Video Transcript for Installing the DeeZee Universal Truck Tailgate Mat on a 2015 Chevrolet Silverado 1500

Kevin here with etrailer, and today, we're gonna be taking a look at and showing you how to install Dee Zee's universal truck tailgate mat here on our 2015 Chevy Silverado. If you're like me and you like to haul a variety of different things, I mean, as you can see in my bed right now, I've got a bunch of supplies, I've got my chainsaw, and I've got a bunch of firewood that I've had rolling around in the bed of my truck. Or if you're hauling heavy rock, something like that where you're worried about the protection of your bed itself. I personally don't have a spraying liner, so I've been tearing all of the paint off every time I load stuff into my truck, and I constantly have stuff sliding around up until I got my bed mat, and then also now my tailgate mat, so that I can help protect the tailgate, and not have that get all dented up and scratched up to where it's now gonna start to rust. So there are a lot of other options on the market. You can have a custom fit option.

There are other universal fit options. There's typically gonna be some kind of carpet, a rubber mat, and then also, you'll have like a thermoplastic one. WeatherTech's pretty good about making a custom kit for each vehicle, and honestly, I would've probably chosen that, but I want something really heavy duty, and this thick rubber mat is gonna be that for me, because I like to throw a lot of rock into the bed of my truck. I throw a lot of firewood. I have a lot of stuff rolling around in here.

That's also why I have a little stopper bar here, because typically, I have a lot of stuff rolling around and then smacking my tailgate. If you looked under here, you'd see this is all covered in scratches. There's big kind of gouges all throughout it, just from all the years of use that I've put this truck through. So having something nice and extra thick like this Dee Zee mat really makes a huge difference. And since I've already bought the bed mat itself to match with that same X pattern, that's kind of what I wanted to stick with.

So since this is a universal fit, it is 60 inches wide by 19 and a half inches tall, and you'll definitely need to trim it down. I will say it is a little hard to cut through it with just a razor blade, so you're gonna want a really sharp one. I actually stuck a piece of wood under it so that I could really get in there without having to constantly take the cover on and off. So what I did was I shot screws into the top here, and then at the bottom, I set my chunk of wood under it, so that I could slowly carve out as much as I needed to fit that curvature right there. As far as the fit, since it is universal, it's not gonna fully sit down just perfect, but over time, as this starts to kind of wear in and out from the weather, it should sit a little bit flatter, and will be nice and tight up against the tailgate, providing that protection.

As far as tools go, the only thing I used was a Phillips head for a drill to shoot in our screws, a piece of wood, so that when I was cutting, I had something to cut on. That way I'm not scratching up the tailgate more. And then before I shot my screws in, I used a 3/32 drill bit so I could drill in to the metal without going too large that the screws have something that you can still bite into, 'cause they do not give you self-tapping screws. They just give you standard ones to bite into the metal with. To start off our install, I have my mat uncoiled, and I've got some weights on to hold it down, and get it to straighten back out. When you get yours, it is gonna be coiled up, so it is gonna wanna stay that way, just 'cause it's probably been that way for a while, while it's going through the whole warehouse to your front door. But while you're waiting on that, you can kind of clean up your tailgate a little bit. I'm just using some soapy water and I wiped it down. Give us a nice clean surface to stick our mat to. Next we're gonna check for fitment. So what I want to see is that this is lining right up with the tailgate, and not overlapping too far. And then I also need to have this right up along the cap for our tailgate, because if we go too far down, what's gonna happen is when we go to lift our tailgate up, it's gonna press in to this area here between the bed and the tailgate, and then it's not gonna wanna fit, 'cause it's just too thick. So on both sides, you'll wanna maybe do a little bit of trimming. I've already done trimming over on this side, just 'cause when I set it up here, it was clearly overhanging way too much. So I took off about an eighth of an inch just using a razor blade, and even down here, 'cause my tailgate kind of tapers in right at the bottom. I might even need to just trim just a tiny bit more off. But that's gonna be a case-by-case basis, just 'cause this is a universal tailgate mat. So what I'm gonna do next is put a couple of the screws in up top. That way we can close the tailgate. Just double check everything, make sure everything's fitting correct. They give you screws to mount this, but these are not gonna be self-tappers. So I'm using a 3/32 drill bit. (tool whirs) And then once we get through the metal, we can take one of our screws, (tool whirs) help hold it down, and keep working our way across. (tool whirs) Now I got a few of the top ones in, and I have those to hold it in place. I'm gonna pull my weights back off. I'm gonna close up our tailgate, and see if we need to trim anymore. Yeah, we're still catching just a bit, and it is those corners. So if we look at it right here, you can see how much is sticking out over this little part right here. If you are having to taper yours down just a little bit, 'cause I did have to on both sides, while it's still only attached from the top, I was sticking a block of wood in here, and then cutting exactly what I needed to. So that way I'm not accidentally cutting into the bed or the tailgate, and everything's nice and sturdy. I got a nice flat surface to work with. So now that we have that, I'm able to close the tailgate, we can open it back up, and we can put the rest of our screws in. (tool whirs) All good to go. You can close the tailgate, pop it back open, no problem. That does it for today's look at and installation of the Dee Zee universal truck tailgate mat here on our 2015 Chevy Silverado. My name's Kevin, and if you're still looking for the right tailgate mat, or maybe even a bed mat for your truck, please feel free to reach out to us via Ask the Experts link, a comment on this video, or phone call to our customer service department, and we'd be happy to help you out on your journey.