Which Spray-in Truck Bed Liner Brand Wins?
In our test we compared 5 spray-in truck bed liner options head to head. PlastiKote came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
PlastiKote
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The quick take
The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.
“My personal favorite is PlastiKote. It seemed to do the best overall.”
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Appearance (48+ hour cure)
- 1PlastiKote
great mix of texture and gloss, narrator calls it a really nice looking, very professional product, very much like Dupli-Color
- 2Dupli-Color
narrator's favorite or second favorite for looks; not too shiny, nice finish and texture
- 3EZ Liner
narrator does not like it as much as Dupli-Color, says it does not look as professional, goes on very flat and clumps in some areas
- 4Herculiner
went on fairly evenly, much higher gloss finish than Dupli-Color or EZ Liner (narrator personally dislikes the high gloss, says it leaves more opportunity to fade), less texture than Dupli-Color
- 5Rust-Oleum
narrator's least favorite appearance; does not go on like a bed liner material, looks more like spray paint, very high gloss with inconsistent gloss level section to section
Light scratch (room temp, garden tool)
- 1PlastiKote
no scratch at all, the only product with no visible scratch in this test
- 2Dupli-Color
quite a bit of a scratch, dug into the material itself rather than rubbing off
- 3EZ Liner
visible scratch but did not cut as deep as Dupli-Color's
- 4Herculiner
has a scratch, not as bad as Dupli-Color, about the same as EZ Liner
- 5Rust-Oleum
did pretty good, a very small scratch, not as good as PlastiKote's zero-scratch result
Heavy scratch/tear (15 lb plus tool)
- 1PlastiKote
sustained a very deep scratch, cutting all the way through almost all the way across
- 2Dupli-Color
cut all the way through the bed liner material except for a couple of small spots
- 3EZ Liner
did not hold up any better than Dupli-Color, with actually wider areas of tear off compared to Dupli-Color
- 4Herculiner
cut through about half the distance between the two ends and all the way down to the metal, but did better than Dupli-Color and EZ Liner
- 5Rust-Oleum
did the best of all products at this weight; only one area cut all the way through, the rest held up with just a deep scratch
Impact (1 lb 5 oz rod, 25 in drop)
- 1PlastiKote
by far the best up to that point in the video; very little damage to its ability to stick, plenty of material still left around the dent
- 2Dupli-Color
rod penetrated most of the material; one of three impact points was okay, the other two took quite a bit of damage
- 3EZ Liner
not nearly as hard as Dupli-Color; the rod fully penetrated all three impact points
- 4Herculiner
did better than both EZ Liner and Dupli-Color; some material still left behind
- 5Rust-Oleum
did a very good job, just like PlastiKote; significant dent but some material still left on the impacted area
Chemical resistance, gasoline
- 1PlastiKote
very soft and basically dissolved by the gasoline, will not withstand gasoline exposure
- 2Dupli-Color
the entire coating came off when the washer was picked up out of the gasoline
- 3EZ Liner
held up quite nicely in gasoline
- 4Herculiner
gas became discolored and gasoline destroyed the coating, described as a lot of damage that will just peel right off
- 5Rust-Oleum
bubbled up and appears damaged by the gasoline
Chemical resistance, salt water
- 1PlastiKote
no visible damage (true of all 5 products)
- 2Dupli-Color
no visible damage (true of all 5 products)
- 3EZ Liner
no visible damage (true of all 5 products)
- 4Herculiner
no visible damage (true of all 5 products)
- 5Rust-Oleum
no visible damage (true of all 5 products)
Cold weather (-20 F, 5 lb impact)
- 1PlastiKote
clearly not very good in cold weather; a lot of material lost at both the impact area and the scratch area
- 2Dupli-Color
did pretty good; quite a bit of a scratch but did not fully penetrate, some material loss at the impact area but not as bad as some other products
- 3EZ Liner
did better than Dupli-Color; scratch depth much less and no material loss at all at the impact area
- 4Herculiner
did not do as well as Dupli-Color or EZ Liner; damage down to the metal and a lot more material loss at the impact area
- 5Rust-Oleum
clearly came in last of all 5 products, with a tremendous amount of material loss
Heat (143 F, scratch/peel)
- 1PlastiKote
held up very well; it does scratch but does not peel, described as holding up the best of all products tested in this sub-test
- 2Dupli-Color
not clearly attributable by name in the transcript; see video-level note on the heat test ambiguity
- 3EZ Liner
does not do well in the heat, peels up very easily
- 4Herculiner
extremely soft in the heat
- 5Rust-Oleum
not clearly attributable by name in the transcript; see Dupli-Color's notes for the heat-test ambiguity. The closing summary names Rust-Oleum alongside PlastiKote as best for warm climates, which is not directly corroborated by a clearly-attributed heat sub-test result
All measurements (1 more)+
Chemical resistance, acetone/diesel
- 2Dupli-Color
transcript is ambiguous here: narrator says 'we'll see how well Dupli-Color withstood diesel' immediately followed by 'Dupli-Color has been totally dissolved by the acetone', with no clear separation between the diesel and acetone results; kept verbatim, may reflect two different washers being shown in quick succession rather than one result
- 1PlastiKotenot tested
- 3EZ Linernot tested
- 4Herculinernot tested
- 5Rust-Oleumnot tested
How it was tested
- appearance/cosmetic evaluation after 48 to 90 hour cure
- light scratch resistance test at room temperature (~80 F) using a garden tool
- heavy scratch/tear resistance test using 15 lb plus tool weight
- impact resistance test dropping a 1 lb 5 oz rod 25 inches through a guide pipe
- chemical resistance test: washers soaked in gasoline, acetone, salt water, and diesel
- cold weather test: scratch and impact resistance after 24 hours at approximately 20 below zero F using a 5 lb weight
- heat resistance test: scratch/peel resistance on metal heated to approximately 143 F in direct sun after 4 days curing
“My personal favorite is PlastiKote. It seemed to do the best overall.”
