OEM Tonneau leak prevention efforts

its has only been drizzling today. and only off an on at that. those last pictures were just taken. but this is what my bed looks like now. so you can imagine what i looks like when its really raining good.


i am still not sure if the water dripping in the middle of the bed is actually coming in through the middle of the seam, or if it is coming in where i have just shown you, but flowing so heavily that it is just tracking along the seam to the middle of the bed and then dripping down. i only see drips in the middle when it is a heavy rain. you can see that the sides of the bed have a bunch of streams running down, but it looks like it is just coming in at the joints and running along the tie down rail. i dont think it is actually leaking in everywhere. in any case, its too much for me to use the bed the way i want to. so unless someone offers an easy fix that i havent thought of, i will likely change covers. cant have my sleeping bags or hunting outerwear getting soaked.

 

A less expensive option might be to get a bed mat. Yes, the tonneau would still be leaky, but if it's only leaking along the sides and not dripping from above, a bed mat would at least raise things up off the bed to help prevent them from getting wet.

 

That is something that the dealer should address under warranty since this is an OEM tonneau. With the documented problem history and their fail at the diagnosis, the solution should be a new cover?

 

it really is a shame. other than the leaking issue, i really do like the cover. it seems stronger than a lot of the aftermarket ones i have seen. if i see one in a parking lot or at a tailgate, i always go and snoop a little. it also seems that mostly all of the hard trifolds are likewise split down the middle in terms of satisfaction. half the review i read say not much if any leaking, half say they leak alot. as mentioned, if i had reasonable amount of leaking (reasonable is relative of course) i would keep the cover. but as it stands the only one with way more positive reviews then negative reviews that i have found is the leer X2T. and of course, leer discontinued this cover earlier this year. tracking one down might be difficult. i spoke to leer last week. their own reps agreed that they all liked the x2t. and no one seemed to know of any defect or recall type issue that would have caused them to discontinue it. the x2t was one of the only leer products that was actually made offshore so i hypothesize that the current trade drama thats going on, may have claimed a victim. (preference to stay away from political commentary). if i cant find someone with an x2t still in stock, leer does have a new trifold cover coming out. it was scheduled for release at the end of this month but is lagging behind. leer reps were guessing end of october. if that continues to drag on or if it is not as nice and tight as the x2t, then i will likely look at picking up an undercover (one of the 1 piece models) so at least i know my crap will stay dry.

 

thanks comb. you probably missed it but i mentioned i thought about the bed mat. but i get significant drips in the middle of the bed when it rains hard. plus i would rather not have moldy mildew smelling bed.

 

Just me, but I find those one piece covers to be the worst of all worlds. For the cost, it might be better to just grab a lower-end canopy? My old boss had one on their F150. It was a pain to haul anything taller than the bed rails and taking it off and safely storing it was a PITA. But, if one would work for you?

 

so thats what i thought they would do. but the service department told me they couldn't offer that since it was in the manual that the cover isnt water proof. they suggested i call Toyota Customer Care which i did. my caseworker almost immediately offered a $1200 credit towards future parts and services to resolve the issue. her suggestion was to have an authorized Toyota dealer put an aftermarket cover on it. there's something not right about toyota offering me $1200 to replace their own cover with some one else's. I thought they would try to fix this cover or perhaps replace it. nope. she gave a $1200 credit to use however i wanted. problem is, the toyota dealer cant find any remaining X2Ts either. so if i find one, i will buy it myself and use the credit on services and any future repairs if needed.

 

i had a knockoff of undercover on my last taco. it was called armor lid. it wasnt exactly convenient but i could take it off myself in about 5 minutes if i had to. luckily i didnt need to all that often. it definitely helped if there were two people. that would put it at about a 2 minute process. i am not interested in a cap. that is definitely a two person job to remove when needed.

 

Oh gawd. What a circle jerk. That cover probably costs them $150!

At least they did you good.

Good luck with the search!

 

thanks man! they did do good for me. toyota always has. about a month before i totaled my 2006 they replaced the frame due to the rusting issue. $12k repair. for free. they shoulda just let me take $12k off of a new one since i had over 250k miles on mine. but then i may have wound up totaling a brand new truck.

if anyone has any other fix attempts on their leaky OEM, please feel free to share. as mentioned, the main reason i wanted to start this was to give others who want to try to repair theirs one centralized thread to pull ideas from.

 

when i was shopping tacomas last year EVERY oem tri fold had a buncha h20 in the bed on 8 different lots. Rained the night before.

 

there are complaints of this going all the way back to when the covers first came out. i guess the ones who dont have the issue just got lucky. but i wonder why toyota hasnt tried to engineer them a little better. i really dont think it would take them too long or cost them too much money to try and fix it.

 

Ah, sorry, I did miss that.

 

This is why I bought the hard tonneau cover (Undercover). Zero leaks. Fits over the bed rails and tailgate.

 

no sweat. i probably will still get the bed mat, whenever i jump to the new cover.

 

if i cant find any leftover x2t's or if the new leer trifolds (model number HF350 but its not out yet) isnt as tightly sealed as the x2t then i will be getting one as well. its less convenient, but a dry bed is more important to me. i liked the one i had on my '06, it was the same design as undercover.

 

I can count the number of times I've had to take it off on one hand. You'd be amazed what big crap will fit under it when it's open.

 

i agree. its definitely my fall back option.

 

Suggestion for keeping your camping, hunting clothes/gear dry. Get a roll of 55 gal. heavy duty yard trash bags. Put your stuff in them, and reuse these heavy bags year after year.

 

i hear ya tex, but baggin everything like that would definitely annoy me. like i mentioned, if i cant find a reasonably water tight trifold option i will just put a solid undercover on it.