You've got your truck, and now you've made the sensible decision to buy a tonneau cover for it. But when confronted with the vast array of different covers out there, how do you choose the right tonneau cover for you and your truck? Here's a quick guide to help you make the right choice.
Stop and think for a minute
Like buying just about anything, it's easy to get seduced by the shiniest, flashiest, most expensive and most enticing tonneau cover you come across. While buying that one might put a smile on your face to begin with, the smile could turn into a frown pretty quickly if the one you've chosen doesn’t actually do what you want it to do. This is why it pays to stop for a moment, think about what you want your new cover to do and what kind of environment it's going to be operating in. And of course, the most important thing is it has to actually fit the truck you’re buying it for. You may have a Chevy, a Ford, a Ram or another brand, but there are different bed lengths too, so make sure the cover you’re considering is actually made to fit the truck and bed you have.
Soft or hard?
Soft covers offer basic protection and they're also the most affordable type available. If all you need is to cover a truck bed from the elements they're a good way to go, and they can also hide what's in the back of a truck away from casual prying eyes. They don't add much weight to the vehicle either, but they don’t offer a great deal of protection from accidental damage or vandalism and some are not as secure as you might like. When it comes to defeating thieves and getting the utmost protection for what's being transported back there, a hard cover is the way to go. But as with soft covers, there are plenty of different types to consider once you've decided to go hard or soft.
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Opening styles
Even though you've decided to go with a tonneau cover, the whole point of having a pickup truck is easy access to what's in the bed, and there are a number of different opening styles to consider. Soft covers can be folding, roll up, hinged, or a combination of hinged and roll up. Hard covers can be folding, roll up, hinged or retractable. What type to go for depends on what's going to be carried and how it needs to be accessed. And of course, the way the different versions look and personal choice also play a big part too.
Materials
Covers come in a number of different materials, so think carefully about which suits your needs the best and well as which you like the look of. The most basic soft covers are canvas, but covers also come in vinyl, aluminum, ABS polymer and fiberglass. Hard materials have the obvious benefits of durability and security, but a canvas or vinyl cover can be flexible if you need to cover something that's sits up a little from the height of the box on occasions.
Compatibility
Pay close attention to how a cover interacts with any other truck bed accessories you have or may want to add at some point. For example, some covers sit over stake hole pockets that are used for installing truck anchor points. If you’re going to be tying down cargo with anchor points it's no use getting a cover that won’t allow them to be used.
Maintenance and installation
Some buyers might want to remove a tonneau cover from time to time to accommodate larger items, so being able to remove and replace the cover quickly and easily could be a major consideration. If you intend the cover to be a permanent fixture a complicated mechanism might not be an issue, but pay close attention otherwise.
Although the majority of tonneau covers require little or no maintenance whatsoever, retractable versions do need looking after to keep the mechanism working as it was intended. A retractable cover might need the rails lubricating, but even a vinyl cover may need some form of protective treatment from time to time to stave off the effects of UV and other elements.
A tonneau cover is a fabulous addition to any pickup truck, but it will pay dividends in the long run if careful consideration is paid to the points above before buying.
How to Choose the Right Tonneau Cover for Your Truck?