Tonneau covers are designed to protect your truck bed from bad weather, prevent your goods from dust, and minimize the risk of cargo theft, among other uses.
When your tonneau cover is damaged, it becomes inefficient and can no longer serve any of these purposes. So, what are some of these problems that you should be wary of if you own a tonneau cover?
The most common tonneau cover problems originate from damage, wrong fitting, wearing out due to age, frequent use for prolonged periods, and using the incorrect size for your vehicle.
These problems often result in leaking, flipping and sometimes the cover may stick to the truck bed.
Now that you’ve known some of these issues, this guide will help you to diagnose and solve them.
How to fix common tonneau cover problems
Here are some of the most common problems that can occur on your tonneau cover and how you can fix them.
Water leakage
Basically, rainwater leakage occurs during the stormy or windy rains that force the droplets to squeeze between the tonneau covers and the vehicle body.
Tonneau covers are designed to be watertight. The rain that hits the covers from above or on vertical angles rarely causes leakage, unless your tonneau cover is damaged. In this case, we have a guide for fixing a leaking tonneau cover. Another cause of tonneau leakages is pressurized water that penetrates between the edges of the covers while the vehicle is being washed.
To prevent your tonneau cover from leaking, you should use a tailgate cover seal that covers both the gap along the bottom and both sides of the tailgate. The tail seal is very efficient in preventing moisture and shutting the dust out.
You should always inspect the front bulkhead or the front of the truck bed to ensure it is not at the same level as sides of the bed before installing the cover. A slanting effect helps water to drain from the covers. If these parts are on the same level, you can add extra foam to the front section of the truck bed.
In case, you have a plastic drop-in bed liner, where all of them cover the front rail of the bed, you will need to check the outer edge of front bed rail to make sure that the bed-liner portion does cover the whole width of the front bed rail without leaving a void for water to sneak in.
Noisy tonneau covers
A correctly fitted and installed cover lies snugly across the truck and shouldn’t make any noise. However, if your cover isn’t fitted well, then you will hear some noises.Tonneau cover noises are mostly caused by a loose installation or damages to the cover that allow air to enter inside the truck bed through holes or cracks.
If you notice any noise from the tonneau cover, check on the fit to see whether you can tighten it more by following the instructions provided by the manufacturer. Installing a large size tonneau cover to a small truck can also cause these noises. If you suspect this to be the case, you need to double check whether the cover is the right size for your particular truck bed.
If the size is not the cause of the problem, you may need to check the seals for the presence of cracks. You should also monitor whether the seal is broken and if air is getting in under the cover making it to flap while in motion.
With these tips, you should solve the noisy cover issue to prevent your tonneau cover from further damage.
Cover doesn’t fit right
Each cover is designed to fit a specific type of tonneau. So, you should make sure that you have purchased the right size and design cover for your particular truck; by either checking the specific models offered for the cover, or you can measure the truck bed in preparation for buying a new cover.
If the size is right, you should check whether the cover is installed correctly. If the installation is correctly done, then check the seal and the hardware.
You should also ascertain that nothing came loose or even damaged when purchasing. A defect could be making the cover to pull away in certain truck bed regions.
Defective or missing seal
If a seal is damaged or missing, you must replace or repair the tonneau cover as soon as possible to prevent further damage or the cover wearing out faster than it should.
If a tonneau cover seal is damaged or has fallen off, the cover can flip hence allowing air, dust, and water to penetrate and damage the hard retractable cover further and faster
The cover won’t open or becomes stuck
A good tonneau cover should smoothly glide while opening and closing it. However, it might start to get stuck or become harder to operate over time.
When your tonneau cover won’t open or becomes stuck, there could be some rust in the opening mechanism. Apply some lubrication to these areas and check to see if there is some damage or general depreciation due to age and frequent use. Consider checking out our post about opening different tonneau covers.
Problems measuring a tonneau cover for your truck?
It’s crucial to understand the dimensions of your truck’s bed length before ordering a tonneau cover. You should know that not every truck’s measurements are the same as indicated in the vehicle manual.
To begin, have a measuring device that extends beyond 10 feet and a paper to write or your phone’s notes app to record the measurements. Also, you should be aware that not all automotive manufacturers make beds of the same length.
However, there are three specific nomenclatures that are pursued in truck bed measurements; short, standard and long bed.
- Short Bed: 5’5”, 5’6”, 5’7” and 5’8”
- Standard Bed: 6’4”, 6’5”, 6’6” and 6’7”
- Long Bed: 8’
The trick in measuring the truck bed is to measure the length in inches at least twice to get it correctly.
- You should place the end of the measuring tape at the bulkhead or space where the truck bed attaches to the back of the cab.
- Measure the closest point to the side of the bed and record down the figure
- Extend the measuring tape to the inside edge of the tailgate and take measurements too
After you have the measurements, take the number of inches measured and divide them by 12 to determine your pickup’s bed length.
Conclusion
Tonneau covers are very important for they protect the truck bed and its contents from water, sunlight, corrosion, paint damage, dust, and heat.
While it is not uncommon to come across several tonneau cover problems, these tips can help you to fix these issues immediately you spot them.