Anyone who has ever had to modify the floor of their truck or SUV to perform a body drop or to install a set of wheeltubs can tell you how if they don't get the seams just right, it can cause all kinds of havoc. There can be air or water leaks, if the seams aren't sealed properly, and even properly sealed seams can squeak and pop when you hit bumps and drive in and out of driveways. And while the sticky-backed sound-deadeners work great for most applications, they can still let sheetmetal panels leak water and shift to create squeaks. The guys at Vortex Sprayliners are here to show you that their polyurethane material, most often associated with spray-on bedliners, can be the answer to your squeaking, leaking problems.
Not only does the Vortex polyurethane material dampen sound, but it also works to seal all of the seams and adds strength to keep the sheetmetal panels from shifting and creating those annoying little squeaks and pops. And spraying the interior of a vehicle is as easy as not putting your interior back in the cab once you have finished all of the fabrication work. You just take your truck or SUV down to Vortex Sprayliners, before you take it to the upholstery shop to have the new carpet installed. Vortex will prep, tape, and spray the interior of your truck or SUV to dampen sound and seal the floor in the protective polyurethane material. And if you don't believe it's that easy, just follow along as we show you what the crew at Vortex did to seal up the floor on GO-EZ's Tahoe project.
Project Tahoe: The Spray Job
As you can see, the GO-EZ crew had modified the interior of this Tahoe pretty extensively to get the truck to lay out in 24-inch wheels. And even though there is plenty of seam-sealer spread on all of the welded seams, the Vortex material will encase all of the seams in a tough polyurethane coating.
1. The Vortex crew started...
1. The Vortex crew started out by vacuuming out the interior and wiping everything down with denatured alcohol to ensure there was no oil on any of the inside surfaces, where they were going to apply the polyurethane material.They also taped up any wires that they didn't want to get overspray on before they started to stretch the plastic over the larger areas of the truck's interior.
2. A few minutes later, all...
2. A few minutes later, all of the areas of the Tahoe that they wanted to protect from overspray was covered in tape and plastic.
3. They continued their tape...
3. They continued their tape and plastic party to the exterior of the Tahoe to ensure that it would be safe from overspray, as well.
4. The Vortex crew started...
4. The Vortex crew started by spraying all of the pieces that unbolt from the interior, spraying a uniform coat of the thick polyurethane material.
5. Then, starting at the rear...
5. Then, starting at the rear of the Tahoe, they began spraying the material onto the floor of the SUV.
6. Believe it or not, the...
6. Believe it or not, the Vortex material dries before the spray gun can be put away. And that meant that the tape and plastic could be removed almost immediately after the final pass was made with the spray gun.
7. Because the material dries...
7. Because the material dries so fast, the bolt-in pieces could also be reinstalled at this time.
8. And in the matter of a...
8. And in the matter of a couple of hours, the entire floor of the Tahoe had been sprayed with the Vortex polyurethane material and was ready for a trip to the upholstery shop for the new carpet.