What’s Under Your Bed Liner?
When I bought my Ford Ranger in November 2024, it came equipped with the Ford modular bed liner. Modular bedliners offer the same level of protection as a spray-in bedliner, but at a lower cost. Unfortunately, it also has the potential to trap dirt under the liner and rub the paint. Why is that a concern? Let’s take a look and see.
What’s Under The Bed Liner?
Since modular bedliners are plastic panels, they lay on top of the painted surfaces of the pickup bed. Most people don’t give them a second thought, but I have wondered what might be happening under the liner. My main concern was damage to the paint that could lead to rust over time.
While I use my truck to haul things, I do not haul dirt, stones or mulch, As a result, I did not expect there to be much debris under the bedliner. As you can see in the above picture, there was a fair amount of dirt and grime. Cleaning that was easy with normal car wash soap. Once the bed was clean, I examined the pickup bed for damage.
After a close inspection of the bed, I found a couple of areas where the bedliner rubbed the paint down to the metal (see picture below).
The easiest way to repair the damaged areas is with a small brush and touch-up paint. I ordered some from AutomotiveTouchup and will correct the problem areas once the paint arrives. My experience with AutomotiveTouchup paints has been really good, with exact color match.
Preventing Future Damage
A good coat of wax will protect the paint from dirt and other environmental damage. I am not going to reinstall the bedliner, as I feel it will damage the paint again. In its place I am going to put a Lasfit Heavy Duty Bed Mat. The guys from Texas Truck Channel bought one for their long term Ranger, and highly recommend it. I ordered it today, and expect it to arrive within the next few days.
I’ve used bed mats in other trucks with great success. Bed mats provide a soft cushion on top of the bed. This will protect the bed from cargo impacts and prevent the abrasion I got from the bottom side of the plastic liner.
Final Thoughts
This is my first experience with a bedliner, but I have always been suspicious of their potential to damage the bed’s paint. Luckily, the damage was minor and easily corrected. If you have a pickup with a plastic bedliner, remove it to clean the pickup floor and check for paint damage.
Related article: 2024 Ford Ranger: 8 Month Ownership Update
Worth checking, and the rub-through to bare metal is the part most owners wouldn’t anticipate — you assume a liner is protecting the paint, not slowly wearing it. The detail that matters is that you don’t haul dirt or stone and still found a fair amount of grime under there, which means everyone else has more. Sounds like the sensible routine is lifting the panels once a year and touching up any wear before it has a chance to start rusting.