I have a hard folding cover. I am constantly in and out of my truck for work and it is perfect for me. It has 4 sections and folds inwards from either end. It will also fold all the way towards the cab and stack, or come all of the way off. It has a nice low profile look, and it locks at both ends.
When I was looking at covers, I was hesitant to go w/ a soft cover for security and wear reasons. My cover was $800 installed. A little pricey I guess but I've had it for 14 months and I love it. I just wish I would of seen a more significant increase in gas milage. It went from 13.5 to 14.5 on average. That's not the reason that I bought it though so I guess I should be happy w/ any improvement.
I've seen those hard folding covers. What type of you have, that is what's it made out of?
I read an article recently about gas mileage with modern trucks and open beds. The cab of the truck really is designed to make air flow around the open bed of the truck pretty well. The bed will actually become pressurized a little bit and it's not really creating an air-dam on the rear-tailgate. In fact, in most new trucks you will get lower gas mileage if you drop the tailgate.
I have a hard cover, it came with the truck. It will be a pain if I need to haul anything that won't fit under it. It clamps on, so there are no screw holes or anything, but it won't be an easy task removing and installing it all the time. But dang, it looks GOOD. There are pics of my truck in the gallery in the UndaCuva folder.
I am on my 3rd cover :roll:
1) Had a folding soft cover, which was pretty good until some idiot decided to cut it open and steal my tools. Very easy to use and remove, not very good for security.
2) ARE Fiberglass cover painted to match. Excellent cover but a PITA to remove when needing to load large items into the bed. Good for the user who is not going to need to remove their cover often. (It is for sale :wink: )
3) Just bought a Fold-A-Cover which I will install as soon as the ARE is sold.
I have an Extang Soft cover which includes the lift functionality of the Hard Tonneau and the roll back of the soft. I can also lift the whole cover off in about 2 minutes. The lift aspect is great. The cover frame hinges at the front of the bed and is supported by 2 Gas shocks. Lifts just like the one in the picture above. It looks like your typical snap soft top and can be rolled from gate to cab by unsnapping or I can just lift it off from the hinge point. I have had several guys see mine after getting their Hard top and wish that they had seen mine earlier. Not the right option if you are looking for security but to keep the items in the bed dry and have multi-function uses, it's great. Onoly cost me $300 and I installed it my self. Point of note... do not attempt to assemple and install this in the winter. I found this out the hard way.
I have an Undercover hard tonneau and IMO they are the best thing since sliced bread. They are very light( mine weighs just 58lbs for an 05 Extended Cab standard bed ), extremely strong( you can stand on them ), are very affordable( I paid $570 ), lock for security, and are extremely easy on and off( two split rings at the front come off then just unsnap the struts and it lifts right off - 45 seconds with 2 people - 2 minutes alone ). They even come with a nice little LED utility light now. Amazing how bright those 3 little LED's are when it is dark out.
Only a couple drawbacks of sorts. The 1st is you obviously can't just pop it off at Home Depot if you buy something really big. You do need to remove it at home 1st( you can not drive with these covers up - they must be down and locked due to the easy off method they use - just not safe ). The other is they are not ideal for painting if you want a color matched HT for your truck. They can be painted but there is a lot of prep involved plus the surface is textured. That means metallic paint will look splotchy. The flake will pool in the little pockets of the texture. Solid colors are okay. Pretty $$$ to prep and paint an Undercover though. They come as a semi gloss black and the finish really is tough and lasts. Looks great on most colors as is.
I will never use another tonneau on my trucks. Of course I need the security of the locking feature so the soft covers are out. Of all the hard covers out there, short of the extremely expesnive roll to open ones, the Undercover is the most user friendly.
I love those wheels, love the color, love the duals. That is a sweet looking ride.
To answer the original question...I have a Pace-Edwards roll-top cover and like it. All the functionality of a soft cover and durability of a hard cover. Have had as much as a foot-and-a-half of snow land on it and not even a sag.
It is 5 yrs old now though and starting to show it's age (fading and the rails could use a coat of paint). Also don't forget to keep the lube to the rails.
I have the BAK Backflip cover. It's a hard cover that folds in 4 sections. I like it because of the security it offers. If I had to, I can haul tall objects while one or more sections are folded.
Some cons-
1. It is opened from inside the bed. So I have to drop the tailgate each time I have to open the cover. Just a minor incovenience for me.
2. It leaks. There are drain tubes at the side closest to the cab. But not all the collected water goes to the drain tubes. It also drains towards the tailgate, where there are no draintubes. So the bed does get wet during constant rainfall. I can easily fix it so there will be no leaks. But the company should have designed it so it will be leak proof.
I measured the width of the bed at the rails of my 2007 new body style Silverado and it is about 62 at the back and 63 3/4 at the cab. I have been thinking about the Bakflip cover but am wondering how it will fit since the bed isn't square. Any thoughts? Thanks
I am actually surprised no one has mentioned Retrax! I have one on my *please don't kill me* 2004 Ranger and my father has one on his '06 F-150 and they are GREAT! It is a sliding hard top cover. You have the durability of a hard top cover (I can stand on mine), with the accessibility of a soft top. It locks and it is 100% waterproof. It can lock at ANY place on the bed, but where the 3 clamp downs are (~2" a piece) and it looks great.
The only con is that it is pricey. ~$1000 but oh man is it worth it. I have had so many compliments about it and tons of people ask where to get them. I ordered mine straight from Retrax and installed myslef, which took only about an hour and since it is clamped down it takes very little work and is almost impossible to screw up.
I just signed a buyers agreement for an 07 Silverado LTZ today and hope to have it NLT Wednesday and that will be the second thing I put on it after the bed-liner. I have a Rhino liner in my current truck truck but haven't decided if I want to go Line-X or not for my new one.
Good luck with finding a tonneau cover you are happy with, but if you can stand to spend the $$$ I HIGHLY reccomend it. I would post a link but I just signed up to the forums and haven't read the rules yet and don't want to violate on my first post! Just google it.
I think I am the only one on this site that has this, but here goes nothing! I have a DiamondBack cover, it is a solid diamondplate 3-piece cover. The front and rear hatch open and are fully lockable, it has a 1,000lb. loading capacity on the top of it. I have had a four wheeler on mine, it enables you to keep all of your stuff in the bed. It has 2" channel running the full width of the cover every 6", each section weighs 75lbs. so it is not easy to take off. I have mounted a roll bar on the front hatch which definately turns a lot of heads, anyways I have had two of these covers and I love them. I feel anything else is just a waste of money but that's just my opinion, for a 5' 8" bed it will set you back $2,000 with all the available options. http://www.gmtruckclub.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1708&stc=1&d=1231997733
the soft is the way to go if u r goin to any wrk with your truck. easy to roll up. but still keeps the snow and stuff from gettin in the bed when rolled out. hard tops get in the way. u should just buy a sububran if you dont want the bed. so soft is def. the way to go. i would go with a lund soft top. looks really nice. and buy a new one so it dosnt sag.
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