[SuperQuad]

I've had both. The Ford drop-in wasn't very good. It was like having a sheet of ice in the bed - everything slid around. In '03 I bought a new truck and purchased a spray-in liner for it. It still looks great and works great. The drop-ins could be better if they were made with a material that had a "tackier" surface.

[sleepy]

Drop-ins tend to rub the paint off.

[Jerry H.]

Originally Posted by lintmann

I've never really seen the point for spray in bed liners other than a sales gimmick. They detract from from the looks of an original painted box(even the colored ones), they don't prevent most dents, if not applied properly will flake or chip, and are next to impossible to remove.

The drop in liners are better because, in my opinion, don't look as bad, prevent all dents(unless you drop and engine block on it) and can be easily removed if you choose to down the road. They will however wear through the paint where it touches and this will cause some rust but to prevent that just lay strips of something like a 3M Abrasion tape at all potential contact points and that will solve the "rust" issues. They are also slippery but the easy fix for that is to lay one of those cheap rubber bed mats on top then nothing moves! For example the plus of a slippery liner is it's easy to load a ski-doo....the negative of the rubber mat on top is that you have to lift that same dang ski-doo all the way to front to front of the box!

To each his own I guess but I'd go with the plastic liner and a rubber bed mat.

Exactly!

The only big down side to a drop in is being slippery, and as you posted, simply put a cheap rubber mat on top of it. Some folks say they rub, but I bought a truck that had one in it for 3 years, and the bed looked great! It had just a couple of rub marks that could have easily been touched up. Now if it had been sprayed in you would have just been stuck with it. And the longer they stay in the worse they look.

[sleepy]

I had one of those rubber mats. had to take it out every time i went to the car wash. The dryer would lift it up and throw it out of the box. I'll take a lineX or rino liner ANY time over a drop in or mat.

[T A 70]

I use nothing...it's a dang P/U truck to me...

[lintmann]

Originally Posted by sleepy

I had one of those rubber mats. had to take it out every time i went to the car wash. The dryer would lift it up and throw it out of the box. I'll take a lineX or rino liner ANY time over a drop in or mat.

That's a good point sleepy and I guess could happen however I never had that problem. My mat was pretty heavy like about a half inch thick and very dense so the odd time I used one of those automatic washers I never had a problem. I had a Ext cab-short box with a 8' foot mat so the back would curl up against the tail gate and this area would move a little with a dryer blowing on it but never came close to coming out of the box.

If I ever get a new truck again I'd for sure get a mat like I had again with or without a slip in liner.

[ERIC AULL]

I have a product called "Bedrug" in my truck. It is a 1 piece boat rug liner that drops in.......not good if you need to slide heavy sharp objects....great for lighter smooth things. Very washable, and dries quickly....I've had mine for10 years (light use), and it is just starting to fail .....it was $300 when I bought it.