

[White Comet]

this thread could probably go in gen chat but i thought a 240 owner could get good use from this product like I did. A few months ago I purchased the duplicolor brand truck bed coating kit. The kit can be picked up at most parts stores (i went to advanced auto parts) for about $60. The kit is intended to coat the bed of a truck so that it can be used for hauling items without scratching the paint. The kit contains a brush, scotch brite pad, roller and the "paint" (if you could call it that). the paint dries very hard and is resistant to scratching and chipping. the most important part thoguh, is to give it AT LEAST the recommended coating of 5mm. after only one coat it is still a very thin layer and can easily be scratched or chipped. after a few more coats for a nice thick layer it very tough and durable. I used this product to coat the under side of my car as well as the wheel wells to prevent and rusting or rotting of the frame. the car hasn't been driven yet, but since it's my daily driver it'll go through the snow and salt and other bad weather conditions, so i will update then with how it holds up over time. In the past i used a spray on rubberized undercoating, and wasn't entirely happy with the results. Even after a liberal coating, it eventually wore through and it dried soft and mushy kind of, where as the truck bed liner dries very strong and hard. For applying the material, i found its best to just get a cheap set of brushes, seeing as the roller didn't work to well for me. As long as the surface is clean and scuffed up with the scotch brite pad, it adheres nicely and goes on easily. For getting in hard to reach places, dupli color also makes truck bed coating in a spray can, its very similar to the brush on kit i used, but since its the spray form its a little thinner. the Actual kit works nicely since I can brush on nice thick coats. I woudl highly recommend this to anyway looking to prevent rusting on the car's underside. It's a stronger material then the runny spray can stuff, but cheaper then some other alternatives.

Here are a few pics of the progress of coating my under body

here's a short video where i take a grade 8 bolt and try to scratch a frame rail coated with truck bed liner, that has dried for the proper amount of time. I did this to show the durability.

If you have any questions let me know, i just thought i'd share this with everyone

[diggles240]

I had considered this for my s13. Good to hear your evaluation.

[cmoody2006]

Ok you've convinced me.... I must do this to my red s13 come spring time Forget that rubberized undercoating

[hbpignosePA]

looks fresh in person too

im sold on this when i finally start tearin my suspension apart

[noobdrftr]

man you just keep on getting people to jump on this idea...well im one of them...im going to do it to my s13 hatch project

[ReaperBJJ]

I've been planning on doing this for a long time now, I just have to finish up some rust repair and wait for spring. How much coverage did one kit have? Did you have a lot left after doing the whole underbody? I've been thinking about buying just a gallon of undercoating since my dad's a carpenter and we have plenty of rollers/brushes around and doing his truck bed with the left over. I just don't think the kit will have enough to both, would it?

[White Comet]

ahh i forgot to mention coverage. i ended up getting 2 kits (2 gallons total) and i'm not done yet but i know i'll have let over. 1 gallon covers more then half of the car and thats with putting like 5-6 coats on. even with 2 kits ($120 total) it's money well spent

looks fresh in person too

yeah, its nice and glossy looking

[m tr4nch]

nice review. maybe i'll go this route instead of the rubberized undercoating when i get to the point of doing it.

i plan on spraying the underside of my car with rust-stopping paint first, do you think i'd have to let that cure and then sand it down again before applying the bed liner? reason i ask is because i sanded down everything underneath once before and i hated my life the whole time i was doing it lol. otherwise i'd spray the paint on, let it dry (not cure though), and then brush/spray the bed liner on and let everything cure together. idk though, i don't know a whole lot about painting and stuff.

[AAV240sx]

Nice review! So any rough estimate how much weight 2 gallons of this stuff will add?? and How well do you think it'll hold up if it's scraping against the asphalt while your driving?

[kick_it_sideways]

i plan on spraying the underside of my car with rust-stopping paint first, do you think i'd have to let that cure and then sand it down again before applying the bed liner? reason i ask is because i sanded down everything underneath once before and i hated my life the whole time i was doing it lol. otherwise i'd spray the paint on, let it dry (not cure though), and then brush/spray the bed liner on and let everything cure together. idk though, i don't know a whole lot about painting and stuff.

I sprayed my interior with bedliner directly over 2 layers of POR15 without any sanding at all. It came out really well but the only problem is I used cheaper bedliner so it scratches easy.

[White Comet]

nice review. maybe i'll go this route instead of the rubberized undercoating when i get to the point of doing it.

i plan on spraying the underside of my car with rust-stopping paint first, do you think i'd have to let that cure and then sand it down again before applying the bed liner? reason i ask is because i sanded down everything underneath once before and i hated my life the whole time i was doing it lol. otherwise i'd spray the paint on, let it dry (not cure though), and then brush/spray the bed liner on and let everything cure together. idk though, i don't know a whole lot about painting and stuff.

i sprayed the underside with xo rust paint first and i just brushed the bed liner right over that without sanding or anything, so you should be fine

Nice review! So any rough estimate how much weight 2 gallons of this stuff will add?? and How well do you think it'll hold up if it's scraping against the asphalt while your driving?

no idea about the weight, but i figured a little weight addition is worth it to save the frame from rusting. i'm not sure what you mean about scraping asphalt, my car isnt that low

[m tr4nch]

i sprayed the underside with xo rust paint first and i just brushed the bed liner right over that without sanding or anything, so you should be fine

awesome, sounds good.

[White Comet]

, yeah man go for it. your build is phenomenal, so i'm glad to help out some

[hbpignosePA]

after the holidays ill start this... i was under the car looking at my rust situation; the rear looks easier to fix than the front....

im drafting a build thread now; but ill wait till i actually have something to show progress

[Harman850T5]

Nice review, I'm going to do this while I'm installing the bushing kit.

[m tr4nch]

, yeah man go for it. your build is phenomenal, so i'm glad to help out some

thanks d00d hopefully i'll get to work on it again soon. this cold weather/rain/snow really sucks. a few times in the past i was tempted to do what you did and get another shell but i'm sticking it out hehe. good luck in your similar quest to battle/conquer rust

[santana56]

great idea