How to Remove a Spray-On Bed Liner

A spray-on bed liner lasts a lifetime and only needs a few minor touch-ups occasionally. While it is unthinkable that you may want to remove the spray-on bed liner from your truck, there could be some mitigating reasons why you should do so.

While strong and durable, a spray-on truck bed liner can also fade due to exposure to the harsh rays of the sun. It can have stains from the different types of liquid that spill on the liner. It can also have some minor scrapes and scratches, tears, bubbles, and peeling in some parts. But these types of deterioration are not due to the spray-on truck bed liner but to the materials that you load in your truck.

Although the spray-on type of truck bed liner adheres strongly to the truck bed’s metal surface, making it impenetrable, there are ways to remove it, but the process is long and difficult.

Ways to remove a spray-on bed liner

There are several ways to remove a spray-on bed liner, but as we mentioned earlier, it can be a very long process.

  1. Removal of bed liner by hand. If you have plenty of time, you can do it yourself, using a hammer and chisel. You can also use a grinder. But of course, you need to be careful to prevent damage to the base metal of the truck bed or avoid creating dents, holes, and scratches on the surface. The hammer and chisel method is laborious, time-consuming, and not very effective.
  2. If you are going to use a grinder to remove the truck bed liner by hand, see to it that you wear a protective mask so you don’t breathe in the dust that the spray-on bed lining material will produce.
  3. Chemical removal. You can use a chemical stripper, such as a special type of paint remover, which is more effective. Choose the right type of chemical stripper that is recommended or readily available. Make sure that you wear the right protective gear since chemicals release toxins and other fumes that can harm you. Apply the chemical stripper in small sections, so that the removal is more efficient. Work in an area where the temperature is around 21 °C or 70 °F. This is the ideal temperature to activate the chemical. The stripper will dissolve the spray-on bed liner after a time and will be easier to scrape off. The process may need three or four repetitions according to the liner’s thickness.
  4. Hire a professional. If you do not want to do it yourself and you want a faster and more effective process, hire a professional remover. The provider usually uses a soda-blasting method to remove the spray-on bed liner. Soda blasting is safer. It is non-abrasive and will not damage the truck bed’s metal surface. The process needs special materials and equipment, which are only used by professional service providers.

Make sure that you are definite about your decision to remove the spray-on bed line from your truck. The product itself is quite expensive and will last for a long time. But if you want to have a fresh installation of the spray-on bed liner, these are the removal options available.

Photo by David McBee from Pexels

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