Rhino lined Hardtop

[Jeepers Creepers CJ]

I have just bought a CJ7 hard top and doors. The local Jeep shop told me about people rhino lining their hardtops for better appearance and that it makes the fiberglass top more reinforced . I think that is an out there statement. Any one heard of such a thing or have a picture on a hardtop thats been done?:dunno: I stop by a shop that does gatorhyde which is form of rhino lining basically the same thing just different name. It was pretty cheap to have done. I bet it will look like .

 

[kickitandholdit]

from my experience all the bedliners are different thinknesses and textures. A bedlined hard top wont look bad. Actually its not that noticeable until you are a car length or 2 from the jeep. But i would stay away from a real thick bed liner or a real rough or lumpy bed liner. some bed liners are 1/2 an inch thick and some are real lumpy and look gross like the rubber was mixed with grass. A real thick liner could effect how it fits and how doors fit ect. depending on what all was sprayed. A real lumpy liner would look ugly.

A bed liner that isnt super thick or lumpy would be a good idea. But i woud make sure the liner is a consistent, non lumpy/chunky coating.

As far as it making it stronger is most likely wrong. Of course the fiberglass wont get scratched or anything because its covered in rubber but if you waked it with a piece of rebar the fiberglass with probably still crack as it normally would.

long story short.. it will look good but not make it stronger, just scratch and limb resistant.


I SAY GO FOR IT!

 

[Jeepers Creepers CJ]

Hey thanks for the input. I will have to discuss the thickness with the shop tomorrow. Good idea about doors lining up as well. The product is Gatorhyde which applies with gloss sheen and fades over time. I might see how much to paint the top instead.

 

[kickitandholdit]

Hey thanks for the input. I will have to discuss the thickness with the shop tomorrow. Good idea about doors lining up as well. The product is Gatorhyde which applies with gloss sheen and fades over time. I might see how much to paint the top instead.

i would avoid it if it fades and had a glossy sheen because you got to remember your probably going to go with black which gets hot and attracts the sun lol

i would never think a glossy hard top would look normal anyway in my opinion.

ask to see an example of the lining on something. If he doent have anything to show you and the guy drives a pickup, steer clear. One thing that has always helped me is to see weather or not the seller uses his products, if not he might know something you dont. If you look at the guys truck and he uses rhino liner or linex you might not want to use gatorhyde HAHAHAHA

 

[kickitandholdit]

i have seen people buy their own liner material and use a cheap sandblaster from lows to spray it and it looked real consistent and worked great and they had a great time doing it. might be an option.

 

[Jeepers Creepers CJ]

He has it sprayed in the bed of his truck. Its the sheen that I don't care for. I might just have it painted. I don't want to waste a good top on testing the rhino line look. But I did see one that was done from a company in Florida called Toy BOX Jeep heres the link:
Toybox Jeeps Home Page

Its under the toybox 2 link on the left. Scroll down the page and its the one titled Refurbished CJ7 eye catching Yellow. This top appears to be lined.

 

[kickitandholdit]

He has it sprayed in the bed of his truck. Its the sheen that I don't care for. I might just have it painted. I don't want to waste a good top on testing the rhino line look. But I did see one that was done from a company in Florida called Toy BOX Jeep heres the link:
Toybox Jeeps Home Page

Its under the toybox 2 link on the left. Scroll down the page and its the one titled Refurbished CJ7 eye catching Yellow. This top appears to be lined.

Yes that yellow jeep has a real consistent bed-liner and like i said its not that noticeable until you really look at it. I wouldnt worry about it looking ugly or to bold but i would worry about that gloss stuff, not to sure about that.

I think it looks fantastic and like a brand new top and usually bed liners are durable and stay looking brand new. (dont scratch or chip like paint)

Remember creeping through the woods once could ruin paint but if it was bedlined you would just need to wash of the bark lol

 

[Jeepers Creepers CJ]

True, it would hold better than paint and not scratch as easy. Not too many trees though out in the rocks and desert. Thats mostly what I get into here in Arizona. I think the black top would cook with all the sun we get. Maybe help fade it down from the UV getting to it. Thanks for all of your input. I really appreciate it.

 

[IOPort51]

My kid brother has told me of a site he looked at that used bed liner to "Bomb proof" a cement block building. Seriously, they set off an explosive in the building and while it's twin was reduced to it's component parts the bed liner coated building was still very much intact.
I don't think this will bullet proof your Jeep but it does give an indication of how tough this stuff is. I think I could see having a colored bed liner sprayed on a hard top, I could never spray the exterior of the tub just because I like to have at least some of my jeep to be shiny on the occasions when it is clean. I do believe you can have white bed liner sprayed on and it doesn't have to have the non skid chunks in it. A lot of prep would be needed, remove the glass and hardware and skuff the daylights out of it.

 

[kickitandholdit]

yea trees might not be a problem in the desert haha. now that i think about it i think colored bed liner would look good. Example.. if you have a white jeep i think a tan bed lined top would look great with tan seats ect. or blue with a white top would keep you cool

 

[Jeepers Creepers CJ]

Decided today that I would have the top painted flat black instead of the rhino lined top. But thanks for the input. If I don't like the look of the flat black I can always have the top rhino lined later.

 

[centex]

About 3 years ago I had my fiberglass top rhino lined (big mistake). It is now all bubbled up and the folks at the shop say I should have had a special sealer put on before the rhino liner. That's because fiberglass emits a type of gas, I'm told, that bubbles up under the rhino liner. Solution now is to remove the liner after heating it up. They say it should peel off pretty easily. I'm miffed no one told me about putting on a sealer before putting on the rhino liner.

 

[BusaDave9]

I've seen a Jeep CJ5 completely covered in bed-liner. It's very tough.
You can even coat your motorcycle in bedliner like this one:

Okay, scratch that last idea.