Last month, in our quest to find some hidden mileage benefits from ordinary upgrades, we bolted an S&B cold-air intake onto our '071/2 Dodge's 6.7L Cummins. We were rewarded with a slight bump in perceived power and fuel economy to the tune of about 0.75 mpg, despite the fact that we left every other piece of factory hardware in place.
This time around we're looking to improve our Mega Cab's looks and functionality by installing a SnugTop Xtra Vision fiberglass truck cap. While there are many choices when selecting a bed cap manufacturer, few can match the quality construction, user-friendly features, and great looks offered by SnugTop. For our Mega Cab, we chose the company's Xtra Vision model, with large rear and sliding side glass, removable side screens, a full headliner, locking rear window (with a flush-mounted rotary latch), folding front window so you can quickly and easily drop the front window for cleaning the truck cab's rear glass, and more. The company took our order and, based on our factory paint code, painted our new shell to match our truck's metallic black hue in short time
But before we could have the shell installed at SnugTop's facility in Long Beach, California, we had to address the fact that our new shell wouldn't work with our factory over-the-rail bedliner. We considered cheesing out by either cutting up our factory liner or tossing in a cheap under-the-rail drop-in unit, but in our experience, it's hard to beat the headache-free durability, strength, and convenience of a Line-X spray-in bedliner system. About a week before our shell installation, we headed down to Line-X of Huntington Beach, California, where Marcel Venable oversaw the application of the spray-in liner for our truck.
And what of the hidden benefits? It's argued that the improved aerodynamics of the truck cap will show a marked improvement in mileage. In fact, SnugTop claims it has seen increases in fuel mileage up to 2 mpg on some vehicles based on its independent research. In our case, the results were quite noticeable. Not only did we turn our bed into dry, secure storage, but our mileage jumped from an average of 16.3 mpg to 17.3 mpg.
 With sanding dust flying,...  With sanding dust flying, the pros at Line-X of Huntington Beach, California, had our Dodge Mega Cab's bed masked, sanded, and prepped for spraying in short order. Quality installation is the key to any good bedliner application process. Getting it wrong can result in peeling and overall poor adhesion of the liner. To date, we've got almost a year on ours with zero problems, but should any arise, Line-X offers a nationwide warranty as long as the liner was applied by a licensed Line-X installation facility. |  With the truck completely...  With the truck completely masked and bagged, it was put into the spray booth where the Line-X was applied. The liner is a two-part material that mixes in the gun, so it sets up almost instantly, resulting in no drips or runs and can adhere to any surface. |  After the Line-X liner was...  After the Line-X liner was sprayed, and while the truck was still in the booth, we had Line-X's optional Line-X Xtra UV protection sprayed to ensure the harsh Southern California sun won't turn our liner chalky and gray--even after a decade of use. Xtra is sprayed on after the initial application, before the liner has cured, which allows the material to migrate into the liner. Xtra gives the liner a glossier shine, but it also makes the liner a bit harder, removing some impact absorption quality, so Marcel Venable sprayed our liner a bit thicker than usual to compensate. |