tonneau covers

eman1200

eman1200

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
21,718
Location
Oakland, CA
Display Name
Bro do you even lift
yes or no?

didn't get one and wish you did?

got one and think it's a PITA?

hard/lockable/soft?

tyvm
 
Had one on my '59 Sunbeam Alpine. Leaked less than the convertible top...
 
eman1200 said:
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I had a soft one called a Bak Flip, bought maybe 13 or 14 years ago. Self installed it and had it maybe 5 years or a few more before I finally had enough. I never did get the thing to align properly and it was just finicky, especially to close. Wanted a roll n lock but couldn't justify the spend. Downsides to those include taking up room in the bed when open...and at least with the original ones a couple decades ago, they would freeze up if wet in the winter...couldn't open them when wet and frozen

I like having cover over the stuff in the back and keeping them relatively dry and secure, and out of the wind....but they can be a bit of a pain. I think it fully depends on what sort of stuff you haul...if a lot of oversized things they might be too much of a pain in the neck, but little stuff I think worth the trouble mostly
 
You need something son you can carry things in the rain. And it has to be easily removed. I got some $250 thing from Amazon and it’s ok.

On a previous truck I had a $1000 hard cover. It was great except you couldn’t see into the bed when it was folded up.
 
Jim K said:
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How you do that? Is there some translator App that does It?
 
Truck or car? I put a Truxedo roll-up soft cover on my truck shortly after I bought it, in 2011. It’s still as good as new. I wouldn’t own a pickup without a soft cover on it. My father in law had a hard cover… no thanks. Can’t haul furniture or tall stuff with that on.
 
DaleB said:
Truck or car? I put a Truxedo roll-up soft cover on my truck shortly after I bought it, in 2011. It’s still as good as new. I wouldn’t own a pickup without a soft cover on it. My father in law had a hard cover… no thanks. Can’t haul furniture or tall stuff with that on.
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I didn't know u could put a tonneau cover on a car. at least a car that doesn't run on steam. but there are hard covers that fold up so u could haul tall stuff.
 
I had one for my TR-4. I could open just the part over the driver seat and drive in the rain and stay dry as long as I was moving.
 
Have an electric roll up cover on my truck. It worked well, until it stopped working... provided it didn't rain and freeze. It still rolls up, but the electric motor went tango uniform long ago. The problem is all the space it takes under the bed. It's why I buy long beds, I want/need the space. But most of the time it's not an issue.

My dad has the three piece foldable one from Ford. Don't lose as much space. But in the sun when it's warm there's big bubbles on the top. Like the plastic and foam core (or whatever is inside) has delaminated. Was like that since the day he bought it. Really makes it look like crap.

They're usually a pain in the dick, but they are nice on the rare occasion I want to keep something relatively dry and locked.
 
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eman1200 said:
I didn't know u could put a tonneau cover on a car. at least a car that doesn't run on steam. but there are hard covers that fold up so u could haul tall stuff.
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There are, but every one I looked at took up a LOT of bed space even when folded. The Truxedo takes up essentially none when rolled back. It’s also quite watertight and doesn’t weigh much, and I never have to worry about scratches. I can’t see any appeal to a hard cover, but obviously some people like them because they still sell.
 
eman1200 said:
I didn't know u could put a tonneau cover on a car. at least a car that doesn't run on steam.
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sunbeam-alpine-serie-4-convertible-vinyl-tonneau-cover.jpg

This is newer than what I had - this model had the understated tail fins...
 
I have the Ram trifold cover on my truck. I wanted something that I could remove myself when I needed to haul something large in the bed. My old Toyota had one of these fiberglass things that weighted a ton and was a pain in the ass to remove.

What I really liked was my old Chevy Avalanche cover which was three panels that fit tightly together in channels on the top of the bed.

I was really miffed the at the stealership I bought the truck (we're not going to even talk about the options bait and switch). I wanted the cover but they had none in stock. No problem. I paid for it with the truck and they'd get it in shortly. A month later I ask if the thing is in, oh yeah, we forgot to call you. Would you like us to install it? Sure. OK, $300 and you have to leave the truck for a few hours. Screw that. I drove over and the guy drags the box out like it weighs 300 lbs. I pick it up and lob it into the truck bed (not heavy at all). Now I'm ****ed. What a bunch of con artists. I'm also really upset that this is not the easy on/off I wanted.

Pull over in a grocery store parking lot and get out the instructions. Nope, trivially easy to install. Place it on the top of the bed. Tighten up two hand screws at the cab end. Unfold it. Pull down the spring clamps to do the tailgate side. Took me longer to stomp the carton into submission so I could put it back in the bed of the (now covered) truck). Resolved never to use those clowns for service.
 
@flyingron A few months ago I was quoted $750 to change the O2 sensor on my wife’s 4Runner. I was able to get the part online cheap and install was 15 min. Jack up left wheel, remove, and the sensor is staring me in the face. Took almost zero effort to break free and thread in new.
 
Had a Bakflip G3 on my truck which was in 3 sections and flipped up as needed. Worked well for me and was lockable to keep stuff somewhat secure. Could remove it fairly easily if needed. Only downside was you had no visibility or if the back window if the 3 sections were folded up.

Wife had a solid fiberglass cover on her 2000 GMC which looked nice, but was a pain if you had anything tall enough that needed to leave the cover up. Removal was not going to happen.
 
I have a trifold soft cover that bolts in the front and clamps at the rear. Love it.
 
I had a roll up cover on my pickup…Velcro on the sides quit working after 6 or 8 years, but the ends held it pretty well. Kept it rolled up after that unless I wanted to cover something. By the time the truck was old enough to drink, it had rubbed paint off the back of the cab below the window.

pretty happy with it overall, though.
 
Datsun roadsters also had them (mine was red)-last produced 1970
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When we had pickups, we never ran covers on them. Did have bed liners, and sometimes either a commercial or homemade toolbox up front behind the cab. Except for a small amount of tools, the pickups were just used for temporary transportation. Those were work trucks, though.

I do have friends that have covers on their trucks. Not work trucks, just basic transportation, and mostly I think it's for looks, with one exception. One friend used to carry large RC aircraft in the back of his truck, with a hard cover. That worked great for him. If I remember correctly it folded over to the side with structs, but not positive.
 
I have a hard heavy duty fiberglass cover. They have some negatives but overall I like it. I needed a cover that would give good security and it is strong enough to stack items on top of it and haul them that way. Besides the security it also protects very well from weather, and I carry items that require both of these features.

It can be taken off (a bit of a pain to crawl inside and pull the pins) but I also have a van that I can move larger items in. Had a friend that had a camper shell on his truck. I didn't care for the look, his truck burned more fuel, and it became a rolling storage unit (to some extent I'm guilty of that also).

No answer is perfect for everyone ...
 
I had a fiberglass shell top on my 95 Ram. It wasn't very limiting space wise, and it was reasonably weatherproof. I helped a friend move once, and she has rented a pickup with a tonneau cover (bad move, so to speak). It mostly sat there because space and the size factor limited it to clothes and small boxes.
 
I got a tonneau cover with one of the Fiat Spiders I owned; unfortunately, it was so dried out and shrunk there was no way I'd ever be able to get it snapped on.
 
Had a hard one on my Ranger Pickup. Not sure why I bought it but it did keep the snow out of the bed if nothing else.

BTW, In case you wanted to know.

It turns out that tonneau covers were used long before trucks were even invented. In fact, the word “tonneau” – French for barrel, cask or container – was used for centuries to refer to the open-air cargo hull featured on many horse-drawn carriages.

Cheers
 
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