Bakflip MX4 Prelim Review

No I'm located north in BC in the NW region that gets large rainfall. I would however suggest you follow what we did last week to get an excellent seal of the BAKFlip MX4 installation. If you finish up doing it three times like we did you will become frustrated. Make sure you get two rolls of the 1/8 inch seals from BAK Industries. You should get one for sure in the original box. You might contact them now and have them ship to you the second roll. On the other hand you could leave on the Toyota factory install seal but you will need to place silicone seal over this prior to reinstalling after you place the end caps on. Be sure to seal up both corners of the cover where the bed rails join the bulkhead rail and have a second person assist you with an exterior light.

A note of caution. The Toyota T30 bolts we found have soft heads. I would recommend using hand tools over power tools to avoid stripping them.

Yes, it poured here last evening with steady rain coming down on the Tacoma MX4 cover. This morning I opened the tailgate, flipped back the panels and the bed was perfectly dry inside.

Of interest where did you order your MX4 cover from? If you need any assistance send me a message and I am more than happy to assist you.

Take care,

Bob

 

Thanks for the info !!

Buddy of mine works at a truck parts shop , so i got cost on the cover , but i think i will contact backflip and get that extra seal , hopefully with your info will only have to install it once !!!

 

Hey bob
What did you use for spacers to lift your rails up to 90'
How thick of spacer did you use ?

 

Installed one obtained directly from BAK last week. No change in design. Leaks badly at both bedrails.

 

Yeah did the same thing !! called backflip and they are sending me out a new cover , going to try again and add al the silicone that people had been talking about to the rails and to the front corners , seemed liked all the dripping was coming from where the folds were and leaking over the side rails ,
Even the top of the drain plugs were leaking!!

 

I have the MX4 on order but I'm tempted to cancel with all this talk about how bad it leaks. Does Bakflip make a tri fold that DOESNT leak?? Thanks!

 

I ended up pulling the trigger on Black Friday and ordered from Autoanything. Got the MX4 for $744 shipped. It will arrive next Thursday. Hoping to proactively prevent the leak issues everyone is having. I also plan to build an under tray out of 80/20 since the BAK box isn't an option for our trucks. I will report back after install.

 

Update:

Talked to BAK, they are aware of the problem. recommended solution is to glue the rails down with silicone. no word on whether they will include silicone going forward. I think most buyers would be chill about it if they know up front what it takes to get a good install instead of the current "gotcha" way of finding out.. the upper front corner leaks are also to be glued up also. there are also open voids under the rail at the top of both front corners - trying foam crammed in there for now.

Love the look and the versatility but this is THE LEAKIEST TONNEAU I have ever experienced in 4 trucks.

Bottom Line: If you are not willing to use silicone do not buy this cover.

 

Roll n lock are very nice looking covers. Very secure. More secure than bak flip looks like. But you need to go to YouTube and look up water test on roll n lock. Watch both videos. The video where he lets it slam open really not fair. But watch the other. My bak flip leaks a little on back corners but not all the time. But wow, this roll and lock pours in. Should call it roll-n-leak. Just my thoughts.

 

I picked up the FiberMax a few weeks back for 685.00. First person I spoke to at Bak said to use the thicker molding which I didnt think sounded right since my head rail is slightly higher than the side rails. Second person I spoke to said not to use any molding since it would cause the side rails to leak close to the head rail (makes sense). It fits nice and tight on head rail and side rails. Ill water test once it gets warmer here and see what happens. Bak does seem to stand by their products though so Im not too concerned.

 

Sure wish I would have read this first. I have already taken off this leaky POS and am ready to ship it back. Just waiting for a RTA. Sad, I had high hopes, it just leaks like a sinking ship all down the sides.

 

I am super happy with my MX4. Great to keep the rails and I only have a few drips here and there, even after the car wash. I do park in the garage, but so far, so good.

 

Received my MX4 week. The cover looks even better than I was hoping. Unfortunately I wasn't able to install it - the box the rails were shipped in was ripped open and there was damage to the rails. I decided to scope out what may be the source of everyone's complaints regarding the leaking issues. It's pretty clear that it relates to the textured bed cap and minimal overlap of the BAK cover top rail.

There is only a 5/8" lip with an integrated seal that sits on the textured plastic bed cap. When you take into account the radius of the edge of the cap, only 3/8" remains. Further factoring the texture and recessed areas along the cap, it is seems that there just isn't enough overlap to provide a suitable seal.

See pics below, hopefully this makes sense. I think there could be an easy resolution by filling the radius between the bed cap and rail seal. I will buy an extra seal from McMaster.com. I'm trying to avoid Adhesive. The cover came with a thinner "double width" bulkhead seal and a thicker seal. The instructions don't have a description on what to use the thick seal for. I called BAK and they said it's just "extra".

I'll update everyone later on what solution I choose.

See below for some pics for anyone that may be curious.

 

"I'm trying to avoid Adhesive." Been there, done that. Tried to add weather stripping types of seals to fill the gap but it still leaked. Now reinstalled with silicone and all is dry. Hope you have better luck than I did.

I've let BAK know that if they had just tossed a tube of silicone in the box and updated their instructions to read "some vehicle applications require the use of silicone sealant to minimize leakage" there would be much less drama.

 

Yes, I used silicone on my G2 and it is mostly dry. I still need to put a little more sealant in the front corners, I still have a few drips there.

 

After a long winded experience with Bak Industries, they went ahead and sent me a replacement cover. I started my conversation with a rep and then he was no longer with the company.

 

Bakflip did not want mine back. I had to send pictures of it "destroyed" and Auto Customs sent me a full refund. Crazy way to do business, but made me happy. Sad taking a hammer to such a nice looking cover. Too bad they can't figure out the leaking problem.

 

So do you use the long seal or not for a 2016 tacoma?

 

You only need to use the thinner "double seal" for the bulkhead.



The thicker seal is just "extra" according to BAK. I ended up purchasing and installing another seal under the rail seal. As noted in my previous comment, there is barely any seal contact with the integrated seal. This is what I did (it is working very well btw although if someone copies this idea I suggest using a slightly thinner closed cell foam - I suggest using 1/4" wide by 1/8" thickness...I used 3/8" wide by 3/16" tall.)

 

Here are a few other things I did for my install:

Stuffed 3/16 EPDM seal into gap at front (could have pre-installed on front of rail):



Stuffed gasket under bed rail cap at front:


Tailgate gasket kit:


Then even though it was already raining, I pulled out the hose. No RTV, minimal leaking: