Most people do not care about their truck bed and do nothing for its protection. When you drive your truck in rainy weather and load wet stuff in your truck bed, it causes rusting, which is bad for your truck bed. And when you hauled your truck with heavy stuff, it causes wear and tear. But you can avoid these damages by using a truck bed liner in your bed. A bed liner is the best way to protect your bed, and it also protects your truck bed from scratching and protects your fragile stuff from damage because it has a rugged surface that doesn’t let your stuff move freely. And it also makes your truck bed easy to clean. So, that’s why I am writing this comprehensive guide to show you best drop in bedliner for pickup trucks.
What is a truck bed liner?
A truck Bedliner is simply a form of protector coated or installed in the truck bed. Truck bedliners are available in four forms drop-in, spray-on, bed rug, and bed mat. The best bedliner protects your truck bed from scratches, weather effects and protects your fragile stuff from damage by providing a soft and non-skid surface.
Types of bedliners
1. Drop in Bedliners :
Drop in bedliners are made of Pendaliner Plastic; these are available in the form of sheets. These are also known as cheap bed liners as they are not too costly and provides the best protection. You have to drop these sheets in your truck bed and tighten them with bolds. Its rubber like the surface has a glossy touch which makes your truck looks new. Drop in bedliner covers truck bed boundaries and cargo area.
Installation :
Drop in Bedliner is very easy to install; you have to put this bed liner in your truck bed and tighten the bolds. Drop in bedliners have a specific fitting for specific vehicles. So you can install this bedliner in 20 to 40 minutes with basic hand tools.
2. Spray on Bedliners :
Spray on bedliners are a little costly than other bedliner as these are more durable. Spray on bedliners are made of polyurea hybrid, which makes these bedlines durable, soft, and flexible. Spray on bedliner is the best option if you buy a new truck and use it for a long time. Spray on bed liners are coated, just like paint in your truck bed. This bedliner is completely coated in your truck bed cargo areas and on the bed’s boundary walls, which creates a watertight seal in the truck bed, which protects your truck bed from UV rays, water, and other things that can damage the truck bed.
Installation :
Spray on bedliner always demands a professional for durability, you can do this by yourself, but if you make a little mistake, it may reduce your bedliner durability.
3. Bed Rug :
Bed mats are also drop in bedliners, but they do not cover truck bedsides and tailgate. Bed rugs are made of polypropylene which is a gentle material and protects your precious cargo. Bed rugs are waterproof and dry in 15 to 25 minutes. Bed rugs are the most innovative protection for truck beds available in the market. Bed rugs are costly but provides your truck bed best protection and enhance your truck looks.
Installation :
Bed rugs are easy to install as drop-in bed liners, you just need proper instruction and basic tools.
4. Bed Mats :
Bed mats are also drop in bedliners, but they do not cover truck bed sides and trailgate. Truck bed mats are made of rubber and designed to fit in your truck bed perfectly. Bed mats specifically design your specific vehicle models. High-quality rubber makes your truck bed surface skid-less, which doesn’t allow your cargo to move freely and bump in the bed walls. Bed mats are the most affordable protection for your truck bed.
Installation:
No installation is required for bed mats, you just have to place bed mats into your truck bed.
However, in this article, my only concern is to share my research work about the best drop-in bedliners for truck beds.
Best drop in bedliners for pickup trucks:
BedRug Full Bedliner BRQ15SCK:
BedRug Full Bedliner is one of the highly recommended drop-in bedliner on amazon and at no 1 in the list of our best drop in bedliners. This bedliner is made of skid-less rugged material, which provides the best protection to your cargo and truck bed. It covers the truck loading area and slides of the truck bed and provides 3 to 4 inch cushion surface, which is very beneficial for your knees while loading cargo.
This bedliner is waterproof, chemical, and stains resistance; the best quality is that this liner is washable, which makes it easy to clean. Its surface can handle heavy cargo and also protect your truck bed from dents and scratches.
Installation:
This bedliner is very easy to install as a customer mentioned that he installed this liner in 20 minutes without and help with just basic tools.
Customers Review:
- Exactly as advertised — Great product and simple to install. I can’t comment on durability yet, but I’m not overly concerned about it considering others’ experiences with the BedRug.
- Exactly as advertised — Great product and simple to install. I can’t comment on durability yet, but I’m not overly concerned about it considering others’ experiences with the BedRug.
Bedrug full bedliner brq 15sbk bed mat:
BedRug Full Bedliner BRQ15SBK is a waterproof bedliner for trucks. This bedliner is made of highly durable material, which allows you to carry heavy cargo in your truck bed with full protection. This one is also chemical and stain resistant, which makes it easy to clean. It covers your bed loading ares slides and tailgate. Have a 3 to 4 inches cushion surface for knee protection.
Its skid-less surface doesn’t let your cargo move freely in the truck bed and enhances your truck looks.
Installation:
It is very easy to install, and you can easily install it by reading the instructions included in the package.
Customers Review:
- Great product, very durable. The cutouts on the rear of the fabric are not exact, don’t trust them. Found out on the left side and the bed light cut out was off by 1/4 inch, so on the right side, I did the cutouts once the bedrug was firmly in place.
- Outstanding product. My Bedrug looks great in the back of my new F150. I wouldn’t have anything else.
Bedrug BMC19CCS Bedmat for Spray-in Bedliner :
Bedrug BMC19CCS Bedmat for Spray-in Bedliner is one of best drop in bedliner for pickup trucks. This bedliner is made of polypropylene, a very durable material, and provides a skid-less surface for your cargo. Bedrug BMC19CCS is only for the loading area of the truck bed; it does not cover the tailgate and sides of the truck bed. This bedliner is waterproof and highly chemical, and stains resistant. It provides a cushioned surface for knee protection and is washable, which makes it easy to clean.
You also called it a bed mat which is only for exterior use. If you want to buy a bed mat that does not cover your truck bedsides, then first apply spray on bedliner in your truck bed for the best protection. This product is for those who don’t want to install a bedrug which covers the truck bed completely, which may sometimes cause rusting.
Installation:
No Installation is required; you just have to put it in your truck bed.
Customers Review:
- Makes the box look clean and neat! I wanted something that would be easier on my knees when climbing in and out, and it is great. Very durable so far.
- My first bedrug without the sides of the bed is covered. Nice and thick, easy to install, and sure saves my knees. I also bought the tailgate rug too. Perfect for my needs, and they hold up to abuse amazingly well.
DualLiner Drop-in Bed Liner for pickup trucks:
DualLiner Bedliner is made of 100% polyethylene which makes it very durable and provides a skid-less surface. It covers your truck bed completely and protects the sides and tailgate for dents and scratches. Along with superior protection of cargo, it protects your truck bed from rusting.
DualLiner contains a thicker rubber mat for the truck bed floor, which suppresses noise during loading cargo and decreases vibration in the truck bed while driving on rough roads. Its rubber material makes this liner very easy to clean. One of its best quality that it also provides stylish looks with superior protection.
Installation:
Installs easily with basic tools and instructions within 30 to 40 minutes.
Customers Reviews :
- I bought this bedliner 3 months ago, and it still looks new. I love it. It doesn’t require any help for installation, I installed it in a 20-degree day, and it was quick, easy. So far, I do not see any issues that could develop with normal wear and tear.
- I have had this for about 3 months now and love it. I installed it on a 20-degree day, and it was quick, easy, and fit well. So far, I don’t see any issues that could develop with normal wear and tear.
- I Love it; it fits like a glove.
Dee Zee DZ86928 Heavyweight Bed Mat :
Dee Zee is one of the best and cheapest Bedliner available in the market. This bedliner is made of high quality compressed rubber which protects your truck bed from stains and scratches. The high-quality rubber provides UV resistance and protects the bedliner from fading, cracking, and breaking. If you want to protect your truck bed at a low price, so this one is the best choice.
Dee Zee is a custom-fit bedliner that fits perfectly into your truck bed. Its high-quality rubber material provides skid-less for your cargo. This bedliner is highly durable, that you can load heavy cargo on it without any concern of tearing and fading. Dee Zee DZ86928 is long life spam than other bedliner due to its high-quality rubber.
Installation:
Very easy to install; just put it in your truck, and it’s done.
Customers Reviews:
- Fits pretty well in my truck bed. The instructions provided are not the best but works. They attached a youtube video that helped me in installation. It is easy to do with 2 people’s help. Great price! I can not think that a more expensive drop-in being any better protection.
- I’m very pleased with this mat. I purchased a used F-150, and it had a bare truck bed. Groceries and everything else just slid around, so I wanted to get a truck mat. I checked around a little bit, and Amazon had the best price on this mat.
Penda 63016SRX Bed Liner:
Penda is also very well known for the bedliners. They claim that their bedliner gives 7x more protection than a spray on bed liner. Molded-in Board Holders and Tailgate Cup holders provide the best protection and make your truck bed surface skid-less and don’t let your cargo move and bump in the truck sides walls.
This bedliner has high resistance to Gasoline/Oil, most Chemicals and provides UV protection. The best thing about this bedliner is that it covers your truck bed completely and protects your truck bed slide walls and tailgate from dents and scratches. It has a perfect fitting, and if you want to install a tonneau cover, it doesn’t cause any blocking for tonneau cover installation.
Installation:
Easy to install as other drop in liners, just need to match exact for bolds, instructions are included in the package.
Customers Reviews:
- This is a very nice liner! Easy to install and have out precut “holes” for the lights, anchor points, etc. YouTube video makes it easier to install. It looks just like the Ford liner for a heck of a lot less!
- A real value for the price. It fit very nicely, and it just laid in there like it knew what it was doing. No complaints here at all. I had to sweep out the snow and ice from the bed, and it went on the floor nicely.
Husky Liners – 16008 Heavy Duty Bed Mat:
Husky truck bed mat is also one of the best cheap bedliner for pickup trucks. It’s a heavy duty bedliner as it easily handles heavy stuff and protects your truck bed from dents and scratches. You can load heavy stuff like heavy metal creates, mountain bikes, small boats without any concern. The DuraGrip HD Anti-skid surface provides a slide free surface for your cargo with a soft touch to protect your cargo. This bed liner is UV, chemical, and stains resistant in addition, it enhances your truck looks.
This is perfect for those who haul their truck daily with heavy cargo. It has a long lifespan than other bedliner and requires less maintenance than other bedliner. Made with waterproof 100% PVC, so you can wash it without concern of rusting and fading.
Installation:
You just need to put this in your truck bed with someone’s help.
Customer Reviews:
- I purchased this product because I was tired of loose items (trailer parts and tools) sliding around in the bed. I received the liner fairly quickly and immediately unpackaged it. After a quick sweeping of the truck bed, I rolled the liner out…it fits perfectly in a 2020 F-150 5.5′ bed. The added layer of protection is a plus. I threw a couple of items I felt would normally slide around on a tight turn and went for a test drive. Needless to say, items no longer slide around.
- I purchased this for a long road trip and it worked great!
Table of Contents
Final Thoughts:
Finally, as I research and ask many truck owners if you owe a new truck, a drop-in bed liner covering your truck bed fully is the best choice for protecting the truck bed. They are a little costly but provide the best protection to a new truck bed. For this purpose, Budrugs are the best choice because they provide a skid-less surface for cargo and protect your truck bed from dents and scratches. But keep in mind budrugs demand some maintenance like if you wash the bedrug, then let it dry completely; otherwise, they may cause rusting due to trapped water.
The other rubber bedliners are also good and also enhance the looks of your truck. If you don’t want to put a bedrug and a rubber bedliner, then choose a thick rubber bedliner that protects your truck from dents while loading cargo. Sometimes rubber bedliner don’t protect truck your dents while loading because of thin rubber material.
And if your truck is not new and you use it for loading purposes and want to protect your truck bed from rusting and scratching, buy a durable, heavy-duty bed mat that allows you to load heavy stuff without wear and tear.
Frequently asks questions about truck bedliners:
Do bed liners cause rust?
Yes, some plastic-made bedliners cause rusting because water trapped between the liner and bed surface and causes rusting.
Do I really need a truck bed liner?
A truck bedliner is necessary if you load heavy stuff that causes scratching and damages your truck bed. A truck bedliner provides a slide-free surface for cargo that doesn’t let you loose your cargo during a long drive.
What are bedliners used for?
Bedliners are used for protecting your truck bed and your cargo from damage while you are on a long journey.
Are truck bed liners easy to install?
Yes, drop in bedliner, and bed mats are easy to install, you can install them by yourself with proper instructions, while on the other hand spray-on bedliner requires a professional for installation.