FAQ — rail system

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Are There Any Folding Tonneau Covers for a GMC Sierra That Are Water Resistant?

GMC Sierra Owner: I have a folding tonneau cover now. Do you recommend any other covers? I mean, mine leaks. The water doesn't bother me so much, but I'm just curious if there are any other folding covers that might be better and also easy to install.

Sean: Well, I just want to pre-warn you that I was actually with Undercover for a decade and they bought BAKFlip and a lot of tonneau cover companies that are actually owned by the same company, which Truck Hero. It's the name they're owned under, and folding covers are as far as water goes, the Achilles heel of the industry. We've done everything from different rivets, screws, seals, gluing, processes, everything. Unfortunately, on a folding cover, you're not able to keep 100% of the water out. Now, there are things in place with the drain tubes and the rails are channeled like a gutter, it's supposed to push the water to the drain tube and out the head if the rain tubes are installed properly. Which is going to unfortunately, require either some cutting if you have those little black plastic caps in the front of your bed, or some drilling if you don't, in order for those drain tubes to get out of the bed, so that's going to be the toughest part of the installation right there. The rest of it you're going to get two rails and eight clamps, you're going to have four clamps on the other side. Then the cover actually comes with elevator bolts and star knobs so essentially you sit the cover down on your bed, you go to the very front close to the window, put the elevator bolts through, and then from the underside you screw the star knobs on and your cover's installed, so that's as easy as it is. Well, I'm not very mechanically inclined and I've done about 50 of them, so.

GMC Sierra Owner: Well that means you know what you're doing.

Sean: Now I do.

GMC Sierra Owner: Do you recommend any other covers? I mean, the water doesn't bother me, mine when it's down, my bed is running water.

Sean: That's a little crazy there. As far as the look goes, the MX4 is going to be right there. If you didn't care about the low profile and sitting between your truck bed rails and you wanted something more that's going to sit on top of the rails, I would have you check out the Extang, and that's the Solid Fold. That one sits on top of the rails, but that allows less water intrusion, it folds the same way. It does not fold up against the back window. So you can't have the cover all the way open when you drive but you can have two panels open if you need to hold something tall. The good part about the Solid Fold is, it's cheaper, and it does not come with a separate rail system. At the front of the bed, at the very front panel toward the glass, you're going to have these two knobs that come down and it has a little lip on it, you loosen it enough so you can get that lip underneath your side rail, and then you clamp it shut. You do that on either side and that's how it secures it to the truck. When you fold it all the way down, the rear-end has sort of the same thing, except for those are spring-loaded, so you can tighten them wherever you need to. Let's say it's a little loose, so you just grab that handle, twist it, which will tighten it, and once it has that lip on there, and you clamp it over, it'll pull it down towards the bed.

GMC Sierra Owner: Oh, my goodness. So you have a little less water?

Sean: Correct. Anything that's going to sit on top of the rails, as a rule of thumb, you're going to have less water intrusion. Fewer opportunities for it to get in there.