Tonneau Cover

If you are truck owner, then you have undoubtedly used your pick up to carry or move things about a thousand times. Or maybe you have been on the freeway and watched something fly out of the back of someone else’s pickup bed because they had no way to secure it. You and probably that other guy would benefit from a tonneau cover for their truck bed. And there are several kinds to look at.

Cloth or Vinyl

This kind of tonneau cover is the most common type of cover and the least expensive. As stated, it is made from wither cloth or vinyl and uses a rib0like system to support the fabric and stretch it taut over the truck bed. A snap-based system can be used to secure the cloth–type tonneau cover, but most truck owners shy away from using that system since it requires the snaps to be drilled or permanently adhered into the body of the truck. These drillings or weldings might reduce the value of the truck in a retail situation.

Roll-Up

The most common type of tonneau cover is called a roll-up and is comprised of a unit mounted at the front of the bed just behind the cab. This unit is usually a small rectangular box attached at each side of the bed and inside the box is a retractable fabric cloth cover or plastic cover that can be rolled out and snapped at the other end of the bed. This roll-out type of tonneau cover has one great benefit over the others as they are far more convenient to use because they are self contained, and as they are already attached to the truck bed, they don’t involve any time-consuming assembly like some of the other models.

Fiberglass

The fiberglass or hard tonneau cover is generally accepted to be the most popular of all the tonneau cover choices because the appearance is the most appealing. While most of the other styles are either neutral or basic black, the fiberglass covers can be painted in any color to match the truck, they are considered to be solid in construction, and best of all, they can be locked, which makes them the most secure of all three of the available options. These tonneau covers are very heavy and require gas struts to open and close. They actually open much like the vehicles hood does, however there are some customizeable options available that will open front to back, back to front and side to side. Fiberglass or hard tonneau covers now are so popular they are offered as factory options with some of the newer highline pickup trucks such as the Chevy Avalanche, Ford Sport Trak and Honda Ridgeline, just to name a few.

If you are looking for a way to extend the usefulness of your truck, then using a tonneau cover may be the answer. Having one on the back of your pickup effectively makes just one more place for you to securely store more of your work tools, a few more moving boxes, or a ton more space all that camping gear. Not having one for your truck just doesn’t make sense.