Review: Upol Raptor Liner Spray-on Bed Liner

[laserjock]

Alright folks. Thought I'd put a quick review up of the Raptor Liner product I used on my cab floor.

Here is what I bought.

U-Pol Products 0776 ACID#8 Etch Primer - 1 Liter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SR5ZXS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_XRDKwbKNNC7EQ

Acid etch primer and

U-POL 0820V-GUN Black URETHANE Truck Bed Liner Kit With 726 Gun https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003TQIIPG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_7VDKwb1ME1SQT

4 liter raptor liner kit with gun.

Both packages were beat up and cans were dented but no leaks.

I pulled the tech sheet for the raptor liner and it recommends scuffing the surface with 180 grit I believe and shooting any bare spots with acid etch primer (Upol#8), 2 coats. Well, my floor had lots of bare spots..,like everywhere so I decided to shoot it all. The tech sheet for the primer calls for scuffing with I believe 320.

Being that this is a floor that will be covered with carpet, I went more aggressive and put 80 on the DA since that's what most epoxy primers call for on metal and that's basically what the Raptor liner is. So I removed the rust best I could and masked and wiped everything down with Duplicolor wax and grease remover. I don't recommend that product as it appears to be acetone which softens the paint remaining. It would be fine for bare metal or maybe epoxy primers and the like that are cured. Here is what it looked like.

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Anyway, I sprayed the primer with my Devilbiss starting line gun with 1.3 mm tip. In retrospect, that tip was probably a little large. Mega overspray. I'm still learning at this stuff so bear with me. I shot it unreduced as per directions. Flash time was like 3 minutes between coats and 30 minutes before top coating.

It laid out nice. Just barely had enough to put two coats on with a qt to give you an idea of coverage.

Here's what it looked like.

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So I broke out the supplied texture gun. Pulled a qt out and mixed it as per the directions by filling to the bump in the bottle and sharking. The gun is pretty no frills. Not much adjustment. I assume that threading the nozzle in and out is supposed to do something but I just screwed it all the way in and ran with it. I took my gauge and valve off my other gun and stick them on this one. I played with flow a little but honestly, I couldn't tell much difference. 2.5 bottles later...

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Here's the problem. No way I'm going to make another coat. So I go back to the tech sheet. I have two options. It says you can touch it up anytime after just degreasing so I assume I could put another another coat on in a week after the stuff gets here. That means un-masking and remasking. What a pain. So I went back to the tech sheet and it calls out application with an HVLP gun with 10% reduction. Supposed to increase coverage by 25%. Okay. I'm sealing the metal not prepping for hauling rock in the cab. Let's do that.

So mix ratio is 3.5:1 liner:catalyst and then I reduced 10%. I broke out the dreaded purple gun with 1.5 mm tip and went at it. Got one full coat on everything and another good coat on the flat portions of the floor and in the crevasses.

Here is the final product:

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It's a little glossier when reduced and shot through the gun so if you want a glossier finish, I'd say reduce it a little more and shoot a final coat with hvlp over whatever you feel you need for protection.

So in short. Order more than you think you need. 4 liter kit will not do two full texture coats on a short bed pickup in my opinion. Seems like a good product. With a little practice and care a uniform finish is doable. I will probably do my bed as well so I will update this later with that info.

 

[junk]

How well did the gun clean up afterward? Like can I use a decent gun or plan on it being almost throw away?

I've got to touch up my grill guard on the crewcab and running boards and was thinking about using a typical gun vs the shutz gun they give you. That shutz gun makes a mess of everything when spraying smaller tubes and stuff. I do have a non-slip floor in the shop though. The grill guard and tube steps have rust leaching from bad weld joints. (factory joints not mine)

I really like the raptor product. I did the colored stuff and it took color well and has held up well to boot traffic on the running boards.

-Jeremy

Thanks for posting this.

 

[laserjock]

It cleaned up easier than you would think. I'm not sure I would put it through my good gun but honestly it's not much harder to clean up than anything else. I used cheap laquer thinner. It laughs at mineral spirits. Found that out in a fit of stupidity. I shot it with the HF purple gun. I didn't clean up between flash times so it's a little worse for wear but I've got my money out of it many times over at this point. Mainly just the cup is getting cruddy and its replaceable if so desired.

It's REALLY thick even reduced down.

Hope that answered your question.

 

[IDIoit]

if you were to do this again,
knowing what you know now,
you would order 2 of the 4 qt kits to do this job?

 

[laserjock]

Yes.