At 4X4REVIEW, BedRug bed liners have adorned every truck that our staff have ever owned, and for good reason. Before we tell you why BedRugs are our first and only choice, let me tell you what the BedRug is not, and dispel any rumors floating around. It is not, and I repeat NOT a rug or a carpet. Although it is indeed padded and as comfortable as a carpet, it is made entirely of plastic – even the carpet-like portions of it.

Now, BedRugs have been around for many years now and they are becoming more and more pervasive. Still, to this day, I have people ask me who made the carpet for the back of my truck, or they comment about how that carpet will mold and fall apart in one summer. Little do they know that I’ll put my BedRug  up against any spray-in or drop-in bed liner any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Can your spray-in or drop-in liner get stabbed repeatedly with the blade of a shovel? Can it stand up to bleach? Can you pour battery acid or muriatic acid on it and have it come out unscathed? Can you kneel on them for an hour without any pain? Can you lay comfortably on it and gaze up at the stars?  Guess what, the BedRug does that, and more. In fact, one pinhead was arguing with me about it and asked if he could take a razor blade to my BedRug. I said sure, as long as I could do that to his spray-in bed liner too. He simply walked away, knowing that his spray-in bed liner would succumb to a knife just as easily.

Here are a few other things that the BedRug is famous for;

• It doesn’t hold water and dries quickly.  It will never, ever mold
• It won’t scuff or compromise painted surface
• The BedRug itself is a non-skid, non-slip surface that grips cargo and holds it in place
• It is a comfortable kneeling, sitting and sleeping surface – perfect for camping
• You can load lumber, logs, bricks, dirt, gravel and anything else that you can put in the back of your truck. Just hose it out when you’re done to get it clean again.
• Spills remain on the stain-resistant poly-fiber surface for easy cleaning – dump a quart of motor oil and some concrete on the BedRug and simply hose it out.
   

Anyhow, when we took possession of our new 2009 Chevy Silverado 1500, a friend of mine that owns a spray-in bed liner shop asked if he could add a spray-in bed liner for our truck at no cost, just for the press that he would get. I told him ever so politely “No, thank you”. When he inquired why, I explained that we would be installing a BedRug. He looked around for a quick moment, as if to see if anyone else was around, and he whispered to me “I have on in my truck too”.

Installation

Installing the BedRug in the back of your truck is a snap. It’s far easier to install on a brand new vehicle, because the bed surface will be cleaner. If you have an older truck, simply give the bed box a good scrubbing and you’ll be ready to go.

Installation – BedRug Bed Liner
Time:	40 Minutes
Tools Needed:	Bottle of Alcohol (the cleaning kind – not the drinking kind), knife (to open the box)
Difficulty:
Step 1 – Remove the BedRug from the box and be sure that you have all of the supplied parts such as the industrial Velcro hook & loop fasteners.
Step 2 – the BedRug comes in two pieces and must be zipped together. Piece of cake, this will only take you about 2 minutes to do.
Step 3 – Apply the industrial Velcro to the bottom, sides, front and tailgate sections of the BedRug per instructions. There are more than enough sections of Velcro to go around, so we suggest that you be liberal with them as it will help it contour to the bed box of your truck. Do NOT remove the tape backing yet.
Step 4 – Drop the BedRug into bed box of your truck and push it all the way forward and into the corners making sure that it’s sitting in the right place.
Step 5 – peel the BedRug back so that you can see where the bottom Velcro sections will make contact with the bottom of the bed box. Using a clean, lint-free rag and copious amounts of alcohol (rubbing alcohol, not the kind you drink), clean the area quite well, ensuring that any greases or oils are removed. This part is REALLY important. Now, set the BedRug back into place without removing the tape backing and ensure that the BedRug is pushed all of the way forward in the truck.
Step 6 – Peel the BedRug back one more time and remove the Velcro tape backing (on the bottom sections of Velcro only) and secure it to the bed of the truck.
Step 7 – if your truck has cargo tie down hooks or d-rings in the bed, you will need to cut a slit into the BedRug so that they can come through. Start conservatively and cut only as much as you need, then, using your fingers, just push the BedRug around it to seal the slit back up.
Step 8 – Starting with the bottom most portions of tape on the front panel (closest to the cab of the truck), clean the entire painted surface with rubbing alcohol liberally. Once dry, remove the lowest, center portion of Velcro’s tape backing and secure it to the bed box. Let it stand for a few seconds. Then, starting from the center and working outward, remove the tape backing and continually attach it to the bed box. Continue this until you have completed the entire front section.
Step 9  – Do the same thing for the sides of the BedRug and then for the tailgate section too. If your truck has a plastic cover on the top of the tailgate, use the supplied Adhesion Promoter to the plastic surface before sticking the self-adhesive Velcro to it.
If you find that you have wrinkles in the BedRug, I suggest that you let the tape stand for a day or two, then carefully pull the BedRug away from the Velcro sections and reposition as needed. If you take your time though, you should come out wrinkle free.

The Verdict

As mentioned, a BedRug has adorned the back of every truck we have ever owned – and they always will. It is tough enough to have concentrated acid poured on it, yet comfortable enough to kneel or sleep on. You can stack a ton of cinder blocks, bricks, lumber, dirt, gravel or anything else you can stuff into the bed of your truck and know that the BedRug will come out unscathed. Boxes, coolers and just about anything else won’t slide around in the back of your truck, unlike a spray-in or drop-in bed liner.

While it looks like a carpet, trust us, it is NOT. It is extremely tough, durable, UV stabilized and impervious to nearly every chemical. It won’t fade, chick, crack, rot or mold either. Moreover, the BedRug looks good enough to be added to show trucks, but tough enough to be used on the construction worker’s truck too.