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My U-Pol Raptor documentary - lining the tub

352K views 376 replies 149 participants last post by  smokebrk 
#1 ·
So I'm -planning- on lining my Jeep's tub this weekend with U-Pol Raptor. I chose this stuff since it comes with a spray gun, isn't soft like Herculiner, is relatively cheap($100 for the kit), and I REALLY like the results I saw from some other JF members with this stuff. I'm hoping to do all the prep work this Saturday, possibly start spraying Saturday night, and finish it all up Sunday. Then I gotta drive it to work on Monday.







It's got the spray gun, the 4 bottles of stuff, a can of the hardener to activate it, and instructions. I need to go out and buy tons of masking tape and plastic crap to cover things.
 
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#3 ·
I've actually never heard of this stuff before. I like the idea it comes with its own spray gun. Interested to see some results.
 
#4 ·
i have that raptor liner in the bed of one of my trucks, and i like it, but i was lookin for something more agressive for the tub of my jeep. let me know how it turns out and put up some pics, im curious to see how it works out. good luck. :2thumbsup:
 
#5 ·
I did mine last weekend ,.....great product ,....I started pulling the interior out a few days before , spending a little time each evening ....finally all I had inside was the dash, drivers seat and seat belt assembly......PREP IS EVERYTHING !!! take the time to sand the interior , I used multiple scotch brite pads, and cleaned it out real well....and take your time masking .....Once your ready to start spraying it goes real fast. I added a little extra hardener to each bottle, I wanted to wait less time between coats! IF you have a real bright work light , that will help seeing any missed areas. After spraying , I pushed my jeep out into the driveway and let it bake out there....I took me appr. 3 hours to go throught the 4 bottles. After dinner I pushed the jeep back into the garage, opened up a couple beers and started putting everything back in .......and let her cure for a few days.
This stuff turned out great , please note , that it has been a week now and there is still a very strong smell to it , so if possible , leave the top off for as long as possible to get the smell to disipate....good luck !!
 
#7 ·
I would also recommend you get it prepped as much as you can today. I used a wire brush attachment on my cordless drill and it really made scuffing the interior easy. There are some spots that you have to use sandpaper but for the most part, you can use the wire brush. It really is pretty easy, just take your time and do it right. Have fun!

If anybody is interested, you can see the pics of my liner here:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=562641
 
#8 ·
Had no time to do anything today, had dinner plans after work... So I'm going to wake up hopefully by 9:00 tomorrow to get started.

I NEED to be able to throw the driver's seat and seatbelt back in Sunday night to drive to work on Monday... should I have to worry about the liner peeling off easily or what?

What is the dry time I should expect from this stuff?

Also, I know to mask everything off and put tape in all bolt holes and whatnot... but after every coat, do I need to take the tape off and remask everything?
 
#10 ·
I gave mine about 18 hours to dry before I had everything back in it and I was driving it. I did have it sitting in a heated garage though. I was pretty careful with it the first few days but I don't think I really needed to be.

I put wads of tape in all the holes. There is no need to re-mask for every coat. Just wait until your final coat is dry to the touch (about 45 minutes to an hour) and peel the tape off. I used an old pair of needle nose pliers to get the wads of tape out of the holes without messing up the liner.
 
#9 ·
if you spray over the masking and theres a chance the masking will bond to the rest of the liner (like if you spray up to a bolt hole and the mask gets sealed in) then remove the mask before it dries completely to avoid peeling up dry liner later on. the wet stuff will seperate easier and you wont have to worry.

but for things like the dash or seatbelts or anything that isnt flush with the liner, leave it masked til the job is done.
 
#11 ·
Well I got everything done and sprayed in a time of about 11 hours including a lunch break and clean-up. Haven't put the stuff back in yet, gonna do that tomorrow afternoon.

Got up at 9:00 or so and got started around 9:30.

Started by pulling the seats, seat belts, center console, all the little doo-dads in the tub, all bolts I could see, all the latch hardware on the tub, etc etc.

I was about to pull the cage and found that the factory was kind enough to put seam-sealer on every one of my cage bolts on the floor, and I was lacking a T-45 security torx so I dismissed the idea of pulling the cage for bedlining. Also decided to not go above the rail, no particular reason, I can do it at another time if I decide to do so. I was thinking about just brushing it on there in the future.

My fiance, Shaynea came over at about 10:15 or so to help me out. She was very helpful in sanding and masking stuff off.:)

Basically the steps I took was:
1. Strip the tub of anything and everything
2. Vacuum it all out
3. Wash with soapy water and rinse out well
4. Sand the tub to scuff all the paint where it would be covered
5. Rinse out with water then dry it off as good as possible
6. Dowse a rag with mineral spirits and wipe everything down really well
7. Mask what couldn't be removed and what shouldn't be lined, and fill the bolt holes with balls of tape
8. Wipe down with mineral spirits one last time
9. Shoot the bedliner according to instructions

Here are the pictures:cool:

(The little yellow sticker is funny, it says the carpet is there for insulation and driving without it could cause burns to feet haha)















 
#14 ·










And here was my little helper for the day:



She helped out a lot, my dad jumped in occasionally as well helping with a few small things here and there. If it were me alone, I would be spraying in the dark.

It's already pretty darn hard, very cool stuff. I have it all over my hands so I'll keep you guys updated on when that crap comes off:laugh:
 
#16 ·
Yeah it's a really good kit, I ran my compressor at 45 psi and used only 3 of the 4 bottles. I'm saving the last one for if/when it needs touched up or I find something else to line.

Only problem I had was when the can is entirely full, do NOT tilt the gun or the stuff will run out of the top of the gun(vent hole for the can). I got drops of the stuff all over the place, luckily dabbing it with a rag and then spraying it again makes it real hard to notice.

Also I think on the last can I didn't shake it long enough as sometimes it would spray out real fast and sometimes it would spray wider and "chunkier." Be sure not to make my same mistake. I was also running 60psi which I was using to shoot a little further back into the footwells(remember can't tilt the gun).

Otherwise awesome kit, I highly recommend it! Total cost after materials and all was roughly $125.
 
#22 ·
From a distance it appears to have white specs, but it's just the light hitting the corners of the little "bumps."

I got mine from TP Tools.

http://www.tptools.com/Product.aspx?display_id=2600

And here's the link for TCP Global... they're a bit more expensive though:

http://www.tcpglobal.com/detailsupplydepot/itemdetail.aspx?itemno=UPO+0820V-GUN

The smell is hardly noticable when I walked out to look at it this morning, you have to get right down on the stuff to notice it. It smells like regular old paint if anyone is wondering. I'm sure if you put the top and doors on it will fill the interior when it sits for a while.
 
#23 ·
All the stuff's back in and it's great. The smell is gone completely and the crap on my hands is gone as well:laugh:









Notice in the last pic that the gold plate around the tranny is NOT entirely covered by the console, be sure to just mask off the gold and shoot around it!
 
#30 ·
I honestly just thought it would be covered by the console, remember I pulled the console THEN the carpet up front, some time I may touch it up but until then it doesn't bother me. Honestly I wouldn't mind a large ammo-can for an armrest and rig something up to make the clutter of junk on the trans tunnel look halfway decent.

That's pretty slick.

Could you comment on interior noise levels? Do you find road noise to be more or less than with the carpet?
Great Job ! Have you noticed any reduction in Road Noise?
Well seeing as I haven't put my windows back in since the stuff was installed, I can't really comment, but I'm sure it's a -tad- louder than with carpet. I have pretty aggressive tires so I'm sure I'm not a good person to ask about this:laugh:

I think I like the looks of the Raptor better than the herculiner ... but my main reason for lining will be to get rid of the carpet. I take my lab/mutt with me in the back quite often, and I wonder how she'll be able to stand up without the carpet for traction.

Is the Raptor hard and slick, while the herc is soft(er) and rubbery?
It's hard and fairly slick. That's the reason I got it over herculine, herc is bad for cleaning mud off of, fading with age, being a pain to wash, etc. This raptor stuff cleans real easy, just rinse with water until all the crud is out of the drain holes. It downpoured Monday and the back of my Jeep looks like it was never rained on, no waterspots or anything.

Only downside I've found is that my lunchbox for work slides around in the back, so I stick it behind the passenger seat to keep it from moving:D
 
#27 ·
My gold plate was a black plate. I still touched it up with some rustoleum. Mine is officially ready to spray. clean sanded and masked off. Now ive just got to wait for the raptor to show up.
 
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