Soft or Hard Tonneau Cover ？

[HM_SanDiego]

There are numerous threads available via the search engine here - for you to read at your leisure - not trying to be a jerk - this question gets asked like once month - -

Bottom line - how you will use your truck bed.....?

I had a soft tonneau cover on my truck 25 years ago......if all you want to do is have a basic cover over your bed, with very basic out of the weather considerations, and without concern for sincere security and leaving stuff in the bed, the soft, roll up or fold up, can fit the bill......if this does fit your needs for now, I would not spend more than $200 on one - there are way too many inexpensive and good options available under $200.00........and, not too much above that price point, and this would be my personal recommendation for YOU, you can get into various solid folding tri fold covers, in the $400-$500 range.

I am just not a fan of the soft covers - any jack-hole with a pocket knife and it’s ruined and whatever is under it is gone if they choose, soft pleather-covers do stretch over time, and they just are not as user friendly as the solid folding covers.

My last truck had an Extang Solid Fold hard cover that I found online, delivered, for $450.00. It was a great bed cover, I felt fairly secure to leave semi valuable stuff in the bed overnight, as long as I was in a decent location, but it was “not” super weather proof, as water would find its way into the bed. The cover sat on top of the bed rails, but was completely self contained, which meant that 1 person could remove the cover and put it in the garage or in the back seat of the truck, in under 5 minutes.....

The upgrade to the solid fold type cover is the current style, flush mount solid covers, such as the Bak Flip, Newer product line from WorkSport (AL3 & AL4 model covers) and my choice, the Lomax, amongst others. Purchase price ballpark here is $800-$1200ish.

I use my current truck, and specifically the truck bed, more like a large trunk, than a truck bed. Considering this, I put on a solid fiberglass cover, from Ranch, purchased online, and color matched exactly to my truck’s color from Ranch, delivered to my door, for just over $1200.00, about 4 years ago. Install takes 2 people about 10 minutes, but my need was increased security, and ultimately best weather proofing for any cargo.

These types of solid fiberglass covers vary widely in cost from about $800 for a basic black universal type, to $2000+ for a color matched high end model.

So, my advice = YOU first have to sit down and figure out your budget - there is no sense in getting all excited about something that isn’t within your budget right now, and, with that thought, if you are on the fence now with money, it is better off to wait, in my opinion, and save $$$, and get what you want and that fits your needs, when you can afford it.

Buying a cheap/inexpensive soft cover now, when you really want/need a more secure cover in reality, is like throwing away a few hundred $$$$ - in my opinion....


There are lots of options in every category - a Few Very good Supporting Vendors (one already replied in your post here) - YOU first have to figure out what category, and/or budget, and then where your needs/wants fit in, and then narrow the field of options down to what fits in your budget with your wants/needs.

Good luck - happy shopping.

 

[deepblue27]

I have a 2021 Rebel with the Ram boxes. It came with the factory softcover. I wasn't thrilled at first, but after 5 years, it's proven to be a winner for me. It has a metal frame, which adds to rigidity and clamps tightly to the side rails. It folds into thirds, so I can expose the bed for cargo in two different positions, or the whole thing can be removed in 30 seconds. It's also watertight. I hit it with ArmorAll once in a while, and it still looks great. I guess the one drawback would be security, but that's not a concern in my environment.

 

[turkeybird56]

There are numerous threads available via the search engine here - for you to read at your leisure - not trying to be a jerk - this question gets asked like once month - -

Bottom line - how you will use your truck bed.....?

I had a soft tonneau cover on my truck 25 years ago......if all you want to do is have a basic cover over your bed, with very basic out of the weather considerations, and without concern for sincere security and leaving stuff in the bed, the soft, roll up or fold up, can fit the bill......if this does fit your needs for now, I would not spend more than $200 on one - there are way too many inexpensive and good options available under $200.00........and, not too much above that price point, and this would be my personal recommendation for YOU, you can get into various solid folding tri fold covers, in the $400-$500 range.

I am just not a fan of the soft covers - any jack-hole with a pocket knife and it’s ruined and whatever is under it is gone if they choose, soft pleather-covers do stretch over time, and they just are not as user friendly as the solid folding covers.

My last truck had an Extang Solid Fold hard cover that I found online, delivered, for $450.00. It was a great bed cover, I felt fairly secure to leave semi valuable stuff in the bed overnight, as long as I was in a decent location, but it was “not” super weather proof, as water would find its way into the bed. The cover sat on top of the bed rails, but was completely self contained, which meant that 1 person could remove the cover and put it in the garage or in the back seat of the truck, in under 5 minutes.....

The upgrade to the solid fold type cover is the current style, flush mount solid covers, such as the Bak Flip, Newer product line from WorkSport (AL3 & AL4 model covers) and my choice, the Lomax, amongst others. Purchase price ballpark here is $800-$1200ish.

I use my current truck, and specifically the truck bed, more like a large trunk, than a truck bed. Considering this, I put on a solid fiberglass cover, from Ranch, purchased online, and color matched exactly to my truck’s color from Ranch, delivered to my door, for just over $1200.00, about 4 years ago. Install takes 2 people about 10 minutes, but my need was increased security, and ultimately best weather proofing for any cargo.

These types of solid fiberglass covers vary widely in cost from about $800 for a basic black universal type, to $2000+ for a color matched high end model.

So, my advice = YOU first have to sit down and figure out your budget - there is no sense in getting all excited about something that isn’t within your budget right now, and, with that thought, if you are on the fence now with money, it is better off to wait, in my opinion, and save $$$, and get what you want and that fits your needs, when you can afford it.

Buying a cheap/inexpensive soft cover now, when you really want/need a more secure cover in reality, is like throwing away a few hundred $$$$ - in my opinion....


There are lots of options in every category - a Few Very good Supporting Vendors (one already replied in your post here) - YOU first have to figure out what category, and/or budget, and then where your needs/wants fit in, and then narrow the field of options down to what fits in your budget with your wants/needs.

Good luck - happy shopping.

OP, as all said, depends upon what you need/do with your truck. I have full fiberglass MOPAR cover matched with paint/body style, basically 100% waterproof unless U take a HOSE and spray UP under the edges. BUT unless U got like the trifold diamond covers, anything can be easily defeated. Now, my cover (2 man lift) can be off in like 5 minutes. BUT I am the unicorn. IF I gotta get anything not fit in bed, I just hook up and use my 14' stock trailer, just saying. Now, color matched from Mopar, at least $1350, last time I checked.

 

[Guitar Guy]

Back in the day I sold hundreds of covers at my truck accessories company. Here's the way I recommended.

If you are after a beautful look, get a one-piece fiberglass one painted to match. Expensive. Can't haul anything above rail height with the cover on and can't drive with the cover open. Easy to install and remove, but don't get it all scratched up in your garage or while handling or let you buddy set something on top of it.

If you need a good tight seal and a hard surface, plus want full open height for hauling, the electric rollup Pace Edwards is a good option, again very expensive. Fairly difficult install requiring electrical work.

The three piece hard or soft cover (fold-up) is less costly than the electric rollup, looks nice, but only gives you full-height access to 2/3 of the bed unless you remove it because the folded up "stack" takes up one-third. Pretty easy install and removal if you need the entire bed. If you go this route, get the hard one with removeable panels so you don't have to take the mounting frame off if you need full access, like if you haul an ATV or something.

FOR MOST DRIVERS I STRONGLY RECOMMEND A NICE ROLL-UP VINYL COVER. The cost is a whole hell of a lot less, I got my last one for $129 and better quality than the $400 ones, in fact I like the latch better. With most covers you may get a little splash or snow at the back end, but not enough to bother me. I just put my guitars up in the front of the bed and they are fine. Very easy to install. You get full-height access to the entire bed without removal. Keep it clean and use a good vinyl treatment and it looks fine.

Roll up covers are less secure that most of the hard covers which can be locked. Assuming you have a locking tailgate, it's not a big deal, the latch is inside. Secure unless somebody cuts into it, which I have never heard of happening.

Keep in mind no bed cover is a tupperware bowl unless you put a tailgate seal kit on. If you have precious cargo, definitely put a tailgate sealer on. The best one I ever sold had an aluminum edge with a big soft bulb seal that could be screwed in. Great for keeping dust out from gravel roads. But the guy that made them is dead. You can still get stick-on ones with a big bulb, try that, but in dusty conditions, it WILL come off. If you drive on pavement, it's just not a big deal.

I also strongly recommend the BedRug for most tonneau cover users. The "floor only" model is great if you need to remove it frequently. If you do a lot of messy work, you will get tired of taking it the full coverage BedRug in and out or cleaning it.

I hate to reveal brands on this forum but this one is the cheapest ($159 free ship) and best cover I have ever installed, out of maybe 500 covers, probably 20 brands and every style.

 

[Moonpie 42H]

I installed Lomax tri-fold from Agri-Cover Industries, hard cover on 2022 Ram 2500 3 years ago, it still looks new. Never had any water intrusion, even in car-wash. Initial installation takes about an hour. After that removal and/or install takes 2 minutes.

 

[jimonqa]

The soft tonneau (Truxedo) works great for me. The newest one I have does let some water in at the corners, but the rest of the bed is dry. It's easy to rollup when I need the full bed for yard waste disposal. It keeps the wind off my loads when traveling. It's relatively inexpensive. I've never had someone try getting into my bed, but if they did there's usually nothing in it.

I also have a bed mat that's padded but chemical resistant and non-slip surface. I prefer it over the spray on liners.

 

[Tony Stark]

I have my third BAKFLIP and have been very happy with them. I had one problem with a hinge and sent them a picture of the problem and receipt. They asked for a picture of the cover with holes drilled in it. I sent the pic and received a new cover 3 days later. Great customer service. I had a Roll-N-Lock which was good also, but the box drains kept getting stopped up.

 

[Hockeygod]

Hard cover all the way! Good luck

 

[Jas34]

I had a fabric tonneau cover on a previous truck that shrank and became pretty useless. It was not like the rollups you can get now though. I had a fiberglass cap on another truck which was nice but awkward and heavy to get off if you needed to. My current truck had a trifold when I bought it. Really nice but not particularly weatherproof arount the edges and not very secure. I ended up replacing it whith a Wildtop Soft top. Love the thing, and I can carry our kayak on the rails. Not secure at all, but I don't really care.

 

[Magfan2]

Never had one on my old truck, soft cover came with the new truck, attractive. At this point in time and age I don't want to fool with the cover. IMHO, sleek, which I enjoy as a "car" but less usefull as a truck.

 

[Panduh]

I have a one piece fiberglass cover. Waterproof, secure and sturdy. Comes off fairly easily but it's heavy - one person can do it by lying in the bed and bench pressing it up after releasing the hydraulic struts and loosening a couple of knobs. Got it used for $400, looks very nice too. But if you frequently need it off, I'd go for an easier design.

 

[Rayzr]

Retractable hard cover suits my needs. The brand i boight also has the track slides on top to mount a frame that has a dynamic load of 150kg. This is great for when i mount my roof top tent and maybe some maxtrax to the sides. Never had any water get inside yet that troubled me

 

[turkeybird56]

I have a one piece fiberglass cover. Waterproof, secure and sturdy. Comes off fairly easily but it's heavy - one person can do it by lying in the bed and bench pressing it up after releasing the hydraulic struts and loosening a couple of knobs. Got it used for $400, looks very nice too. But if you frequently need it off, I'd go for an easier design.

see my post #23.

 

[WaltKowalski74]

Purchased a Lomax Tri-fold and have not regretted spending a little more $$$. As most others mentioned, lockability is good and would take effort to open plus weather proofing is excellent. Good Luck!!