This type of cover is one of the most popular for its ease of use, weight, and large selection in the marketplace. F-150 owners often start modifying their truck with a bed cover right away, sometimes before leing the dealership lot. The hassle-free install that is typical of roll up tonneau covers makes it a great choice for those pickup truck owners planning to access their load from their bed on a regular basis. One trade-off that is made is that two people are often needed to quickly remove, and open, this style of cover, and the soft material will never be as durable as the hard surfaced alternatives. Some key features common among the roll up tonneau cover style are:
Full U.V. shielding of truck bed from elements Retractable design One handed operation Easy installation
Many truck owners are motivated by the ease of install with this type of bed cover. Most roll up style covers are very easy to setup, without the need to drill or cut and simple hand tools can be used to be rolling with a new cover in under one hour.
Retractable Tonneau Cover for F-150F-150 owners looking to upgrade to a higher-end bed cover will be attracted to this style of product. Many of the aftermarket retractable tonneau covers will offer some premium features not found on soft rolling covers. The streamlined profile and design are the leading benefits, along with the sliding characteristic. It is the retractable feature that will appeal to someone that accesses their bed often. One-person can easily slide open this style of tonneau. Auto-grade weatherstripping is a feature that helps to make these covers highly protective for truck beds. Some of the products even boast they can withstand the weight of a person standing on them due to their rigid, hey-duty polycarbonate shell construction. Most of these covers he an accordion style surface that allows them to conveniently be fed into their housing, making for a very neat and easy stowing position when open. The housing, or cannister, is often angled in such a way to allow for maximum bed access while maintaining as much cargo capacity as possible.
Hard Tri Fold Tonneau Cover for F-150The hard folding tonneau cover combines some of the best features of the two above. While it has the solid shell found in the retractable tonneau covers, it doesn’t use up any additional space inside the bed when open and stowed away. F-150 modifiers are attracted to the quick, and easy, one-person opening afforded by the hard material construction. The tri-fold design is unique among pickup truck bed covers because it also allows for partial opening and access to the contents of the bed, or full 100% open access.
How Do I Choose a Tonneau Cover for My F150?The first thing you need to know before choosing any tonneau cover for your F150 is what style and length of bed does your truck he. There are two truck bed styles, styleside and flareside.
Styleside F150s he the rear fender wells inside of the bed. It is the most common style of F150 and has a much flatter box appearance when looking at it from the outside. Flareside pickups he the fender wells on the outside of the bed, which produces a more pronounced flared look to the box of the truck.There are three bed sizes ailable between 1997-2017. There is a 5'6" short box, a 6'6" regular box and an 8' long box.
With those two details known, you can then pick your tonneau cover. Things to consider are of course price, soft covers being less expensive than hard covers, durability and security, with hard tonneau covers taking the cake on those last two items. For the majority of F150 owners, a roll-up soft cover is likely to do the trick. It will provide good weather protection and adequate security, and some cost as little as $300.
Another area to consider is if you he a toolbox, bed liner or aftermarket tailgates which could interfere with a cover. As a general rule of thumb, most covers are designed to work with truck bed/tailgate accessories in mind. WIth that being said it is always a good idea to measure any potential items that you plan on keeping in your truck your bed on a long-term basis.
Finally, regarding installation, all tonneau covers of today use a clamp-on rail mounting system, eliminating any drilling or messy body work.