Useless tonneau cover!

Hello everyone! Just a heads up, I have seen a couple of threads from people inquiring about Toyota Tacomas factory tri-fold tonneau cover. SAVE YOUR MONEY! I paid a ton of money for my 2016 Tacoma 'Limited' which the cover is standard. As far as function and durability it's great, however it will NOT keep your cargo dry! Whenever I wash my truck or drive in the rain, when I drop my tailgate the entire pickup bed is drenched! Toyota tells me that it's not designed to be waterproof and I was considerably confused! I Googled (you can use any search engine you want) 'tonneau cover', it said that security, functionality and WEATHER RESISTANCE are 3 common factors! So basically I'm screwed-a $600+ option, I guess when Toyota designed that tonneau cover the weather resistance part must have slipped through the cracks! I have a couple of friends who each installed a $260 vinyl tri-fold tonneau covers on their pickups and they don't get a single leak when it rains, their cargo nice and dry!

 

Weather Resistant ≠ Waterproof

 

Get inside at night. Have a friend go around the edges with a bright light. Mark leak points with painters tape.

Use weatherstripping to close the gaps.

No soft tonneau will ever be weatherproof. If you have stuff that must be dry, carry it in water tight tubs.

 

Got an extang cover on my '16 and a rugged liner on my '15...both are hard tri fold similar to the Toyota tonneau cover...a heavy rain or wash will result in the inside of the bed getting wet...but, it's a truck bed and I still think they're both excellent products...as stated above your best option is to get water tight tubs

 

I just put a Gator SR1 Roll-up on tonight and was disappointed to see the gap between the rear rail and tailgate. Gator puts a rubber strip on to help keep the rain out but you can stick your hands right in the bed and release the cover. Oh well, it looks great.

 

One man's trash is another man's treasure. Sell it and recoup some of your money.

 

Foam weather stripping should take care of most of it, just find where it's needed.

 

make sure the tonneau clicks twice when you close it. 1 initial one to lock then another click to seal

 

I paid 1400 for a Pace Edwards full metal jack rabbit and that thing was terrible at keeping water out. Any hard rain and the cover leaked in from the rails like a waterfall. Same excuse was given to me that it wasnt designed to be waterproof. Was finally able to return it though. No point in having a cover if everything gets wet anyway.

 

I've all but given up on a waterproof solution. Whatever I put back there, it's with the idea that I've only got an umbrella over it. I cover my bed for other reasons: mainly "out of sight, out of mind" storage and to keep jerks from tossing their McD trash back there.

 

I make sure all the clips are snapping into place but pushing down with some some of my weight. Take it through car washes (empty of course) and never see a spec of water inside the bed. But of course this is my experience.

 

My main reason to get a cover is to keep things dry in the bed. The makers saying it isn't supposed to is BS.

I have an aftermarket one (Undercover Flex) that leaks by the cab. The main reason for the leak is how the bed is put together by the cab at the corners. There is a gap there. I have sealed it some, but need to crawl up in there with the cover closed to find the remaining gaps and seal them. For now, my solution was to get an OEM bed mat so that the water comes in and then goes under the mat to keep things on top of the mat dry. Works pretty good.

 

Tonneau covers are not going to be waterPROOF, they will be water resistant. It's ignorance to expect anything else, no matter what the marketing information says. It should be dry enough to keep tools and stuff in but I wouldn't carry anything that absolutely can not get wet under any circumstance.

That said I have an Undercover 4020 (I think thats the number) and it keeps stuff pretty much dry. Might be some drips in a deluge, but I wouldn't hesitate to put my camera gear or sleeping bags back there. It might get a tiny bit damp, but not wet.

 

@3legacy

It's not just the cover. If you look at the bed you will see gaps. Commonly in the rear where the plastic meets the metal. So seal those and get a good quality tailgate seal. You will probably be fine after that. You'll probably never find a tonneau that is 100% waterproof. A hard cover that mounts over the rails and tailgate is the best option for that.

 

Unless someone who doesnt know what their doing installs it without weather stripping. I read a lot about those nightmares here on TW.

 

I had a cover on my last truck, a Nissan Titan. It was a vinyl tri-fold. It was pretty much water proof, maybe a few drips under a high pressure wash. I could definitely put things in the bed that I couldn't get wet.

 

I was thinking about selling my OEM cover but after reading this, I'm not so sure. I've been lucky. So little water gets in, I've left my laptop bag back there for days.

 

My experience has been it keeps things mostly dry. I wash my truck at the auto car wash weekly. I guess I'm lucky too. I think the night/flashlight test should reveal the culprit(s)

 

I had an Extang Trifecta soft tonneau on my '14 Ram and I NEVER had water in the bed. This OE hard tonneau that came with my Tacoma lets water in during a lousy rain shower. I wouldn't want to look inside if I ever power washed it with a pressure washer.

 

If Toyota told you when you were purchasing the tonneau cover that it wasn’t waterproof would you have bought it? Because I sure wouldn’t have, especially for the $675 price tag. I had a 2002 Dodge Dakota with a factory tonneau that cost around the same price as this crappy Toyota one and it never leaked. Toyota made an inferior product that they won’t stand behind. Plain and simple.