Rhino Linings
Polyurethane, polyureas (what is polyurea) and polyhybrids had been used on industrial applications for years before the public saw these products in the form of bedliners. Rhino Linings owner saw an opportunity for these materials to be brought to a new market. The american truck owner had money, prosperity and necessity. With collision shops suffering insurance related failures, repair shops agonizing over new car warranties and similar troubles in the automotive industry, opportunities still are welcome to this gap, for synergistic work, to expand a business or enter this new industry. Russell Lewis started a billion dollar industry when Rhino Linings marketed the truck owner with a new spray on bedliner that was more durable than drop-in bedliners and prevented corrosion and other damage caused by traditional bedliners.
Rhino Lining bedliner was originally soft and rubbery, though they now offer both hard and soft called Hard Line and soft called Tuff Grip.
Line-X
Line-X, owned by Claudio Burton came offering a harder bedliner than Rhino Linings at that time whose softer texture represented a lower quality in some opinions. Line-X uses strict binding contracts to keep their dealers from doing business with other bedliner vendors and also has an expensive franchise fee. This is common in business but in this case represents a type of unfair controls onto Line-X dealers. Franchise practice with spray on lining is generally frowned upon by new dealer prospects. While franchising may control quality and national brand recognition can aid promotion, complex agreements here are understood to benefit this vendor more than its dealers. Deals as such in a hard economy hurts ROI making fair priced sprayed lining difficult. Under these agreements a shop is not allowed to be very competitive in general. Meaning that the cost is inflated because of the cost of being a Line-X dealer. The truth is a high quality spray bedliner can be offered at a more reasonable cost to dealers and the public.
Alternative to Rhino Lining and Line-x
Ultimate Linings
Another privately held corporation was started by a previous Rhino Linings Dealer in Utah. UL is also a Top Tier Distributor of GRACO equipment, as serious lining venders are, offering technical and service repair options for their customers. They started business about 20 years ago competing directly with Rhino Linings and Line-x.,br/>
Xtreme Liners came on the market shortly after Ultimate. It wasn?t long before these companies ?merged?. More recently, Ultimate released their Qwik Liner brand, a “Cartridge System” with a lower start-up cost which is geared for the DIY bedliner market.
It?s logical that this Ultimate & Xtreme merger, promoted through press releases on the net was in fact the same owner. Regardless it was designed to compete with Rhino & Line-X to take over this NEW, FAST-GROWING spray on bedliner industry. In any case the idea of being a vendor of polyurea and/or polyurea hybrid packaged as Rhino Linings, Line-X, Ultimate Linings or Xtreme Liners ?dealerships? with specialized low or high pressure equipment did evolve as a new, existing market within the auto / truck coatings industry. Currently several bedliner dealership vendors sell high &/or low pressure polyurea & polyurea hybrids. Fierce Competition evolved; unscrupulous at times but great for final consumers.
Speedliner
To compete with higher costs of the spray on lining pioneers, Speedliner was opened. Seemingly a division of Bearcat Industries, whom appears promoted further as yet another division of Industrial Polymers (verify this – reality or tactic) they followed with a low cost Hopper Gun with manual mixed parts called Speedliner 1000. 1000 is their highest priced product sold in large packs of single gallons only at $2500 to $3000. They sell a few other poly / hybrids such as SL ? 400, SL ? 500 and SL ? 600. The downside is that these must go thru low & high pressure, high-cost Graco equip similar to the 1st pioneers. Ironically these higher-end equip dependent products are all cheaper, lower quality specs than their more simple 1000. I?d assume high priced guns would shoot higher spec products but at Speedliner that?s not the case. 1000 is a great quality, “hard” cure similar to pure polyurea. It’s promoted as a “safer” polyurethane but by definition (verify this) containing isocyanates classifies this as a “polyurea hybrid” with similar carcinogenic hazards requiring respirator mask to use it. Why their highest spec most expensive product only goes thru hopper guns & lower spec cheaper stuff goes thru expensive complex pricy equipment is beyond me. I’ve asked Dan Salazar, who is listed as “rep” why quality vs cost appears in reverse order. Although there was no logical answer and their pricing is weird I don’t view Speedliner as a scam. Simply put, if you choose them as your Spray Lining vendor you might feel it’s a Scam if you grow, require better equipment but your spray on lining becomes lower grade product. Is this a progressive business model or a devious trick to use the high priced product through their cheap hopper gun or be forced to buy high cost equipment with lower grade product.
Scorpion Coatings
Scorpion Coatings owned by Clayton Tomasini offers a soft bedliner to Speedliner?s hard bedliner with low quantities required as spray on bed lining dealer” start ups”Around 2009 they offered Al?s Liner, a DIY product which amounts to a lower quantity of Scorpion available to consumers at an inflated price. Allowing distribution of Als Liner is inflaming Scorpion Dealers. Although Als is a DIY bedliner the label has contact info leading to Scorpion. So if if an Al?s DIY customer buys a larger amount they too have a choice of being an Als Distributor or even a Scorpion dealer & get the Scorpion Dealer Price. Even with minimal or no agreement required this seems pretty unfair to Scorpion dealers who feel its a Scam to Spray this Lining, establish themselves on their own with no dealer promotion then have their exact spray on lining product sold locally for less money as a DIY.
I recently bought a new truck. I know that it is important to get a bed liner for protection purposes. I never realized that there has been improvements to the original Rhino liners. That will help me make my decision better.