I have some large fibergl*** panels on a new to me project that someone for whatever reason covered in spray on bedliner. (Don't ask....I have NO idea why.) It is what it is, and now I have to deal with it. There is so much talent on here, with so many guys much more talented and experienced than I am. How would you guys go about doing this while trying to minimize damage to the underlying panels? I guess my three choices are chemicals, heat and sanding. Are there any chemicals out there that will lift bedliner and not damage the fibergl***? I'm thinking the heat needed and the s****ing needed to soften and lift the bedliner would likely damage the fibergl*** as well? As far sanding, I have never sanded bedliner, and I have very limited experience with fibergl***. How difficult is it to sand bedliner? How hard is it? Does it sand easily? Would it be possible to remove it by sanding without damaging the underlying fibergl***? For the many guys on here with lots of painting experience, would it be possible for me to sand the bedliner to the point that it is very smooth,, and then paint over it? Is there a primer that would allow the paint to stick to it? Any and all removing/smoothing/painting ideas anyone has would be greatly appreciated.
I was thinking sand it smooth before I read it. I sprayed some on the back panel of a car to cover broken filler, and it is like sanding rock. (by hand)An orbital sander with about an 80 grit disk would probably get it started. Then 120, 180, 220, 320. That would get it close enough for some high-build primer. (I'm guessing primer will stick. You could call an automotive paint store.) 2-3 coats.
YUCK! partially depends on what bedliner, the better ones are more rubbery than the cheap ones. I had a cheap one in a truck I had to remove. A lot of heat gun and s****er time. NOT FUN. I dont know a "easy" way that wont harm the gl***.
Thick or thin? Glossy liner or dry looking? I would try a heat gun at an angle that will minimize the heat to the gl*** before trying anything chemically.
Don't know any chemicals that will hurt a common fibergl***/polyester laminate, at least not in short time. I'd try that route.
Take all I say with a grain of salt as I know nothing at all about bedliner. That being said, it looks to me as if it's on there pretty thin. I dry digging my fingernail into it and I can't it seems very hard. It doesn't feel rubbery at all. The guy had it tinted to try to match as closely as possible the paint on the truck.
I don't know if a chemical like a paint stripper will make a dent in this stuff. I know "Aircraft Stripper" used to be so strong it would eat concrete. Now that we have all the more environmentally safe strippers, I don't think any of them are near as strong as they used to be.
I guess the key to this is 1- Can I get it smooth enough to paint by sanding it, and 2- This is the key one - will paint and primer stick to it?
Aircraft stripper will destroy the fibregl***. I'd try wet sanding it first; it might actually be a pretty good fill primer. Be sure to test whatever paint you plan to use before committing as this would definitely be an experiment. regards, Phil
Totally out of context, but we had professional bedliner sprayed on a steel casting pallet (16'x60') here at the plant and then sanded it smooth with a walk behind buffer/sander after. It was really tough to sand and took twice as long as I estimated (oops!) but it did sand out flat. It lasted through 6 months of daily concrete casting and boiler heat cycles after. TOUGH stuff! The moral of the story is that the pro stuff could be sanded out flat with an orbital machine. Not sure about topcoating it though.
We use this super handy tool to remove heavy coatings at work it is really aggressive and it will tear through everything including rust and I have used it on bed liner in small patches. But bed liner is about one of the strongest things to try and remove and although this tool could do it - it would shred fibregl***. I also don’t think chemical stripper would touch it - the bed liner is probably more chemically resilient than the fibregl***. To me that only leaves sanding it off - but you are gonna be sanding - even with a orbital until your arms fall off. Bed liner is really tough stuff. Could you post some pics?
@Doug520 May I ask......just to get a better understanding of your problem. What kind of component are these panels....what role do they plan.....why is it important that the bed liner be removed or smoothed? Ray
I second what Ray asks. And, I have used Aircraft Stripper on Corvettes multiple times and it didn’t hurt the gl***. However, not all fibergl*** is created equal either and stripper will hurt some gl***.
I also would examine why removing would be prefered to keeping it. I think you might be in for more than bargained for. Pat
I had bedliner sprayed into the tub of my old Jeep CJ. Had a master cylinder go bad and leak brake fluid into the driver floor board. The bedliner peeled off completely wherever the brake fluid touched. Don't know what brake fluid does to fibergl***, but it will remove bedliner.
We did a bunch of fibregl*** repair on the tilt front end of a big sterling truck one time that had been on its side. The engine lost a lot of oil onto the broken fibregl***. The owner was a friend and I told him that we could make it look good again but the oil soaked fibregl*** could bite us in the ***. We cut the oil soaked pieces out and patched it up .It looked really good initially- but I saw it a couple years later and it had a couple of 1 inch blisters in the repair area. I’m certain it was the oil soaking that did it . I wouldn’t apply brake fluid to fibregl***.
I hate spray in bed liners in any pickup....I walk away when I see one...nothing ruins a 50's pickup more than a spray in one..
Most bedliners are a thick urethane base, think of upol raptor liner that a DYI guy can do. When you said tinted i thought of that type. They can be sanded down and primed and painted no problem, Industrial bed liner like rhino or linex that a specialty shop applies are much thicker and are applied thru a specialty gun, typically not tinted and are built up to 1/8 to 3/16 thick, some are sprayed at 200 plus degrees to kick the activators in them. Industrial bedliners **** to sand, DYI kits bought at your local paint store or lowes you can sand right through with 36 and 80 on a DA. Just my 2 cents and no do not try using brake fluid to soften it you Will regret it, AS others have said depending on the gl*** layup and resins used laquer thinner and what not will not harm it. Good luck
1. I think you can get it smooth enough for primer (filler primer, high-solids primer, high-build primer; something that will fill any sanding scratches) Then you can sand the primer with "wet or dry" sandpaper as smooth as you want it. Use a sanding block. Palm size. Foam pad. Flexible rubber long block. Whatever you can find. Dip it in water often to keep the particles washed out of it. The idea is to get the surface as flat as possible. (Think "Hubble telescope mirror.") Use whatever conforms to curves. Foam pad for inside curves, flexible long block for outside curves. 2. I don't know why primer wouldn't stick to it. It's not like a plastic. Contact a paint manufacturer, body shop, paint store.
The resin releases styrene vapor as the laminate cures (for about a week), and then slower for years to come - you can smell it when fibergl*** parts get hot on a summer day even if they're years old. This gas release can cause blistering in the paint on painted parts, especially if the job was done quickly so the solvent was sealed in before the laminate had cured completely. The laminate isn't porous so it shouldn't absorb oil, perhaps if the area has been bent and fractured but then it should have been removed and rebuilt with fresh laminate anyway.
I have repaired much fibregl*** in my time with out any blistering. My point was that letting oil saturate fibregl*** is a terrible idea. I knew that if I told this story somebody would love to point out I must have did something wrong . Thanks.
A couple of decades ago I was recovered several of the late model glue in headliners. Many times I was able to quickly strip them using a wire brush in a drill. Sometimes just the wire brush by hand. This would completely remove all the foam.
It was most likely sprayed on there to prevent staring on the finished side from stones being thrown up. If it's LineX good luck getting it off, battery acid only turned it purple and damn plasma cutter barely effected it at all when cutting something over the top of it.
Yeah, I saw a video of a cement block coated in lineX and dropped off a building. it shattered inside, but didnt break
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