Best and worst Tonneau cover for Wintery Conditions

[JPro]

I’ve been considering the BAK Revolver X4S tonneau cover. I’ll be doing a lot of skiing this winter and have seen a few videos claiming they are hard or impossible to open in freezing weather. Anyone have experience with this cover? Is a tri or quarter fold a better option for winter weather? Looking for a hard cover.

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[HaroldCal]

My preferred tonneau is from Diamondback covers. Hard, locking, you can stand on it. I've had one on my F350 for like 15 years. Love them.

 

[data003]

I’ve been considering the BAK Revolver X4S tonneau cover. I’ll be doing a lot of skiing this winter and have seen a few videos claiming they are hard or impossible to open in freezing weather. Anyone have experience with this cover? Is a tri or quarter fold a better option for winter weather? Looking for a hard cover.

I have a X4S and I mostly agree it’s hard or impossible to open if it’s covered in ice or snow. I live at a ski mountain and don’t have a garage so having the bed full of snow is a far worse alternative. With the cover I can at least mostly put stuff in the bed as long as it fits under the cover.

 

[luebri]

We have a large regional truck accessory company and they swear by the simple roll up Access Lorado. I had mine on my Titan for 6 years and it held up great.

That said it is a soft cover... if you've ruled that out then it's not for you. The one advantage to a soft cover in winter conditions is the little bit of wind vibration when driving will shake any snow or ice off in short order!

 

[saturnschildren]

I've had Access and Bakflip tonneaus on my trucks and I found the Bakflip had a rubber strip at the back that often froze to the tailgate making dropping the tailgate impossible (I haven't used a new Bakflip so this may no longer be true). The Access tonneau doesn't have this problem. The issue with all tonneaus is the hassle of clearing the snow off them before they can flip/roll/retract. As pointed out above that's a better problem than the bed filling up with snow.

Here in Ontario it's the law that you must clear snow off your vehicle if, "snow or ice has accumulated on the motor vehicle, or on a vehicle or trailer drawn by the motor vehicle, in a manner that would pose a danger to other motor vehicles on the highway if the snow or ice were to fall or slide off."

 

[merek]

My revolver seemed frozen shut, even without snow on it. But if you're skiing do you really need to open it?

 

[JPro]

My revolver seemed frozen shut, even without snow on it. But if you're skiing do you really need to open it?

Well I like to do some tailgating in the parking lot, I suppose that could be done from the frunk with the Lightning. Regardless, being able to open the tonneau in all weather conditions would be nice. Gear shifts around back there and needs fished out.

 

[JPro]

We have a large regional truck accessory company and they swear by the simple roll up Access Lorado. I had mine on my Titan for 6 years and it held up great.

That said it is a soft cover... if you've ruled that out then it's not for you. The one advantage to a soft cover in winter conditions is the little bit of wind vibration when driving will shake any snow or ice off in short order!

I haven’t completely ruled out a soft cover. I have a gator tri fold on my current truck and it’s seen better days. Just looking for something nicer for the new truck.

 

[GarageMahal]

I ordered the Extang Solid Fold 2.0, mostly because it supports a lot of weight. It does not require any additional rails to be installed and essentially sits on top of the bed sides so I don't expect there to be any troubles opening it in the winter. Easy to remove entirely as well. My only concern is that it may be easier to break in to but security is mostly about putting things out of sight anyway.

Good prices from RealTruck right now if you PM them here. Better than what is on their website.

Edit: Tailgating is the reason I want it to support weight as I like to sit on the cover vs. the tailgate. Looking forward to folding up one section and essentially have double decker seating

 

[HaroldCal]

I should add that the Diamondback is designed to be able to park ATV's on top of it. I think the HD version (which is what I have) is capable of like 1600 lbs. On my F350, I have had 2 full size Honda Rincons up there, no problem.

 

[JPro]

I should add that the Diamondback is designed to be able to park ATV's on top of it. I think the HD version (which is what I have) is capable of like 1600 lbs. On my F350, I have had 2 full size Honda Rincons up there, no problem.

Wow that’s crazy! I’d like to see that, you must have some big ramps!

 

[VTbuckeye]

I ordered the Extang Solid Fold 2.0, mostly because it supports a lot of weight. It does not require any additional rails to be installed and essentially sits on top of the bed sides so I don't expect there to be any troubles opening it in the winter. Easy to remove entirely as well. My only concern is that it may be easier to break in to but security is mostly about putting things out of sight anyway.

Good prices from RealTruck right now if you PM them here. Better than what is on their website.

Edit: Tailgating is the reason I want it to support weight as I like to sit on the cover vs. the tailgate. Looking forward to folding up one section and essentially have double decker seating

A solid choice... I had a solid fold on my 2011. Only froze shut once where the cover froze to the bed rails and some of the rubber/foam became detached from the cover in a couple spots. Everything still worked after. I didn't like that it covered a significant portion of the bed, though it was easy to remove it or full access, but then you had to o put it somewhere.

 

[HaroldCal]

Wow that’s crazy! I’d like to see that, you must have some big ramps!

Yeah, Diamondback provides the ramps, and yeah, they are big long scary beasts. I drove an ATV up the ramp.... once. Scary as hell. After that, now I just winch them up the ramp.

 

[data003]

Well I like to do some tailgating in the parking lot, I suppose that could be done from the frunk with the Lightning. Regardless, being able to open the tonneau in all weather conditions would be nice. Gear shifts around back there and needs fished out.

Let me tell you, that frunk does not open with a couple inches of snow on it

The motors are kinda wimpy.

The worst part of the whole thing is the snow/ice never really melts off it. Hopefully you have a dark color to help the sun melt the snow or you have a garage.

That said these are relatively minor complaints. I love the truck, it’s a beast in the snow with just the OEM AT tires.

 

[JPro]

Let me tell you, that frunk does not open with a couple inches of snow on it

The motors are kinda wimpy.

The worst part of the whole thing is the snow/ice never really melts off it. Hopefully you have a dark color to help the sun melt the snow or you have a garage.

That said these are relatively minor complaints. I love the truck, it’s a beast in the snow with just the OEM AT tires.

Good to know about the frunk.. and of course mines star white…luckily I don’t get a lot of snow in the valley, mainly when I’m on the mountain.

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