Can I Line-X Rocker Panels?

Tiny Travels

2017 170"ext, 4x4, 2500
How long ago did you spray it, and how is it holding up? Is it very durable?
I sprayed the wheel-wells of a pickup truck with a similar product and that lasted ten years before the truck was scrapped for unrelated reasons.

Is the Raptor Liner keeping water from getting inside the rocker panel trim?
Did you seal the trim clips in addition to the Raptor Liner, or was the Raptor Liner adequate to keep water out?
 

FJ_Amos

New member
I sprayed it towards the end of last summer, we have taken a few short trips, and one long one ~2k miles since then and no complaints. I think as with any paint project prep is key, I used red scotch-brite to thoroughly scuff the lower rocker paint, and plastic surfaces. The adhesion promoter was used as belt and suspenders approach. Only place I've found that it has scraped off is one spot on the rear ladder, which I very hastily sprayed with the left overs, and didn't prep as well as i should have, plus the existing finish was chrome, so pretty forgivable. Overall i think it's really durable, and seems like it would be really easy to touch up in the future if ever needed. Again I wasn't dealing with a pristine, off the lot vehicle when I began, so this really seemed like a simpler solution than color/clear painting, which I did in a number of other areas, and confirmed was a real pain to get a hack job pulled off.

Also I really was excited to not have to choose a black paint, being able to tint this to a color you want is super cool in my book, even if I choose to go grey...

don't know if it's keeping water from getting inside the rocker panels, I doubt it. I had though of this before doing it, and expected it would help. After applying though I realized there just isn't enough paint to really seal it up, and I decided to slit the seam with a razor so any shifting/movement of the panels wouldn't try to peel the paint.

I had pulled some of the trim to repair some rust issues at the seams of the trim and rockers, and found a few spots under the trim pieces that needed attention. Overall I found very little reason to be concerned with water getting in, as long as it gets back out. This is one a NJ vehicle which clear paint issues resulting from it's prior life. Most of the issues were surface problems, not a result of water getting through the clips. I do have the yellow wax treatment on the inside of the panels which is clearly helping as well.

attempt at images:


 

Tiny Travels

2017 170"ext, 4x4, 2500
The pictures of your van look really good, FJ Amos. Thanks for sharing all that info.
I think the way you did it sounds the best. Putting a slit in the seam between the metal and the plastic so the paint wouldn't peel was a great idea.

Line-X is so much more expensive than doing it myself, but I guess the advantage is that Line-X is a little thicker and might be able to seal between the metal and the plastic.
But not knowing definitively if it would actually work or not has me shying away from spending that much money (~$1,700) on an unknown.
 

Top Bottom