truck bed covers all input and opinions welcome

You have just learned something new about Americans. We are as passionate about our pick up trucks as we are about houn dawgs, guns, beer and wimmins.
I wouldn't have a cover. First time you want to put something in the bed and have to set down, open cover, pick up again, close cover, etc. you will find you made a misteak.
Not much different with caps. More hassle than helpful. If you really need to hide or weather protect stuff, get a tall cap with walk-in rear doors.
I have a liner and like it except it is slippery. Next one will be of a non-slip material.

I have two trucks. The Ranger, has no cover on it (it has a toolbox I was given), although I have kept my eye out for a camper shell, cheap. (the ones I have found were for a short bed) It has a lower bed and longer then the big truck, so it is easier to get wood/plywood, in and out of, but won't haul as much weight as the big truck.
The GMC extended cab has a stepside bed and was a free to me, vehicle. I put a soft tonneau cover on it, because all those I know with hard ones, have issues with tall items, and try to borrow others trucks who don't have them on. (people who don't use trucks as a truck but as a station wagon)
With the soft tonneau cover, I can roll it up to the cab for tall items, or for full bed loads of dirt/etc. (tend to pull off the tailgate when unloading dirt), or I can cover up the bed for items I need dry items to stay that way (will stay dry if the sides are velcro'd down). This has helped with groceries as well as restaurant supplies. I prefer an extended cab as I like to have the tools locked in the cab. But I do, for short periods (taking something somewhere) put large or dirty tools in the bed.
The newer F150's have $10K tailgates with backup camera's in them, so they have locks to keep them locked and on the truck (had tailgate thefts here the last couple of years). Those and a hard, locking tonneau cover, will be more secure then the interior, where stuff can be seen through the windows, but the cab tends to have an alarm.
I like the spray on bed stuff (Linex is the one I have seen more used), but decided only to use a good heavy duty mat on my older trucks. (cost verses benefit, not there for me)
I prefer the rollup tonneau's, verses the three part, due to the ability to open and close more. I have also heard some issues with earlier hard rolling tonneau's, where they would get twisted in the track.
Also I have seen some build it yourself tonneau's, on sites like instructables.

if you want to transport anything out of the elements, get a cap. I had a cover at first, and although not a hassle or anything, it didn't keep the bed completely dry, and it lacked enough height.
Yeah, the cap kills gas mileage a bit, but you are going to be dragging a house, so you already took care of the miles per gallon on this.

Thanks all for the feedback and opinions. Got to see the new truck on Thursday evening when we handed over our dodge caravan. Glad to see that pile of junk go. We get to pick up the truck on Monday evening.

Discovered we need to order some running boards for stepping up into the truck. At this point in time the rear has had the linex coating done and no cover or cap. We shall see how it goes before i take that step.

I was just wondering about how these fold up covers deal with winter snow and ice build up. Dawned on me that they could end up being frozen shut given our weather.

Since we parking vehicles outside at present i dont wish to have a truck bed full of snow and ice in winter. While i hear the advice re a cap versus low profile cover, i dont want a cap at this stage. My concern is how the folding covers will deal with ice in their rubber hinges. Can see it being a pita when it comes to opening it in winter. At this stage i am thinking of being real cheap and getting a soft full bed cover as a compromise. Watched a bunch of ytube videos and saw comparisons between the bakflip and what is called fold a cover by stiffens. They have a lock on their folding cover both back and front panel.

I think i will follow Sharons point and just drive the truck for now given its nearly summer and see how we make out with it.

Thanks for all the input much appreciated. Who would have thought getting a truck can be made complicated.

Truck bed full of snow and ice in winter gives you weight for traction when you need it and melts when you don't. And it's free!

Wayne Eikenberry said:

Truck bed full of snow and ice in winter gives you weight for traction when you need it and melts when you don't. And it's free!

Click to expand...

If you run through winter with an open bed keep your bed real clean so nothing can hold wetness or dampness against your bed to get rust started, it's no fun to deal with once started.

I have open & flat bed trailers so I don't worry to much about if the truck has a cap on it or not. Both my large 3/4 ton truck & my S10 have caps plus that I have a Safari van. The truck or the van are both set up too tow a trailer & the flatbed will haul a little over 2 1/2 ton & measures 8'x12' with stake pockets & weighs in at around 24-2500 pounds empty. I also have a trailer for the old antique bobcat that is un-sprung to keep it low to the ground for loading the BC & works fine for short around the area trips it also has stake pockets both trailers have sides with end gates that can be installed & removed.

So are you getting the new all aluminum body? My old neighbor's son-in-law helped design it, got a friend that spent several weeks in Detroit setting up the new plant there and then came back to help setup the KC Claycomo plant for building them, quite a change for the way they normally build them, but sounds like quite the truck. If it's the previous body, his son-in-law helped design that one too. They went to the hydroformed body with it, also punched a bunch of holes in the frame to lighten it in addition to the hydroforming, said it went from about 17 MPG to about 25 MPG, so the new one should save some gas as well. He said about every 100 lbs off the weight gained about 1 MPG, so no cap saved you 2 -3 MPG.

Yup Darren our truck is new aluminum body, we shall see how this new design stacks up. For this reason i leased for first time in my life. If it shows negative signs then end of 2 years its going back to them and start again with something else.
But if i was betting i would say i will be fine.
From a business perspective, they never took gov handout in 2008, i respect that and in my opinion it shows in that they took huge steps in 2009 to redesign not only the truck but the factories its being produced in.
They improved their competitive advantage so much so that GM has announced last week that they will be spending over 5 billion $$ to upgrade their factories that speaks volumes to me in terms of what Ford has forced in the industry.
It speaks volumes to me when a truck manufacturer can get to claim the status of "car of the year" in terms of vehicle sales. They did this last year in Canada with record sales of their trucks. So as much as i think its weird they have persuaded people who will never use the vehicle as a truck to buy it as an executive car. They must be doing something right.
Where i think things still fall apart is at the level of the dealer. This element of the chain needs a fundamental overhaul in my view of how they go about "order taking" because they do a poor job of selling at least that's from my experience.
Savvy consumers do a great deal more research today given the web. It sucks when u know more about the vehicle you wanting to purchase than the sales guy.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Rob Keeble said:

Where i think things still fall apart is at the level of the dealer. This element of the chain needs a fundamental overhaul in my view of how they go about "order taking" because they do a poor job of selling at least that's from my experience.
Savvy consumers do a great deal more research today given the web. It sucks when u know more about the vehicle you wanting to purchase than the sales guy.

Click to expand...

You have to admire ford from the fact they already had the best selling truck and gambled on a complete overhaul.

I'm lucky in the fact I don't really have to deal with the dealer much. I've had the Ford X-Plan discount whenever I've needed it, which is a fixed price, which I can get from my friend that works at the plant. Just stop at the credit union, already know the purchase price, so takes a lot of the hassle out of the buying process. The dealer of course stills want to sell you the extended warranties and pre-pay oil changes.

My friend says that will be a good truck. I do wonder a little about the electrical system on them and would think that they probably have to run ground wires to everything, but as much plastic as the cars have now days they probably have to anyway.

EDIT: If you're not with a company that has and can get XPlan pricing with ford, the Mustang Club of America membership ($50 for US members) has a XPlan benefit. You have to be a member for about 60 days and then you can generate a pin for getting the XPlan pricing. See http://www.mustang.org/content.php/149-Benefits-of-MCA-Membership and http://www.blueovalforums.com/forums/index.php?/topic/51278-x-plan-pins-for-everyone-sticky-this/

Where i think things still fall apart is at the level of the dealer.

Click to expand...

In the U.S. a car dealer is considered a lower form of life in society than a street walker. At least a prostitute is honest about what she is doing and selling you. Car dealers want to do the same things to you but do not admit it. Online shopping and online pre-pricing can help the careful shopper protect himself.

I am always glad to see people buying new vehicles it means that somewhere out there there is a good used vehicle for me.