perfect textured coating

Kevin Cozzo

True Classic
back in the day, I use to spray countertops,appliances and bathtubs, and always had a plethora of industrial coatings at my disposal...but those days are gone, and since then I have used rattle can products,which were not chemical resistant, always like crinkle paint, but it won't stand up to my abuse... Really wanted to spruce up my top and engine cover, and found something awesome- a catalyzed truck bed coating that the regular guy can buy. I still have an HLVP gun that will shoot thick coatings, but you can get a gun that hooks right up to their products...stuff is called Raptor bed liner and it sprays very easily, and can be thinned with standard paint reducer. To get the texture with a regular sprayer, just turn down the air...Anyways, I'm really happy with the finish. Time will tell with durability
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That looks great! I'm pretty sure bedliner is sturdy stuff, so it may outlast the rest of the car (well, my car, anyway)!
 
"Bedliner" is cool stuff and useful in all kinds of applications. I sprayed the footwell of a racecar with it about 10 years ago. I still see that car regularly and its held up well.

Fun fact; the guy that invented the spray-in bedliner (and founder of Line-X) is a friend of mine. He's a "car guy" and racer. I have spent time in his shop and have photos of his car collection. I don't want to identify him and I promised not to post pictures, but he does have a number of Fiats including a very nice '86 X1/9, a 124 Sport Coupe, a 128, 850 Sport Coupe and Fiat Dino Coupe.
 
And it's available in aerosol.
yeah, I've used many rattle can versions, but the nice part was finding one that had a catalyzed hardener, so it wouldn't be affected by solvents should the need arise to do some serious cleaning...I keep my car in my working garage, and sometimes I do something stupid...nice to be able to use a light solvent without worrying about the stuff coming off. I did my engine cover also, and that's near the gas filler, another issue...
 
I really like the finish that Raptor (U-Pol) gives. It isn't rough like some bedliners, but more of a smooth texture. I showed an example of it in the dash restoration thread that used bedliner:

It is pretty easy to work with for a catalyzed bedliner. But all catalyzed bedliners are more difficult to use than the non-catalyzed ones.
 
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Hmmm, that' s a thought. Maybe it's time to head down to the truck bed liner shop with the targa top. I can see it now, "what choo showin' up with that little bitty car here for?"
 
"Bedliner" is cool stuff and useful in all kinds of applications. I sprayed the footwell of a racecar with it about 10 years ago. I still see that car regularly and its held up well.

Fun fact; the guy that invented the spray-in bedliner (and founder of Line-X) is a friend of mine. He's a "car guy" and racer. I have spent time in his shop and have photos of his car collection. I don't want to identify him and I promised not to post pictures, but he does have a number of Fiats including a very nice '86 X1/9, a 124 Sport Coupe, a 128, 850 Sport Coupe and Fiat Dino Coupe.
All those Fiats...probably why he had to invent the bed liner in the first place. Truly the circle of life.
 
I really like the finish that Raptor (U-Pol) gives. It isn't rough like some bedliners, but more of a smooth texture. I showed an example of it in the dash restoration thread that used bedliner:

It is pretty easy to work with for a catalyzed bedliner. But all catalyzed bedliners are more difficult to use than the non-catalyzed ones.
having a spray rig made to do textured coatings helps, lol..My HVLP rig uses a turbine blower, and it's set up to spray base coats, but then also regulate the air for texture...spayed a lot of countertops back in the day..use to have a vw bus that I spayed in a black base coat with gray and white texture...looked like granite...I miss that bus...this must have been christmas
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Sweet, my targa top is the same color as my car and I hate it! Was planning to redo it black, as god intended it to be, in the spring but was not sure what to use. I was thinking a roll on gel coat but that would require me to strip it down to the fiberglass, this seems like a better solution.
 
Sweet, my targa top is the same color as my car and I hate it! Was planning to redo it black, as god intended it to be, in the spring but was not sure what to use. I was thinking a roll on gel coat but that would require me to strip it down to the fiberglass, this seems like a better solution.
I kinda like the top painted the same as the car, but how do you keep that looking good? know what I mean? I would tear that up. Yeah you could just sand it down and spray this. I had it done for years actually in a non catalyzed bed liner, but I'm thinking this will last longer...I like the sheen of this stuff, kinda satin. This stuff does have a gun you can buy- I dunno how the texture would be with that, like I said tho, you can thin this with urethane auto paint reducer
 
I kinda like the top painted the same as the car, but how do you keep that looking good? know what I mean? I would tear that up. Yeah you could just sand it down and spray this. I had it done for years actually in a non catalyzed bed liner, but I'm thinking this will last longer...I like the sheen of this stuff, kinda satin. This stuff does have a gun you can buy- I dunno how the texture would be with that, like I said tho, you can thin this with urethane auto paint reducer
Would ypu mind posting some additional pics of you top, maybe some out doors. Just trying to get an idea how black this will look.
 
One of the benefits of the catalyzed bedliners is they have more adhesion to the substrate compared to the non-catalyzed ones.

The resultant texture depends on several variables; the air pressure, the distance the gun is held from the surface, the type of gun used, and the material (bedliner) itself. I've seen a "hopper" gun (like they use to spray acoustical ceiling coating) used to get a heavy texture. And a detail gun with lower air pressure and held closer to the surface to give the least pressure. But the actual product (bedliner material) will make a huge difference. Some are designed to yield a very 'gritty', course, rough, abrasive finish like for "non-slip" applications (e.g. boat decks). Others are designed to give a very flat, smooth, 'bumpy' finish like the U-Pol Raptor.
 
if you follow up the bedliner spray with SEM trim black, it will look exactly like OEM black plastic and will stay black forever


edit: add this pic of a color change I did for some VW parts to show blackness and sheen

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One of the benefits of the catalyzed bedliners is they have more adhesion to the substrate compared to the non-catalyzed ones.
I will say the hardness and durability are what I like...never really thought about adhesion, but yeah, I'll go with that. I can testify as I wore gloves using these products for years, but it never failed, I would get it on me...so hard to remove even with acetone
 
more data for y'all, this combination (bedliner sprayed at a distance for finer texture)

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yields this result - this was gloss black paint to start. the finish has held up as good as OEM after a couple of years. for size reference, that's the top of a VW MK3 jetta plastic bumper. the texture matches the body side moldings perfectly.

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