Tonneau Cover FTW?

December 30, 2011 3:58 PM

My husband just bought a '98 Mazda B4000 pickup. He wants to buy a Tonneau Cover for it. What specifics should we look for?

We live in Denver, so it needs to handle the occasional 12" snowfall. He wants to be able to remove it without too much much trouble, and he likes the partially removable options. I'd like to be able to get into it occasionally without an engineering degree. He's interested in the Extang Trifecta.

His previous truck had a fiberglass topper, so we're used to the issues with those. He is super handy. The truck bed has a stock liner in it.

So, basically, is a Tonneau a good deal? Is it durable and easy to deal with? Is there another brand or product we should check out.

posted by freshwater to travel & transportation (2 answers total)

If you're not absolutely decided on the tonneau style, I'd highly recommend a fold-down soft top from Softopper there in Colorado. A friend got one several years ago, another friend liked it and bought one, and just this past year I jumped on the bandwagon.
posted by introp at 10:14 PM on December 30, 2011

I would suggest avoiding the soft, roll-up variety. They're, of course, the cheapest option, but they are horrible pains when the weather turns cold. They become too stiff to roll-up correctly, and the stiffness, combined with the shrinkage from the cold makes securing them down (either using snaps or the "tupperware"-style channel-latch) a real ordeal.

When the weather is warm, though, I loved my soft roll-ups. But dreaded winter because, eventually, I knew there would be some event in the middle of the season where I would have to open-up the cover to haul something, and then have to struggle getting it secured again.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:10 AM on December 31, 2011