in ground vinyl liner question

[dweer]

Have a 16x32 in-ground pool with Vinyl liner...that is shot. It's 12 years old, so can't complain.
So, we need the liner replaced. I have been trying to look for info on differences in gauge and brand. One pool place uses GLI and has the 28milwal/20mil bottom liners. Another has Garrett 20 mil liners and says that the GLI are made in china and the 28 mil are prone to cracks/breaks as they are too stiff. The first guy is who put in the last liner, the second is an established place, but I've not dealt with before.
So, any opinions?

[Watermom]

I recently replaced my pool and thus liner and I got a 28mil from GLI. I have never heard that bit about them cracking because they are too stiff.

[dweer]

yeah...I'm thinking that maybe he was just talking BS to get the job...

[Sean OBrien]

While a pool newbie, I am an old hand when it comes to plastics.

I would be very surprised to see/hear of a plastic liner cracking because it is 28 mil in thickness. More likely, if the word of mouth were to be believed a bad batch of them made it out of the factory which had the wrong amount of plasticizer mixed in with the plastic (or didn't have an adequate UV inhibitor). Both would cause them to crack when under stress. One likely during the actual installation or shortly after filling while the lack of a UV inhibitor would cause it to break down more rapidly once it is exposed to sunlight.

That said - when it comes to strength...all other things being equal, thicker is better. You should get a longer life out of the 28 mil liner than the 20 mil liner. If the first guy installed a liner 12 years ago - I would consider him to be fairly well established now.

[dweer]

my thoughts as well. Thanks for the input on the plastics. My wife liked the talker guy, but I'm beginning to think he may....stretch the truth a bit.