I bought an Extang tonneau cover for my 2016 Ford F-150 (which leaks, incidentally, and Extang wants me to fix it - they mailed me a new rubber gasket and the thing is not a month old...) I also bought a rubber mat for the pickup bed.

The issue for this post: Dust comes up through areas around the wheel well - probably other areas as well.

Would a plastic drop-in bed liner prevent dust from getting in? If so, where is a good place to buy one?

 

It will, but it will also grind up your paint as it will move around just enough to be abrasive. Either do a spray-on like LineX, or consider something like a Bedrug. I have a Bedrug under my ARE DCU commercial topper and love it.

 

Go with the dual liner, I have had these in the last 4 trucks and I love it.

 

There are a few applications where drop in liners are superior (rocks, fire wood, mulch, other loose stuff you want to be able to push out the back), but if you're not doing any of that work, than the spray in liner is the only way to go. If you still need the drop in, it's going to get dust and scratch the bed. Not the end of the world between aluminum and thicker bed material to start wtih. You could always get the spray in to protect the bed and a drop in for the low friction.

 

The drop-in is superior if, as mentioned, someone wants to work the bed rough. Like dropping in and hauling rock, gravel, wood etc. Also if you're tossing in heavy equipment.

My experience is the drop-in shines in those environments. I had a spray-in liner in my 2006 F250 and also an 87 Ranger. After a while the beds were wavy from the abuse. Sure the spray still looked good, but the beds looked like crap all dented up.

I had drop-in liners in a 2005 F250 and also a 99 F350. Same exact uses as the other trucks and at the end of the day the beds looked fantastic with the drop-in. Also, the modern drop-in liners are more rigid and snapped into place thwarting any major scuffing of paint etc.

I had a 74 F100 with the drop-in liner. It was the original "old school" design held in place by the stake pockets. That particular bed liner, while still holding up for gravel and heavy objects was scuffed quite a bit. Nothing to really cry about and certainly still looked way better than no liner at all.

Josh

 

I had a drop in on my old '88 that was original to the truck. After about 20 years, i pulled it out to peak at the carnage just to be amazed that none existed. The bed did have some paint scuffing but all was in great shape. The Ford beds drain very well in the front so rust was never a concern.

When I sold the truck, the new owner asked me how old the liner was and if I was hiding something. When I offered to remove the liner to appease him he backed off and bought the truck. That could be the only drawback down the road.

The spray in liner is fashionable and it seems to be what folks are looking for. I'd opt for a drop in before I paid the money for a spray in.

 

A bedliner may help mitigate a little bit of the dust, but most of it will come in from the tailgate area and tonneau. No tonneau cover or liner can stop that completely.

Ford offers a tailgate seal kit for the F-150. It does help quite a bit, but there's no way to stop 100% of the dust. That said, I'm currently driving a demo F-150 that has the dust seal kit and a Ford painted tonneau. Driving down dirt roads for about an hour the bed hardly had any dust at all, so it does work.

https://accessories.ford.com/weatherstrip.html

 

I put a drop in bed liner in my truck $160 pendaliner it's great
It has the cut outs for the lights/swtches/tie downs
Beats $600 I paid for previous line x in the last few trucks
A spray in is as good as the guy that preps it
the jerk that did my old truck never sanded the clear and when I slid a board with a nail sticking out it sliced the spray on liner to the point you could see the shiny paint still in the bed.
I have not had any luck with Line X They SUCK!!
I could go on and on about other experiences with Line X with other trucks and all I can say is they are not worth it ! I rather have a rusted dented beat to crap bed before I waste another dollar with those jack wagons!

 

I like the look of spray in liners but have been finding out that they just don't hold up to use/abuse. I've had to have part of my tailgate re sprayed because I took a chunk out of the liner from sliding a ladder stand in and I have a few other nicks in the finish too.

 

I want a Ford factory liner when I buy a new truck in the next few months. I'm also going to put a rubber bed mat on top of the liner to prevent things from sliding around.

 

I have the Ford liner. Works well as designed.

Josh

 

Just get the dual liner. Best liner I have ever used put one in all my trucks

 

I have had that combo in every pick up truck I have ever owned
including my current F150 You can count on that rubber to keep cans and goods from sliding ,you can drop cinder blocks in the bed and the truck does not
get damaged like a spray on liner