Thinking about switching liner track style on the next reline, opinions

Started by Jason Okafor · · 1 reply
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#1
Liner's still holding from when my buddy and I did it years back, but the top edge keeps popping out of the bead track in two spots along the deep end wall, I've pushed it back in a dozen times with a putty knife trick I found online. When I reline eventually I'm wondering if it's worth switching to a different track system instead of just matching what's there, or if that's just asking for a bigger headache fitting a new liner to a track it wasn't cut for. Anybody actually swapped track styles on an inground and was it worth the hassle, or should I just keep pushing the bead back in and call it good enough. For what it's worth the liner itself still looks fine otherwise, just this one annoying spot.

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#2
I've got a gunite pool so no liner, but I helped a neighbor sort out this exact thing on his vinyl when his bead kept popping at two spots on the shallow end steps, same deal as your deep end wall. Turned out the track itself was fine, the liner had just stretched a hair over the years so the bead sat proud instead of seated, and every time it got warm the water pressure would walk it back out. He tried the putty knife trick too, worked for about a month each time.

What actually fixed it for him was not swapping track styles at all, the installer just added a couple inches of new bead material welded onto the liner edge right at those two spots so it seated deep enough to stay put. If your liner is otherwise fine that's way less of a headache than changing track systems, since a new track profile means the replacement liner has to be cut for that exact bead style and you're basically committing to it working perfectly the whole way around the pool. I'd get a local guy to look at just those two spots before you plan a whole reline around it.