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Sat Oct 26, 2013 12:41 am

I finally pulled the trigger and got my fiberglass bumpers and front door side cladding done with Line-X bedliner. The factory shiny paint was getting worse with time showing multiple chipping in many places. I chose the premium option that includes a UV coating, it has a shinier finish than the standard application.

Here are some iPhone pics before installation. I will post more tomorrow with the bumpers installed on the van.

Sat Oct 26, 2013 4:50 am

I did this, used LineX, over four years ago.
I am very pleased with the results and durability.

Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:59 am

They use an adhesion promoter?

Sat Oct 26, 2013 8:02 am

ute wrote: They use an adhesion promoter?

LineX has protocol as it is only sprayed by certified shops....yes is the answer.

Bulldog works well as an under layer for DIY.

Sat Oct 26, 2013 9:13 am

Mad,
Bumper looks good. Can't wait for your pics of them installed.

Sat Oct 26, 2013 10:48 am

Looks great...I'd love to be able to do that with a chrome bumper

Sat Oct 26, 2013 1:19 pm

I was able to re-install the front bumper and front door cladding plus the front air dam pieces. I painted the air dam with Duplicolir bumper coating. Not sure I want to do them with bedliner. Hard to show how good the bumpers look with iPhone pics.

Next up is the rear bumper with Burley hitch bar. Maybe I get to install this afternoon.

The other thing is now with shiny bumpers it is clear I need to re-paint the upper and lower grills and would also like to get shinier TerraWagen postal flare repros. The postal flares look a bit dull right next to the bedliner bumpers, maybe I can apply some Forever Black on them.

Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:47 pm

I have line-x on my fiberglass bumpers too.
It's been ~12months.
They look as good as the day they got sprayed.
No regrets. :lol: [/u]

Sat Oct 26, 2013 7:53 pm

DeadSetMonkey wrote: I have line-x on my fiberglass bumpers too.
It's been ~12months.
They look as good as the day they got sprayed.
No regrets. :lol: [/u]

Pix please (white Vanagon, no?).

Sun Oct 27, 2013 6:48 pm

Rear bumper with Burley hitch is in! I need to do some touch up painting and a bit more detail work to adjust the side bumper pieces but here is pretty much how this looks including some special decoration from my little helpers.

Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:22 pm

Did you do the side skirts too? Pix?

Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:27 pm

ThankYouJerry wrote: Did you do the side skirts too? Pix?

Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:32 pm

Can we get a nice side profile pic of the entire Vanagon w/bedliner?

Oops... now I see that maybe they are not installed yet.

Sun Oct 27, 2013 8:56 pm

Hard to show detail , no color contrast with Orly blue on cloudy day

Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:11 am

Looks soooooooooooo much better than previous paint, E!

Ballpark cost?

Mon Oct 28, 2013 7:54 am

I pay $175 for ALL fiberglass bumpers and side cladding to be sprayed, front and back, than top coated with the Kevlar black.

That price has come after sending 10 vans to this LineX dealer.

I recently purchased the equipment to spray all of the tinted and non tinted bedliners.

Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:27 am

j_dirge wrote: Looks soooooooooooo much better than previous paint, E!

Ballpark cost?

Jim

Thanks for lending two hands when we worked on the hitch-bumper assembly. Line-x runs at round $450 in the Bay Area if you get the premium UV protected version. The standard version is about $75-$100 less I think. You can also DIY for cheaper with good results. The local Rhino liner place quoted me the same prices.

I did not have the time needed to prep the bumpers and do a good paint job myself. This time I decided to try bedliner because it was cheaper than a good quality paint job (I had several quotes for this running really high!) and because it is super easy to touch up and probably more durable than paint in the long run.

Mon Oct 28, 2013 9:18 am

j_dirge wrote: Looks soooooooooooo much better than previous paint, E!

Ballpark cost?

I paid about $175, if memory serves, for bumpers and side cladding.
This included the extra cost for UV coating.
I brought in the bumpers, alone, off the vehicle.
The cost would have been more than double, if the bumpers were still on the van.
The labor to mask the bumpers was where the real cost came.

I'm very pleased with the result.
I'll try to post some close-ups soon.
It was much cheaper than a paint job.
It does have that characteristic, dimpled, shiny, Line-X, look to it... which may not be everyone's preferred finish.

Mon Oct 28, 2013 10:20 am

My bumpers were off the van. Not surprised at all to see price difference, we pay above average in the Bay Area for anything. I could have found a place a little bit cheaper (but still much higher than $175, more than an hour away from home, not worth my time and gas. I got a couple of quotes in my area and they were all the same. Would you believe one of the quotes to paint them was over $1,000? By a shop with 5 start reviews, lifetime warranty.

Agree that the shiny dimpled look of bedliner is not for everyone.

Mon Oct 28, 2013 11:36 am

There are a few new products and definitely new techniques around to reduce the texture of the products and look very flat from 10 feet away.

Not back rolling is just one way.

The sprayer I now have will spray 30" wide and has a built in regulator.
It will open up a lot of possibilities for those considering liner products.

As mentioned earlier in this thread...adhesion promoters and proper under layered products need to be match to the liner of choice.

Magnet Paints and MonstaLiner are what I am seeing a lot of interest in right now.