Chad Reinertson, digital marketing manager, shows where the new Line-X Ultra protective coating was applied to the cabinets of a Palfinger Pal Pro 43 mechanics truck on display at the 2018 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis
A new, thinner coating from Line-X Protective Coatings was unveiled at the 2018 Work Truck Show in Indianapolis this March.
Called Line-X Ultra, it’s designed for interior cabinets, such as on a service body, said Chad Reinertson, digital marketing manager for Line-X.
To demonstrate that, the Line-X Ultra was installed in the cabinets of a Palfinger Pal Pro 43 mechanics truck on display at the Line-X stand.
“You get the same kind of Line-X protection that you do out of your traditional black bedliner material, but now you get it on a thinner coat that’s available with any color,” Reinertson told Service Truck Magazine.
Like the bedliner product, Line-X Ultra is a proprietary polyurea coating but of a slightly different formulation “to have some different hardness properties to it,” he said. “It also allows you to spray it on much thinner.”
Goes on thinner
It can be sprayed on doors without adding significant weight to the truck. For the Pal Pro body, the Line-X Ultra spray added only about 50 pounds more than powder coat paint would have done, he said.
Line-X Ultra applies at about 50 mils compared with 80 to 120 mils for the Line-X XS-350 bedliner coating.
“We want it a little thinner for this confined area,” Reinertson said. “It works really well in the actual cabinets but it’s still going to have that really tough impact resistance. So you can be dropping tools or tossing tools and you’re not going to have the same type of denting as it would with the regular aluminum and the powder coat.”
Line-X Ultra is thin enough that it won’t interfere with the closing of cabinet doors. The coating also has a textured property that can be smoothed out with a topcoat.
“But what we’ve found is that people really like this texture,” Reinertson said.
Line-X coatings can also be applied to other parts of truck, such as wheel wells and bumpers to create a “blackout” effect.
“It replaces some of the chrome pieces that would get dented, nicked, beat up, and rusted out,” Reinertson said.
Quartz for extra grip
For the Pal Pro 43 on display, black Line-X XS-350 coating was applied to the front bumper. On the back step, Line-X Ultra was applied in yellow with quartz added to it to provide extra grip.
“One of the highest risk areas of a work truck is actually slipping off the back steps,” Reinertson said. “They get wet. So when we’re able to add a little bit more durability and grip to it, we’re adding some safety to the trucks as well.”
The company’s trained applicators install the coatings directly to the metal by using a preparation process that ensures a strong bond, he said. That’s why ideally, the coatings are applied to new truck bodies during their initial upfitting.
“It’s a little easier to do that because then you don’t have to worry about it being soiled or having oils in it or what you would have to clean out of it,” Reinertson said. “It’s a brand new truck, we know we’re going to get a really strong bond.”
The cost varies widely depending on the vehicle and the coatings but can range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars, he said.
The coatings can be applied to used trucks, but that requires more work.
“It’s still very possible,” he said. “A lot of people will bring their trucks in after some heavy wear and tear. And we can take care of those but it does require some prep process.”
Now headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, Line-X dates back to 1993 when it became a division of Santa Ana, Calif.-based Burtin Urethane Corp., according to the Line-X website. The company has a franchise network of more than 500 stores in the U.S. and Canada. And it also has arrangements with manufacturers to install the coatings in their own facilities, Reinertson said.
For more information, visit www.linex.com.
— Keith Norbury
