Before my paint guy paints my rocker panels and valences he asked if I wanted to put a light bedliner material on first to protect them.

Has anyone done this? How does it look?

like the bed of a pickup. if you don't care for the final look, my guess is a major hassle to undo.

I'm told its permanent.

I did a search and saw a couple pics but they weren't on black rockers.

that makes it REAL hard to undo. i'd shoot them with black 'Zero-Rust' (name brand) paint. i did my front suspension with it. the stuff wears like iron and touch up is just squirt away. i have a set of rockers and f&r valances for when you have to replace them.

k

I found these two pics in old threads.....they don't look too bad....I think I'm going to do it. Like you said Kevin, I can always source another set.

I did it on one of my cars and it looked great! Just get the stuff with less lumps!

I told them - "no popcorn ceiling look".

My front bumper was 'repaired' by a P/O and some of the BONDO and gloss paint was coming off. I did a temporary repaint with a rubberized-undercoating on both bumpers. Its a little pebbly but it has a flat finish so it doesn't draw a lot of attention ... and it looks OK (to me)

Click to view attachment

I think it would be a great coating on the inside of the rockers and valences. The rockers especially rust from the inside from trapped road debris. I removed my passenger side rocker panel a few months ago and again it is filled with gravel.

I am thinking about having mine power coated. I just got my engine tin back from being powder coated and it is tough stuff - maybe that is an option for you.

I have some vague recollection of seeing a fair amount of rust behind some truck bedliner material that was later removed. I can't remember where or when I saw this, but it's stuck in my head. Perhaps the surface wasn't prepared properly either, who knows? I don't know that I'd use it on my already rust prone 914 sheet metal. Strictly my opinion and what I would do or not do.

I looked into Rhino liner But you have to be a dealer to buy/install it.

I have used the rubberized gravel guard and it works/looks great and it wouldn't be that hard to undo.

The big trick with gravel guard is to toss in some auto paint hardner then it's tough as nails.

Well.....I went ahead and had the "bed liner" put on before painting. I think it turned out great. They should be bullet proof going forward except for the occasional meet and greet with sidewalks.

WOW. That looks very nice. Really can't tell it is bedlined from the pics.

There you have it. bedliner, will not rust metal. Metal that is rusty before the bedliner goes on will continue to rust after it is there. As often as not, bedliner is used to cover over rusty beds, rather then keep them from rusting in the first place.

Zach

Thanks for the summary Zach... clear as mud now (j/k)