ALT-3 Buyers Guide to Bed Rugs for Pickup Trucks
Bed rugs and bed liners are accessories designed to protect the bed of your pickup truck and the items you carry in it. Some protect only the bed, some protect the bed and sides, and some primarily protect the cargo. Which kind you choose will depend on what you want your bed liner to do, and whether you want it to be a permanent part of your truck.
At the low end of the scale is the simple rubber mat. This will protect the floor of the truck bed quite adequately from dings and scrapes, and will also keep most cargo from sliding around and possibly itself causing damage or being damaged. It will not, however, protect more than the bed floor. The rubber mat has the advantage of being one of the cheapest options available. However, because rubber tends to become brittle with exposure to sunlight, it is also one of the most short-lived.
Another material which serves the same general function as the rubber mat is the ridged plastic sheet, familiar to many drivers as being similar to a heavy-duty floor mat. Many of these are pre-formed to the shape of the truckbed, which can get in the way of other truckbed accessories. Plastic also tends to become brittle with increased sun exposure.
Outdoor carpet is a popular choice for bed rugs in protected truckbeds; ie. those which have some kind of topper or cover. The amount of protection it provides to the bed is generally about the same as that of a rubber mat but it is slightly kinder to the items placed on top of it, although a liner made of outdoor carpet is more vulnerable than a rubber mat to sharp objects. Unlike a rubber mat, outdoor carpet can also be attached or even glued to the sides of a truckbed, giving protection there as well. However, it will not keep items from sliding; and dirty or greasy items may stain it forever. Especially, outdoor carpet should not be used for loose earth-based loads such as gravel or any kind of soil, because its grains will damage the carpet's fibres.
Both rubber mats and carpets can accumulate dirt between them and the truckbed, in a way that will be familiar to anyone who owns a front door mat. This can result in hidden scratch, ding, and corrosion damage to the truckbed as the trapped sand and salt scratches at the truck's finish. Thus, both rubber mats and carpets should be removed regularly, and both they and the truck bed cleaned.
Spray-on or roll-on bed liners are best thought of as a kind of polyurethane that primarily protects from the effects of weather and corrosion but which also gives minimal shock protection. Thus, while a spray-on bed liner will reduce light damage, it probably is not the best option for any kind of heavy-duty haulage. They are, however, among the easiest bed liners to wash down, and can look like new for a very long time. Like paint, they are available in a wide range of colours. The spray-on liner can be factory-installed or added as a customisation afterward: use the same guidelines for required skill as you would for your truck's paint job. Spray-on bed liners can be removed, but it is a time-intensive job equivalent to removing a coat of paint, difficult to do well and easy to botch.
Finally, at the high end of the scale are drop-in bed liners, which come in either flexible or rigid materials. Rigid materials provide the best protection, but are more likely to damage the bed if they slip. Flexible materials will fit your truckbed more exactly, but won't provide as much protection. Both are easy to install, remove, and clean. If you have shop skills, you may wish to make your own drop-in bed liner from your choice of materials: plastics and chequerplate aluminum being particularly popular choices, since both are lightweight and not themselves vulnerable to corrosion. Like rubber mats and outdoor carpet, all drop-in liners can get dirt or sand underneath them; but in this case silicone sealant may prove a useful ounce of prevention.
