I have told this story hundreds of times over the past two years; so, I might as well put it in writing. In May of 1995, I drove my 1988 Jeep Cherokee Laredo with the standard issue cracking clear coat paint to my local Line-X dealer. So many Jeep Cherokee owners are faced with cracking , peeling and fading clear coat and paint that a web page exists for owners to commiserate with one another (search for "Jeep Cherokee" and you will find it. The page is not associated with off-road.com, I just thought you might find it interesting). When I asked the local paint shop for an estimate to paint my Cherokee, the price quickly rose from the $149.95 advertised price to over $800.00 because they would have to sand out all the clear coat cracking. It did not seem reasonable to spend so much money on paint just to go scratch it up the next weekend. I met Paul, the Oklahoma City Line-X owner/manager, and asked him if he could spray my Jeep with "that bedliner stuff". He said, "You mean the whole outside"? I said, "Yes" and he scratched his chin and said "I never heard of anyone spraying a whole truck before, but I guess so". He took some measurements to estimate a price and said "If your crazy enough to do it, I'll do it for cost of materials just to see how it looks". Thus another paradigm was broken and the "Avocado" was born.

Once I made the deal with Paul, I went to work prepping the Cherokee myself. I removed all the trim, lights, roof rack (in the dumpster with you), and fender flares. Paul and I roughed-up the paint with a orbital sander and wiped the body down with alcohol. Masking and taping was performed as with any normal paint job. The Line-X protective coating will not adhere to rubber or glass; so, we opted to spray over the glass to get better coverage around the window moldings. I originally wanted to paint the Cherokee white and Paul advised against it. He recommended sticking with a dark color to minimize fading. I selected dark green and Paul mixed colors together until I found my favorite shade. Paul donned his space suit and armed himself with a sub-machine gun looking spray gun. He aimed it at the front right fender and sprayed a uniform pattern across the fender and right half of the hood then waived me over. He asked if the color was right and rubbed his hand across it. Wow! It dries in less than ten seconds! I nodded a sheepish approval and backed off as he continued spraying. Truthfully, my first thought was that it looked like mold was growing on my Jeep. When he finished spraying, we backed it out in the sun for the picture shown here.

After unmasking and scraping the windows clean, I drove the Cherokee home and replaced all moldings and lights. My wife examined the rig an promptly dubbed it the "Avocado" which stuck with my two year old son who refers to it to this day as the Avocado Jeep.

The story doesn't end here. Over the past two years I have returned to Line-X and had bumper/winch mounts and a heavy duty Con-Ferr roof rack sprayed. Before, I was constantly touching the paint up on my bumpers and roof rack. Now, each is sealed in durable rubber polymer. These items should be consider even if you are not ready to do the whole vehicle. One mistake I did make was to spray my Tomken Machine side bars. The coating is tough; but even it cannot stand being dragged over rocks. Some of the questions I am often asked include: "Does it make it hot inside"? I have not noticed any difference in interior or engine heat and the Avocado has seen 100+ degrees in Utah. "Can you scratch it"? I leaned it into a dirt bank which folded in the mirror and slightly dented the door. The coating showed no sign of wear. Brush scratches are a thing of the past. On another trip, I tagged a large jagged rock with the lower part of the door and tore a piece of the coating the size of a half dollar off. Paul was easily able to mix up a small amount in a cup and touch it up. "Is it hard to clean"? No, I just use a big hard bristle brush and some mild soap and water to scrub it down. I shinned it up once with some vinyl protectant; but, it collected dust something awful. "How much does it cost"? It took about the same amount of material as a normal bedliner would because it is only about 1/16" thick (a bedliner is about 1/4" in the floor). The labor to prep the vehicle is considerably more than a pick-up truck bed, so figure on $500 as a rough estimate.

"Are you happy with it"? You bet. After two years, my only complaint is having to explain to the guy next to me at every intersection what kind of paint it is. I have begun making up wild short replies just to amuse myself.

"Is it quieter"? Yes, a little. I really noticed a noise reduction when a friend asked me to take his Wrangler to Line-X and get the interior sprayed. I owned this particular Wrangler and forgot how noisy they are at highway speeds. I removed the interior, including the hook and loop mounted carpet, and dropped it off with Paul and his team at Line-X. They completed the interior removal then prepped it the same as with my Cherokee.

The team at Line-X did a great job, paying attention to details I had over looked. They sprayed the rear tailgate and ensured the transmission cover could be removed at a later date. The floor was covered in nearly the same thickness as a bedliner. No more scratched off paint and hidden rust under the feet of this Wrangler's driver. On my way home, I immediately noticed the reduction in noise at highway speeds. Once the interior was back in and the carpet, the Wrangler was nearly civilized. Wranglers should come from the factory with this coating.

Spraying the Wrangler's interior made me start to think about the Cherokee's interior. I opened the back hatch and removed the tailgate trim enough to peek under the cargo area carpet. If you don't want to know the answer, don't look. You guessed it . . .RUST! The paint was bubbling up and everywhere the welder touched it at the factory a spot of rust was forming. It was wet under the carpet from condensation. I pulled out the trusty pocket knife and ripped the carpet out of the cargo area to the horror of neighborhood on-lookers. I began sanding and primed the rear area before the next thought hit me. "The whole interior"? "If your crazy enough . . ." Another paradigm to be broken soon. Check back in on the next edition of Cherokee America to see how this one turns out.

LineX can be reached at linex@telepath.com or by phone at (405)232-4994.