I'm getting ready to put in a DIY bedliner, probably Rustoleum or Herculiner depending on whats available. I spent the afternoon sanding my bed down and getting it prepped for tommorrow's installation. The paint has worn in a bunch of places, and minor surface rust has started in these places. I took the surface rust off these places, but on closer inspection there are scratches literally all over my bed. I mean hundreds of scratches! These scratches also have rust in them as well. Its all surface rust so nothing major, no rust scales flaking off or anything. I am a big believer in doing the job right, but it would literally take me a week to sand all the rust scratches off. Imagine running the tip of a pocket knife across your bed about a million times, this is what I'm dealing with.

So for the more experienced of you: Is it okay to just bedline over these areas?? Not like I'm going to spend the $$$, but if I took it to a shop to have it line-xed, would those guys spend hours and hours getting these tiny rust scratches sanded out? What would you do???

 

What are you using to sand?

 

you could always just put a coat of RUSToleum over it first. if it is real minor rust it will be fine. if its bad, try using some por-15.

though really i thin bedliner should cover it fine, even if the folks at line-x dont remove all the scratches it will protect it from further rust. I love line-x, cant say enough good things about it.

 

I used a variety of things. Started with a plastic scrub pad to get the dirt off and to scuff it. Used some medium steel wool to get the easy rust off. Then took some fine sandpaper, wet it a bit and went to town. The whole thing is flat now instead of the glossy clear coat. The rust itself very minor, like if you left raw steel stock out in the rain for a few days and it rusted. I've read that you can "trap" rust under paint if you don't get it all off. IDK though, think I'm just gonna bedline over it. There are just too many scratches, and they are so thin that you would have to sand a good amount of the paint around it just to reach the rust. I think its from having ice and snow slide around in my unprotected bed over the winter
Wish I could afford the line-x, but for the $400+ I could do alot of things on my truck. New headlights, rims, craigslist tires ...etc. I also really like doing projects.

 

I would just prepare the bed as best you can and use a rust inhibitor before you apply the bedliner. I used a DIY kit from Duplicolor that I am very pleased with called Bed Armor. I have used Herculiner before and the fumes were almost too much and this was applied outside with a 30-inch fan blowing on me! Bed Armor is water-based and has the sun inhibitors built in and if you scratch it you can just touch it up. I have had mine for about 9 months now and love it!
Take out your bed bolts and tie-downs if you can in case you ever have to remove your bed in the future. I do have some very small pics somewhere on here...

 

As a few other have said, just get it sanded down the best you can, and then use some POR-15 on the bed before you put the liner on.