Truck bed rust and refinishing questions

Kinja'd!!! by "Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
Published 10/29/2017 at 14:22

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Kinja'd!!!

So we just got our new to us truck back from the shop, and I’m tackling cosmetic and rust issues. I already detailed the interior. Side note: the chemical guys have an upholstery brush that attached to a drill. Unbelievable. Fantastic results. The dirt that came out was frightening.

There are minor rust spots around the tailgate and lights, which I should handle without issue. The bed, has surface rust everywhere. Nothing serious, just 10+ years of project manager duty leading to minor scratches, which have rust. So, how to get rid of it? Do I just wire brush or sander? Some sort of rust converter or rust remover like Bullfrog or Rust-Oleum? Sand than prime? Once it’s done, were going with herculiner roll in bed liner.


Replies (14)

Kinja'd!!! "2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered" (2fast2furiousfc3s)
10/29/2017 at 14:39, STARS: 0

Not to be rude but posting pictures would help

Kinja'd!!! "gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee" (gogmorgo)
10/29/2017 at 14:43, STARS: 3

I’d say wire wheel then POR-15 or equivalent, then the bed liner.

Kinja'd!!! "Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
10/29/2017 at 14:50, STARS: 2

Not rude at all, and I’ll update the post when I can. Stuck at a 4 year olds birthday party, figured I’d at least put it out there first

Kinja'd!!! "vicali" (vicali)
10/29/2017 at 15:38, STARS: 0

I replaced the bed with a better one that needed some help on my 86 toy- wire wheel, face mask, eye protection and go to town. Take any rust to bare metal and paint with inhibitor like por-15 etc. I ended patching some spots and figuring out fibreglass and bondo during the process. It turned out nice enough for a 24 year old 4x4 truck- but in close detail it was still a mess.

Kinja'd!!! "Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
10/29/2017 at 15:53, STARS: 0

Kinja'd!!!

Here we go

Kinja'd!!! "2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered" (2fast2furiousfc3s)
10/29/2017 at 16:20, STARS: 1

I would grind down all the spots of concern to bare metal and treat all the small spots with por-15, after you grind them down I’d just primer them before you bedliner, I wouldn’t grind down the whole bed, just the spots that could reveal / survive after por-15

Although por-15 is pretty strong, biggest issues will come if the rust survives all the treatment, but bedliner should stop most moisture 

Obviously you care about your truck, the not caring solution would be just to put on the bedliner and forget about it, and while that may work I recommend treatment

Kinja'd!!! "E92M3" (E46M3)
10/29/2017 at 16:43, STARS: 0

What if you got a used drop in liner from a crashed truck? A lot less work, and will most likely out live the truck.

Kinja'd!!! "SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly)
10/29/2017 at 17:40, STARS: 1

This is how you fix it properly:

Kinja'd!!!

Aluminium flat bed tray.

Kinja'd!!! "Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
10/29/2017 at 19:55, STARS: 0

Worried about water intrusion underneath. Should I be?

Kinja'd!!! "E92M3" (E46M3)
10/29/2017 at 23:20, STARS: 0

What is your goal with the truck? If it’s just going to be a work truck/home depot truck for 5-10 years, I would just drop a liner in it. I can’t tell from the picture, but it doesn’t look like a truck that’s going to be holding or going up in value.

You’ll spend hours and hours prepping that for a roll-on liner. Or you could get a drop-in plastic liner for $200.

Kinja'd!!! "TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck)
10/30/2017 at 10:10, STARS: 1

My cousin bought a brand-new truck with a factory drop-in plastic liner. Two years later, he had to pull it out for some reason and discovered that sand had gotten between the liner and the bed. The liner used the sand to remove all of the paint from the center of the bed. It was down to bare metal, but at least there wasn’t any rust!

Personally, I wouldn’t use a liner.

Kinja'd!!! "briannutter1" (briannutter1)
10/31/2017 at 02:49, STARS: 1

I’m doing spot rust removal onou 99 Civic. I’m water blasting with coal slag to get to tight areas. For that access and flatness, I’d wire wheel, rust bullet, wire wheel again and bed liner. Rust removers typically require the part to be submerged which won’t work here. For my car, Rust bullet the underside after blasting and that will be the best I can do without disassembling and blasting the whole car.

Kinja'd!!! "Cash Rewards" (cashrewards)
10/31/2017 at 20:27, STARS: 0

You’re technically correct, but I found herculiner for $64. The difference between that and a drop in is the rear brakes I need. This is definitely a budget project.

Kinja'd!!! "E92M3" (E46M3)
11/01/2017 at 11:43, STARS: 0

In that case just use a wire wheel to remove the rust, and roll it on. It will go faster if you have access to an air compressor versus a drill.