Hey guys, just finished up a major project and wanted to show how it turned out

Like many Dak owners, My paint had decided that it no longer liked being on my truck and had burnt off the hood and roof. It looked horrible.




So I looked at my options.. $1000 plus for a middle of the road quality basecoat/clearcoat done by a shop, $700 or more to buy and rent my own equipment to spray a base/clear, $250 or so and several weeks to do a roll and tip rustoleum job.. Then I found this stuff being raved about on Jeepforum:




It's called Monstaliner and it is a tintable roll on or spray on bedliner that is guaranteed UV stable for 5 years. I ordered some sample chips of several colors and they had a match to my original PR4 red. $340 dollars later, I had it. Now for the fun stuff:










Removed the bed, grille, bumper, and all the little stuff.

Started the long process of sanding/scuffing up the existing paint. Sanding and prepping took three days. Also had some damage from a blowout that the previous owner hadn't fixed.

 

So after a total of 6 days of prepping, it was ready for application. I didn't take any photos of the process, because I was on a limited window, I had to wipe the whole truck down several times with MEK, then mix and apply two heavy coats with a 2 hour break in between. I ran out of daylight and ended up finishing up the bumper and fender flares and tailgate by the light of a halogen lamp... It was a long day. these next pics are from the following few days after beginning reassembly.






















Painted the bumper while it was off:








Finished. New headlight, taillight housings and mesh gutter grille inserts installed: It has collected some dust, and the pics are in horrible lighting, but It looks good in person.











Monstaliner decal




All in all, it was a fun project, that I will never do again!

I like the way it turned out. It has a sort of semi-flat sheen.. not fully flat, yet not as shiny as paint. it's unique and I have had a lot of compliments on it.

I will update this post with some better finished pics once we get a little overcast to reduce the glare. My cell Phone camera doesn't like the full AZ sun.

EDIT: more pics after rinsing off the dust and towel drying:

 

I may have bad news for you as you live in AZ like I do. The Sun will cook that stuff and it will fade out my bed was rhino lined black in 2006 by 2010 it faded to an off gray. By choosing red Im guessing you will have a funky pink Dakota by 2020 but your stuff is different so maybe you will be ok. Also I don't think this stuff can be painted over.

I may be wrong just letting you know

 

Yeah, this stuff is a different type of material. It is UV stable and several customer reports from the jeepforum have reported no fading or chalking after 3-4 years.. a couple of those trucks were in AZ.

From the Monstaliner website: The other major issue with roll on bed liners has been UV protection and this is where Monstaliner puts other DIY products to shame. When a coating is not UV stable, the polymer starts to break down in the sun. With the crumb rubber filled liners, rubber particles starts to flake free and the coating starts to look poor and may even peel.
Moisture can also migrate through the surface and start a rusting problem.
Monstaliner is formulated from 100% UV permanent, aliphatic polymers with high density ceramic core particle reinforcement. The ceramic is bonded to the polymer creating a tough and impenetrable barrier against
moisture and corrosion.

I read through almost 900 pages on the Jeepforum thread and the only problems people were having is if they did poor prep or didn't treat rust before coating it. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for the hundreds of positive reviews this stuff has.

Also, you are correct that if I wanted to take it back to regular paint, I would have to strip it down to metal and go from there. but unlike regular paint, this stuff can be re-rolled over with a touch up kit. So if I get a chip or have some that didn't adhere correctly, it is fixable.

 

Just looked at the web page for it and they only give you this Monstaliner is 100% UV Permanent and guaranteed not to chalk, fade or discolor for a minimum of 5 years.

Thats about how long it took to fade out on me.

I also found out don't use armor all on it as this makes it dangerously slippery if used on the bed its like greased lightning makes it impossible to stand on its dangerous to the point I scrubbed it off with a strong cleaner.

I don't think I would ever use it again don't like how it fades out.

 

Wow your truck looks really good!!!

 

Hi can i ask you a question? About your headlights, do they work well at nite or does the smoked lense cut down on light output? I am looking at the same lights on my dakota thanks

 

Looks great.

 

The headlights are a little dimmer than regular lights. I am going to change the bulbs out for some brighter ones to see if it helps.

Plus, they were a pain in the **** to install. I had to modify them a bit to get them to fit.

They also have a design flaw when you try to adjust them, the adjustment screw pulls through the plastic. I fixed that by putting a nut behind the housing to act as a backstop and running the screw through the front of the housing which is smaller and wont pull through.

The taillights look awesome and fit perfectly though, I bought them as a package deal off ebay.

 

Looks good.
Did you paint the door jams with monstaliner?
If so, any issues closing doors due to the texture?