BedRug vs Spray-In Liner: Carpet for Clean Loads, Spray-In for Dirt

A pickup bed floor ends up as one of four things: bare paint, a spray-in liner bonded to the metal, a drop-in plastic tub, or a mat laid on top of one of those. BedRug's carpet-style mats put polypropylene fiber over a 3/4 in foam pad, and each one is cut for a single truck and bed. Spray-ins come from shops such as LINE-X and Rhino Linings, and some trucks get one from the factory.

We've reviewed the BedRug, and two rubber bed mats, the Rough Country and the Dee Zee Heavyweight. What we say about spray-ins and drop-ins comes from the owners who run them and from what BedRug, DECKED, Leitner and the cover makers publish.

Which floor fits the way you haul

Pick for the dirtiest load your truck carries in a normal month, not the cleanest.

• Gravel, mulch, sand and scrap every week: a spray-in. It hoses out, and while the coating is intact nothing gets trapped under it. A BedRug copes with bricks, blocks and the occasional dirty load, but leaves and fine dirt cling to the fiber, so put a tarp down for loose loads.
• Furniture, appliances and household runs: a BedRug XLT mat. Wood and painted pieces slide in and out without marks, where a spray-in's texture can scratch them.
• Tools in cases, sports gear and luggage: a BedRug under a cover that seals. The padded floor fills the bed ribs and spares your knees when you crawl in after something.
• Camping out of the bed: the full BedRug Classic liner, under a cap or shell, with the truck parked. Padded walls are the one reason to pay for the full liner over the mat.
• A work truck headed for DECKED drawers or a Leitner rack: a spray-in. DECKED rules out both a BedRug and a drop-in, and Leitner's FORGED guides have a drop-in pulled first.
• A truck that came with a drop-in: lay a rubber mat on it to stop cargo sliding. If you want a BedRug, take the drop-in out first.

Day to day, the three floors owners weigh against each other differ like this. There's no common spec sheet for a carpet mat, a sprayed coating and a slab of rubber, so the table sums up owners' experience:

Choosing between a cap and a cover for camping trips? Our tonneau cover vs camper shell guide weighs the two.

BedRug: a padded floor for clean loads

The BedRug's case is comfort and cargo care. The underside foam follows the shape of the bed floor, filling the ribs and leaving a flat, padded surface. Furniture and lumber slide in without scuffs, while bricks, concrete blocks and most boxes stay where you set them. Wood pallets catch on the fiber and take extra effort to reposition, and smooth items can still slide, so strap them.

For hauling, the XLT floor mat is the BedRug to buy. Nearly all the wear lands on the floor and tailgate, so the full liner's padded sides cost noticeably more for little gain unless you sleep in the bed or run a cap. Installation is a wipe with isopropyl alcohol and a set of self-adhesive hook-and-loop strips; nothing gets drilled.

It lasts. BedRugs have run five, six and 13 years without a tear or a worn-through patch, although the longest of those records are from mats that are now years old. Dirt is the trade. A vacuum or a hose gets most of it, but leaves and fine grit work into the fiber, and getting the last of it out is a chore.

BedRug's Impact line keeps the 3/4 in foam and swaps the carpet for a rubberized TPO floor, which BedRug says won't absorb water. If you want padding but your loads run dirty, that's the BedRug to look at. Owners haven't logged much time on it yet, so our BedRug review doesn't score it.

Spray-in liners: bonded to the bed, hard on the knees

A spray-in is the floor we'd want on a truck that works for a living. It bonds to the metal, so water and dirt stay out from under it unless the coating is damaged, and it hoses clean. It stays with the truck, DECKED's drawers and Leitner's FORGED guides both allow it where they rule out a drop-in, and it barely changes a tonneau cover install. We don't rank LINE-X, Rhino Linings or a factory spray-in against each other.

Grip varies from one spray-in to the next. Owners describe one coating as grippy as skateboard tape and another that lets cargo slide almost like bare metal, and the texture can scratch the paint or wood of whatever you load. It's also hard on the knees, and a mat laid over the coating answers both complaints.

A spray-in won't stop dents. An older factory spray-in on a hard-used heavy-duty truck dented under dumped bucket loads of broken concrete, moisture got trapped under the liner, and the bed rusted out; its owner figures today's spray-ins are much better. Treat a deep dent or chip in any coating as a place water can get under it.

Drop-in liners and rubber mats

A drop-in is a molded plastic tub that sits in the bed, and we wouldn't stack a BedRug on one. BedRug's Amazon listings and RealTruck's part pages, wherever they say which bed a part suits, say a bare or sprayed one; not one mentions a drop-in. If you want the BedRug, take the drop-in out first.

A drop-in also changes what's under the floor. Dirt collects beneath it, and it can cover the factory drain plugs, which matters if your tonneau cover drains to them. DECKED's drawers and Leitner's FORGED rack both need it gone (see the table below). If your truck came with a drop-in and you're keeping it, a rubber mat on top stops cargo sliding and pulls out to wash.

A rubber bed mat is the cheap, practical floor; we've reviewed two, the Rough Country and the Dee Zee Heavyweight. It costs less than a BedRug, it's easy on the knees, cargo stays put on it, and you pull it out and power wash it. Grit and water can work under it, so lift it out now and then. Over a BedRug it makes a washable top layer for dirty jobs. Never put one underneath: the BedRug's foam is shaped to sit down in the ribs, and a flat mat below would hold it up over empty space.

Running both: a spray-in under a BedRug floor

If the budget allows, this is the setup we'd pick. The coating guards the metal and leaves nothing to trap grit against it; the carpet floor looks after whatever you load and whoever kneels on it. Owners run the pair on F-150 Lightnings and Mavericks, some over a factory spray-in.

Over a spray-in, add BedRug's Spray-in Adhesion Kit (BRZSPRAYON) so the hook-and-loop strips bond. It holds 14 fasteners, 1 in by 2 in, plus an adhesive promoter, and RealTruck says it doesn't damage the spray-in. Buy it with the mat. RealTruck's Impact Bed Mat page tells spray-in owners they will need the kit, then elsewhere lists adhesive promoter as included, so don't count on what's in the box.

Buy the floor mat for this, not the full liner. The spray-in already covers the sides and bulkhead, and carpeted walls over it add little for hauling. The coating underneath doesn't change how the carpet handles water: the fiber still holds some damp, harmless under a tight cover and a problem under a drippy one.

Water, tonneau covers and a damp bed

Water decides more of this than most buyers expect. Left open to the sky, a BedRug lets rain run through to the bed's drain holes and dries out fast. Close a slowly dripping cover over it and the mat catches that water, with too little air moving in the closed bed to dry it. One 2014 F-150 with a BedRug under a retractable leaking between the cover and the rails had to be opened up to air out after rain, or the bed got funky. A spray-in just drains, and a rubber mat lifts out to dry.

So get the cover dry before you lay carpet under it; our leaking tonneau cover guide works through where each style leaks. If you're buying a cover too, the TruXedo Sentry CT is the driest we've reviewed and the only one with a low leak-risk reading, and a floor mat never touches its rails or seal.

Each floor changes a cover install differently. A spray-in barely changes it; wash the front wall with soap and water, then wipe it with isopropyl alcohol, so an adhesive bulkhead seal sticks to the coating. A drop-in needs planning: an over-the-rail one gets in the way of the clamps, Tyger has you cut small holes in it for the clamps, and the BAK, UnderCover and Gator folding cover sheets drop the bulkhead seal entirely over a drop-in. A mat lies on the floor and changes nothing. Our guide to fitting a cover over a bed liner has each maker's rules.

What each liner rules out

Check the liner against the rest of your bed gear before you buy either:

Leitner's FORGED rack follows the same pattern. Its guides have a drop-in plastic liner removed before the rack goes in, and with a spray-in they have you cut the coating back around each drilled hole so the rivet nut sits flush on the metal. DECKED's drawers also rule out gooseneck and fifth-wheel hitches, and BedRug says nothing about either, so ask the hitch maker how it mounts through the floor you choose.

Warranty and switching trucks

The BedRug's limited lifetime warranty runs only while the original buyer owns the vehicle it's installed on. It isn't transferable, it expires if the BedRug is removed from that vehicle, and labor and shipping aren't covered. The mat itself can move: one BedRug is past 200k miles in its second truck. It moves without its warranty, though, and only to a bed it was cut for, so if you trade trucks often, plan on buying another.

A spray-in can't move at all. It's bonded to this truck and stays with it when you sell. Spray-in warranties vary by brand and shop, so ask the shop what it covers and get it in writing before the bed is sprayed. One Rhino owner's shop gave a lifetime warranty and will repair any part that chips or comes off at no charge; that's one shop's promise to one customer, not a brand policy.

The BedRug floors we'd buy

Every pick below is a product we've reviewed. We haven't reviewed a spray-in or a drop-in, so neither is a pick, and the rubber mats we have reviewed are a different floor with their own picks: see our Rough Country and Dee Zee bed mat reviews.

• The BedRug XLT Bed Mat for most trucks: the padded floor with an integrated tailgate gap guard, over a bare bed or over a spray-in with the adhesion kit.
• The BedRug Classic Bed Liner if you camp in the bed under a cap. It adds carpeted sides and a bulkhead panel for noticeably more money.
• The BedRug Impact if you want the padding with a rubberized floor for dirtier loads. It has little owner record yet, and we haven't scored it.
• The TruXedo Sentry CT if the bed needs a cover to keep the carpet dry. It's the driest cover we've reviewed, rated 400 lb evenly distributed.

Buy the listing for your truck and bed. We confirmed BedRug listings for specific beds on the F-150 (Gen13 and Gen14), the Ram 1500 (DT), the 4th gen Tacoma and the 3rd gen Tundra, and the fit rows under each pick list them. On the F-150, the carpet XLT listing we confirmed is for the 8 ft bed; for the 6.5 ft bed we confirmed the Impact Mat. The Silverado and Sierra Impact listing contradicts itself, and we didn't confirm a BedRug listing for the Maverick or the 6th gen Ranger, so those rows are search links. Check fit for your truck.