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FAQ — Water resistant tonneau cover

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How Water Resistant is the RetraxPRO for a Ford F-150?

Ford F-150 Owner: I was looking at some tonneau covers, and I've had tonneau covers, I've had hard fiberglass painted, I've had a Roll-N-Lock. Now I have a Ford F-150 and I'm looking at the RetraxPRO XR, but I have a couple of questions. I know tonneau covers aren't completely waterproof, aside from the solid fiberglass ones that actually kind of curved almost over the sides of the truck, and the tailgate. How waterproof, reality-wise, is the RetraxPRO?

Shawn: The Retrax is going to be better than any of your folding covers. And yes, obviously a one-piece cover is going to be the most water-resistant. But yeah, the Retrax has drain tubes. As long as you have the drain tubes installed you should be good to go. The one piece covers can be kind of a pain.

Ford F-150 Owner: Okay. And I know with my Roll-N-Lock, I used to get small leaves in there. About once every six months I'd to unscrew the cover top and go in there and vacuum out any leaves and stuff. Is the RetraxPRO better at keeping stuff out of the box?

Shawn: I've not heard of anything like that happening.

Ford F-150 Owner: Okay. Now, I know the Retrax is not spring loaded, it just rolls back and forth. You manually move it, correct?

Shawn: Correct.

Ford F-150 Owner: Okay. Whereas the Truck Covers USA and the Roll-N-Lock are spring-loaded?

Shawn: Right.


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What Tonneau Cover is Going to Be The Most Water Resistant?

GMC Owner: Hey Shawn, I'm trying to reach Peter, I think. He's been giving me some emails about tonneau covers.

Shaun: Yes sir. Peter's actually out for the day though, what kind of tonneau cover was it?

GMC Owner: Well, I was needing to call and talk to somebody and start kind of figuring it out. It's kind of a new pickup truck and I want to get one for it.

Shaun: Beautiful. What kind of truck was it?

GMC Owner: 2019 GMC Sierra with a 5'8 bed.

Shaun: What are you looking for? You've got hard, soft, folding, rolling, one piece, three piece.

GMC Owner: It's my wife's truck. She likes the look of the hard folding or hard roll-up. She wants to be able to get in and out of it, so she wants the one that either folds, two or three times, four times. And she likes the look of the hard case, or the hard cover. She doesn't like the leather top of the soft one.

Shaun: Right.

GMC Owner: Waterproof, basically, because once we get this thing on it, it's going to be stuck in the back of that truck pretty much, there's going to be something back there all the time. So, you know, number one thing is waterproof, two is security, for me, then three is, you know, the appearance. So that's what I was going to start with whenever I got a hold of you know, someone to talk to. To see what's out there, see what y'all thought. What are some good options?

Shaun: Well let me tell you, the folding, hard folding that are going to sit flush to your bed, those have rails that mount on the inside, so chances of water getting in those are a little bit higher than if you were to buy one that mounts on top of the rails. That look isn't always desired, but honestly, they do look pretty sharp, usually. The Extangs as in the Solid Fold 2.0, or if you get the Encore, it's basically the same thing, are good. Except the Encore folds from the front or the back so that's a nice little feature there. The downfall to that is unlike a BAKFlip, or unlike a three-piece that's going to sit between your rails, you can't fold it all the way up to where it's against your window, and drive with it all the way open, and I don't know how often she would do that anyway.

GMC Owner: Okay. Are there any other covers that you would suggest?

Shaun: The other one that I would suggest is the Retrax One MX. And that is the roll-in cover. It's got a self-containing canister that sits at the front behind the bolt. It's about 14 inches wide by 14 inches deep by the top of your rails. So you're going to lose about a foot of med space with that. That one is going to be the easiest to use. The best looking one in my opinion is also going to provide the best watertight seal out of all of them, besides, you know, like I said the folding ones that sit on top of the rails usually do a pretty good job.

GMC Owner: Gotcha. Alright. I'm going to have to get with her and find out for sure just exactly if she's okay with that look. But one of them I got was with a 4 maybe? Or something like that?

Shaun: Yeah the MX4.

GMC Owner: Yeah that was one. I thought it looks pretty good, folds up three or four times.

Shaun: They are sharp, man. I worked for Undercover which to be honest with you, all the companies we're talking about are owned by the same people. But I worked for Undercover for almost a decade and then after they bought BAKFlip, I worked for BAKFlip for a few years. But when you said water, that's when my mind went to a folding cover. Let's say there's twenty parts where water could get in, versus a cover that's on top of the rails or that rolls where there's three spots. So that's my only reservation when it comes to that, but other than that I'd say buy that folding cover all day long; the BAKFlip, because it's a great cover.

GMC Owner: Gotcha. But in general the best water resistance is to have a cover sitting on top of the rails?

Shaun: Correct.

GMC Owner: Are there any covers- and those are hard covers, right? It won't be the leather soft, okay?

Shaun: No you won't have that. Because after a while man, when they wear out, they're a pain to buckle and all that.

GMC Owner: Okay. Well, let me get home and talk to her. Can you email me some quotes?

Shaun: Okay. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and outline it a little bit here, prices next to each of them and I'll also send a link so you can click it and go straight to both of them. Just give me a call back if you have any questions. 

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Is The BAKFlip MX4 Waterproof When it's on The Truck?

Chevy Silverado Owner: I wanted to get a tonneau cover for my truck.

Peter: Okay. What truck is it for?

Chevy Silverado Owner: It's a 2005 Chevy Silverado, has the shorter bed. I think it's like a five foot eight bed, or five foot five.

Peter: Which cover were you talking about?

Chevy Silverado Owner: I've been looking online all over the place and I really like the BAKFlip MX4.

Peter: Yes, that's very popular. Let me double check they have it for your truck. Yes, and they do. It's free shipping and there's no sales tax if you're ordering from outside of Arizona.

Chevy Silverado Owner: Oh okay, cool. What's the availability on it, like if I want to go ahead and do it? When can I get it by?

Peter: Our shipping is typically about five days.

Chevy Silverado Owner: Five days? Okay. I've been looking around and that's probably the best price I've heard so far. Is there any sales or anything coming up on that or is that pretty much the best?

Peter: That is a sale price.

Chevy Silverado Owner: That is the sale price? When is the sale final?

Peter: I think the end of the day on Friday, this coming Friday.

Chevy Silverado Owner: The day on Friday? Okay. Let me run it by the misses first.

Peter: I got you. No problem.

Chevy Silverado Owner: We're going to go on vacation soon and I wanted to have something to cover the truck with. With this cover, I mean have you seen this cover? Have you used this cover before?

Peter: Oh yeah, absolutely.

Chevy Silverado Owner: Is the BAKFlip MX4 pretty much waterproof when it's on the truck?

Peter: It's designed to be extremely water resistant. It's got drain channels that lead to drain tubes that keep the water out of the bed. No Tonneau cover is 100% waterproof, per se. You might get a drip or two, but water won't be pooled in the bed or anything like that.

Chevy Silverado Owner: Right, that's kind of what I was looking to do. That and with this one, I've heard with some of these Tonneau covers you have to open them like to close the bed, like to close the tailgate? With this one, do you have to close, when I'm going to close the tailgate do I have to open the cover to close the tailgate?

Peter: You don't. You can slam the tailgate while the cover's down. It's designed that way.

Chevy Silverado Owner: That's what I was looking for too. Let me write that down. Thanks for your help, Peter. I appreciate it.
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Does Extang or BAK Have the Best Tonneau Cover for a 2018 Ford F-150?

Ford F-150 Owner: I went and looked at that Extang. So, that one doesn't fold up all three sections, right? It just unfolds the back two, so it doesn't flip up against the back window?


Sean: Correct. So, if you plan on driving with it open very often, you can't do it. But, the good part about the Extang, I don't know if you looked at the install video, there's no rails. It just literally clamps on to the sides of your bed, so you can have thing off there in three minutes.

Ford F-150 Owner: Okay. What about the MX4, does that one come off fairly easy or no?


Sean: Yeah, they both come off fairly easy. The MX4, you probably wouldn't need to take it off. But, let's assume that you do, all you have to do is just lift the cover towards leaning up against the cab, and then reach your hand underneath and loosen the star knob that's underneath, and the elevator bolt that goes through the top of the cover will pop right out, and then the whole cover just lifts right off the rails. The covers are held on to the rails at the front with a bracket. The elevator bolt goes through the left and right side, and then star knobs tighten it down. So, it's an easy as removing those and it pop right off.

Ford F-150 Owner: Okay. But on the Extang do you think it's better as far as water resistance?


Sean: If you install it properly it does a pretty good job. With the MX4 you get the drain tubes for the bed of your truck. So, that means either using an existing hole in the very front. Older trucks used to have the black plastic piece, I'm not sure on the newer trucks. But, you just pop one of those out, or you drill small hole through there. Or you can actually drill it through the bed of your truck. But, a lot less people want to do that.

Ford F-150 Owner: Yeah. I wouldn't want to drill in the bed of my truck either.

Sean: Right. I get it. But, in order to keep that water out, they do design them to where the water is supposed to go to the channels in the rails, which pushes it through the drain tubes, and out of the bed.

Ford F-150 Owner: Right. That's cool. I think maybe I'll stick with that MX4. Is the only difference between the MX4 and the G2 that one has 4 segments and the other has 3?

Sean: No, the G2 and the MX4 are night and day. The G2 is going to be the shiny finish. The panels aren't as thick, so they're not as dent proof. Its only rated for 300 pounds, while the MX4 is 400. The MX4 has a dual-action tailgate seal. You can open and close the tailgate without having to open the last handle of the cover. So, yeah, I could go on and on. The MX4 is far better.

Ford F-150 Owner: Okay. That's all I needed to know. Okay, let me verify my bed length so I don't order this thing and find out how I was wrong.

Sean: Yeah you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot.

Ford F-150 Owner: One of the reviews said you guys offer a tailgate seal kit?

Sean: Yeah, I'll send you a tailgate seal. What was the truck again?

Ford F-150 Owner: Its a 2018 Ford F-150.

Sean: Okay.

Ford F-150 Owner: So when I measure my bed, am I supposed to just measure the inside dimensions from the inside of the bed to the inside of the tailgate?

Sean: Yeah, inside of the bowl and inside the tailgate, so the very front of your bed. And if it's the big crew, you know, with the full four doors, it could be a 5.7

Ford F-150 Owner: Yep. That's what I got. Well then let's go ahead and get the MX4 ordered.

Sean: Okay I'll go ahead and get this shipped out. We should be good to go!

Ford F-150 Owner: Cool. Okay. Sounds good.
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