I have searched this thread for info on DIY bed liner material, most of the posts are more than a few years old. Who is making the best product these days?
The rig is a 1980 F350DRW so Bedrug and the likes are out. Roll on or spray on are the options I am looking at. The bed is in pretty rough shape so just looking for something that will spruce things up a bit. I am willing to throw a few extra $$ at this because I dont know when I will be replacing/repairing the bed.

 

Can't say anything about how well it will last because I just did it late last summer but I used Rustoleum bed liner. Used a brush and it went on well and got several coats out of one gallon. Nice shiny black and not the "sticky" type that makes it hard to move things around. That means things will still slide around if not restrained but I am used to that.
I had a factory plastic bed liner that worked fine and I thought about re-using that when I changed out beds. My old bed was pretty much trashed out from rust so got a "rust free" bed out of Texas. Good bed, had some dents but no rust and that is fine, I can live with a few dents. I did find about a 12" X 24" rusted out hole under the old bed when I pulled out the old liner, that is why I went with a brush in type. Jim.

 

I used the Rustoleum in my cab floor a couple years ago, it's is as nice now as was then. I used H-F's "Iron Armor" in and around the bed after I pulled a drop in out to tend to some fixing in preparation for a truck repaint this past Fall, It was still warm. I tried rolling it, but in the warmth that sticky stuff pulled my rollers apart, so I took to just pouring some out and spreading it with disposable bristle brushes and some better rollers. I maybe could have done better if I had thinned it? $50 a gallon, I'll put my drop in back in after painting the truck. I was impressed enough that I bought another gallon and divided it up into quarts & pints in clean glass jars for easy use in other projects.

After pulling the drop in out, this is what I had but that drop in was there since 1986. I had plated the floor in 1986 too. The red look is some rust, mostly though is some original Rangoon Red paint, I was wire brushing it looking at the rust. Much / most of what I found along the front corners was what was there was in 1986 which lead me to replate the floor (was like 3/32" steel, used a 5' x10' sheet) The crust on the bluish (I used left over blue on the floor in 1986) sheet was wire brushed away, it was pretty fast work getting gone really.

Then I did the gallon of Iron Armor on the floor, low sides, and front wall. Just there is over 3 quarts of the gallon. After taking this picture, I got to thinking about it, and added some more drainage over off the sheet in low points like corners, etc using a 3/4" hole cutter as I recall. Might have been 5/8"? If not for the fact that I'm going to put my "under lip" style drop in liner back in, I would have done the sides too. The front wall or bulkhead, I plated for extra strength in 1986. The drain holes, both nature provided (rust) and my cut in ones, were acknowledgement on my part that I'll never keep all moisture out.


The Iron-Armor works good on wood too in a experiment I did. I built our log home in '90-'91, the logs meet at the corners like "butt and pass", like if you interweave your fingers. I provided 2 feet roof overhang on all sides, but due to winds, my western corner takes a beating, I've had to repair a couple log ends. This Spring, I'm gonna climb back up the ladder there, refill any log ends needing anything, a slather the black bed liner on the top sides (logs are 6" tall, milled on top and bottom, some are 12 -20" thick horizontally like through the wall, there's a groove with a lengthwise spline runs along the centers, 2 rows of foam sealant (each side of spline), and log chinking on the outside ... all between layers), then no water from rain will reach the log end top surfaces, For anyone to see it they'll have to chopper in or bring a ladder.