New Owner - Topper Advice

Took delivery of my 2023 Limited on Thursday. Ice cap white, hickory brown interior......love it!

I want to put a nice topper on it.....what do people recommend for a nice stylish topper primarily to secure and protect loads?

 

having owned both leer and ARE, i would recommend leer.

edit: here is my ARE CX. the bottom of the sides are sanded horrendously uneven. i saw it and chose to live with it. i am self-employed, at the time i could not live any longer without a canopy, and the dealer was as clueless as can be.

 

I have a Leer 100R on my '21. Some people have problems with them leaking but I love having the windoors along the side to access the front of the bed.

 

just spoke with a local dealer for ARE and he said Toyota actually recommended ARE. Hmmm, I would be surprised if Toyota endorsed one aftermarket product over another.

 

I have an ARE classic series and am happy with it. Keep in mind that how water tight it is depends as much, if not more, on your installer than the topper itself. Fortunately my bed has been bone dry since having it installed and we've had some pretty nasty Florida thunderstorms to test it. Whichever brand you go with I would suggest getting the options you want as part of the order rather than doing them later. A lot of the stuff costs a lot more after the fact.

 

thanks for the pictures. Looks very nice --- love that color gray!

 

Weather seal the bed rails, butyl tape the front corners. I would then assess other leaky areas like rear tail light to see if they leak.

 

I thought about leer and a.r.e, looked at both. There Just to overpriced now for new. If you can find a good used one go the route. No matter how good it is installed it will leak around the seals eventually based off the truck flexing and temperature changes just like any other weatherseal/ chaulking.

 

Welcome to TW @jdrane - congrats on your new truck.

I currently have a Leer with the windoors and am happy with it.

Check out topper dealers in your area and also take a look at this thread on TW when you have time.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/forums/tonneau-covers-caps-and-shells.198/

Good luck.

 

I have had ARE for my 2007 and 2010 but went with SnugTop for my 2015.
Far better product. Ordered another Sport HiLiner for my 2023.

 

Snugtop. No complaints except the rubber moulding by the rear passenger hinge is detaching from the shell 3M double sided tape fixed it.

 

I love my ARE CX Classic. It’s expensive but worth it in my opinion if you actually use it a lot. I’ve driven all over North America with it and it basically doubles the amount of gear you can bring plus adds the security of a closed bed.

They have a lot of features you can add and it’s very customizable.

 

I had a Spirit (or Sprint?) on my 1st gen and it treated me well for ~12yrs. Have a Leer on my 3rd gen and it too has treated me well. It leaks a little at the front but that's due to the tape needing to be replaced and the gaps in the front of the bedrail. But as others have said, if ordering new, get the options you want from the get go. Also, the windoors are incredibly useful. Though, I wish I had them with sliders for ventilation.

 

Same.

 

Update-
Today I placed an order for an ARE CX Evolve and here is why:
1. The Leer product offering is confusing and it is difficult to determine the various features across products.
2. I contacted the local Leer dealer, both through the website and called the retail store ---- no replies.
3. The ARE product offerings are also confusing, but I was able make some general decisions about what features I wanted a little easier.
3.a. All of the TW responses on this thread also helped immensely. Thank you
4. The local ARE dealer took my call, answered all my questions over the phone, and invited me to the retail store to look at various models.
5. The dealer visit was good: very knowledgeable, showed me product installed on vehicles, pointed out the differences in features and options, wrote me a detailed quote for 2 models and helped me discern between features and cost.
6. A good warranty, appears to be good craftmanship and fit on the vehicles I saw, feature to price ratio was within budget, and a good dealer.

I have never owned a topper on a truck before, but I feel like I bought a good product with the options I wanted most and it will look nice on my truck.

btw, I still have not heard from Leer.

 

Good call

 

I have an ARE V Series with the “OTR” option and vented windoors. The windoors are worth every penny.

 

How has the OTR held up for you?

 

Flawless so far and I bought my topper used almost a year ago; the topper it self is 3-4 years old. It is nice piece of mind if I drop a kayak on it and doesn't show dirt the way a paint matched white would have.

 

Gotcha. I’m always a bit worried about sun fade lol