Bed liners of several kinds have become almost must-haves for pickups. Without some kind of protection, pickup beds soon turn to rust buckets. Simply using a pickup for casual hauling is bound to cause scratches, if not dents, and lead to corrosion in time.

Spray on bed liners have several advantages over other options. Now these are offered as options even on new trucks. Usually for a new truck the application will be done by a local franchise of one of the big name liner companies.

Spray liners are after all really a paint application over the existing bed paint. But it is special paint. Partly it is special because it dries and cures very rapidly. The paint usually is a two part product mixed right at the spray gun. Engineered to cure fast, that means the time to get the project done is very short. Usually that means the truck only has to be at the applicator just a day or so.

Another major feature of the coating is thickness. Up to one-fourth inch thick, the lining durability relates partly to the large volume of material applied. The thickness of the coat means much paint can be torn or scratched away and the metal of the bed still is not touched. It isn't that the liner is so hard to damage, it's that there is just so much of it there.

Consider value too. At only about half the cost of professional spray liners, plastic models offer great value. Plus easy removal makes these less than a permanent decision. So easy replacement means you can get a new liner if yours is damaged or if you just get tired of the way it looks.

One truck bed liner that offers the plastic advantage but also is easy to install and drains extra well too is the DualLiner model. The DualLiner comes in multiple pieces instead of just being in one piece. That way it's possible to get a better fit and assure proper drainage from the liner as well. It's worth a look.