89 Burb rear resto: bedliner and plastic/carpet panels

[Electricduane]

Hi all: 89 Suburban 2500 4x4 diesel. White w/ blue interior.

I removed the rear carpet (trunk area) of my suburban because it was trashed. Headliner is also gone, it was trashed.

My thinking is to spray bedliner on the interior of the roof and also on the floor from the tailgate up to the rear of the first backseat. At that point, the second section of carpet begins. I will leave the carpet there. So carpet will extend from the front seats to just behind the first backseat. From that point rearward, it will be bedliner.

I'm hoping some of you smart folks with experience will have some advice/comments on the following:

PREP: There was some surface rust under the headliner. I am carefully wire wheeling it off and spraying "converter" primer on it. There is a small amount of rust under the support bars (that are glued on) that I don't see any way to get to. I'm going to do the best I can to spray those spots with converter primer and call it good. It's just surface rust from 30 years of condensation.

BEDLINER: I have a good bit of experience with this, having had a Jeep and a K5 sprayed with high temp, high-pressure polyurethane (Line-x or similar). IMO it's expensive but worth it. I am not interested in do-it-yourself bedliner.

I know they can adjust the texture of it and can also make it virtually any color. The roof needs to be a lighter color in order to distribute light.

What about a 2-tone effect? Darker gray/black on the floor, then lighter gray on the roof/sides? White would probably look weird and get dingy fast.

REAR PLASTICS: These are a little bit rough, one (pass side upper rear) has a big crack in it and several have paint (white) scuffs. They need to be painted, at least, and I hear that plastic paint stuff doesn't work very well. That said, what about just getting rid of all of them? The large center cover for the rear A/C needs to stay, and then the pillar for the rear driver side (C pillar?) needs to stay to cover up the air-conditioning lines. What if I sold the rest of them and just went with the bedlined look?

Another friend said that you could "have them dipped," I suppose meaning some sort of plastic-dip finishing process. Anyone familiar with that?

Thanks in advance for all advice/comments.

[WyattTX]

As for the rear plastic, I'd leave it out. If you want the rear plastic, just bondo the cracks. As for the bed liner, I'd be cautious, because it traps mud and dirt easy. I own a jeep cj with a bed lined tub, and to clean it requires a powerful vaccum cleaner, because the rough texture doesn't allow a simple hose out, even with drain holes. If you want something easy to clean, drill some drain holes, and paint a SMOOTH finish in your rear floor. If you don't mind a little mud, and dirt packed in your floor, go for the bed liner. After my experience with my jeep, if I ever get it repainted, I'm staying away from bedliner. In my opinion bediner belongs in beds. Do what you want, if your happy who cares what others think. 4x4 square burbs are hard to find. Take care of it.

[WyattTX]

One thing I forgot to mention this stuff lmc sells called color bond works great plastics. I used in my '85 pickup. Also I have taken the pillar and rear plastic trim out of a square suburban, and it looks great when it is just metal! Just put your speaker covers back on if you have , and as for that rear AC cover, I bet a sheet metal shop could fix you up a nice metal one, it would be bethere than plastic that breaks when you try to remove it.

[Electricduane]

WyattTX: thanks for the excellent input. I understand that good quality bedliner shops know how to spray that stuff with little or no texture, so it wouldn't trap dirt is much. My 89 K5 is sprayed with textured polyurethane. It does hold dust like you said, but I still like it.

The dumbass previous owner cut several holes (about 1") in the trunk area because he had a vegetable oil kit/tank (diesel engine) that sat in the trunk. I removed all that **** and now have those holes to patch up. Bedliner would cover up repaired holes pretty good. And it would insulate the inside of the roof, not as good as a headliner but still better than nothing . . .

But now I'm thinking about the paint idea. And I'm going to ditch those plastic panels.

[WyattTX]

Glad I could help, and I learned something too. I had no idea bedliner could be smooth. The paint under the plastic panels should be in mint condition, given it was never touched by the sunlight.I think your going in a good direction.