Truck beds rust over time without protection from the elements and protection from normal cargo hauling damage. Some of the ways truck beds begin to rust may surprise you unless you’ve seen the kind of damage we have. Here are 5 ways to protect truck beds.
Scratch Prevention
Haul most anything and you risk at least minor scratches. That’s true even if you only haul groceries. But stay on top of touching up scratches and you can eliminate rust starting at minor damage. Use a truck for more serious hauling and you need some kind of liner or the damage that accumulates over time almost certainly leads to rust in time.
Cover It Or Else
A covered truck bed can stay looking good even if it does suffer some minor scratching or dings. It’s the combination of water with bare metal that leads to rust. An obvious plus for protecting truck beds includes tonneau covers as well as truck covers and a good garage or carport. Whatever the cover, the pickup stays better looking longer with regular protection from the elements.
Poorly Fitting Bed Liners
It would seem that protection with a bed liner would be the ticket to maintaining the bed paint. That may be true, but not if the liner is a poor fitting drop in liner. How so? A poor fitting plastic liner does harm in at least two ways. The liner may vibrate as wind passes over it and that vibration may set up rubbing against the paint which over time actually can wear down to bare metal and then hide the damage underneath the liner. Also, hidden away under the liner may be water spots that don’t drain well and lead to rust as well.
Plugged Drains Hide Rust Starters
Similarly, plugged bed drain holes will lead to pooling of water and the resulting increased chances of rust and corrosion too. The risk of the water damage increases with any liner that can trap water underneath out of sight. Hidden water under a liner equals hidden damage too.
Bed Liners
On the other hand, the right bed liner protects the metal of the bed from most any kind of corrosion. A spray on bed liner is an obvious choice for protection. Also, good draining liners like mats and many plastic liners also almost guarantee the bed of your truck will live for years with no rust and no place for corrosion to get a start.
Truck beds rust without care and protection. Often attempts at protecting the bed of a truck may result in more harm than good. Choose liners carefully to get the best results.
Al Bullington writes about his pickup truck projects. Check out his newest website about the underrated option for protecting pickup beds, truck bed mats.
See http://TruckBedMats.net for tips to get the best bed mats for pickup truck protection.
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