Recommendations on Truck Covers?

[nerdondo]

I don't have a garage big enough for my Lightning and would like to use a truck cover to protect it. I've read some reviews of covers that did not last long and leaked. Does anyone have good/bad experiences with a truck cover? Or is it better to skip the cover and just leave it out in the elements?

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[flyct]

Following

 

[Grumpy2]

would like to use a truck cover to protect it.

Do you have a tonneau cover of for your bed? It would seem necessary to make a vehicle cover function as intended. I have seen an outdoor garage tent as a possible solution, altho I have no personal experience with one.

 

[Bwanapete]

Skip the cover. Ford does great at painting. When I sold my 2013 F150 to get the Lightning, 10 uncovered years and about zero washes, the paint still looked like new. My ‘22 Lightning’s paint seems just as good. Let the rain clean it for you.

Interesting to us: when we visited the Dearborn truck assembly line, we learned that the truck gets painted but then the bed is removed temporarily so cab and bed go along different assembly lines before being reunited. This is so cab and bed paint color match.

 

[EngramQuarry]

Not sure if this deserves its own post. How about an inflatable cover to protect against hail? Not one of those drive-in bubbles but one that looks like a regular cover, but you can inflate to add a layer of protection from hail. If you’re a belt and suspenders type of guy you could have one of the inflatable covers and then put a regular cover over that.

Anyway, does anyone have experience with one of these?

 

[nerdondo]

Do you have a tonneau cover of for your bed? It would seem necessary to make a vehicle cover function as intended. I have seen an outdoor garage tent as a possible solution, altho I have no personal experience with one.

Yes, I got a Bison tonneau cover. Thanks for the suggestion on the outdoor garage tent, but we get some pretty strong wind storms here, which would land one of those on our neighbour’s roof!

 

[nerdondo]

Not sure if this deserves its own post. How about an inflatable cover to protect against hail? Not one of those drive-in bubbles but one that looks like a regular cover, but you can inflate to add a layer of protection from hail. If you’re a belt and suspenders type of guy you could have one of the inflatable covers and then put a regular cover over that.

Anyway, does anyone have experience with one of these?

Fortunately, I live in a place where we almost never have hail … and when we do, it’s tiny. Would be interested to here of other people’s experience with the inflatable covers, though.

 

[nerdondo]

Skip the cover. Ford does great at painting. When I sold my 2013 F150 to get the Lightning, 10 uncovered years and about zero washes, the paint still looked like new. My ‘22 Lightning’s paint seems just as good. Let the rain clean it for you.

Interesting to us: when we visited the Dearborn truck assembly line, we learned that the truck gets painted but then the bed is removed temporarily so cab and bed go along different assembly lines before being reunited. This is so cab and bed paint color match.

This is great to hear. Mine is Oxford White, so maybe pretty resistant to strong sunshine…

 

[SpaceEVDriver]

I would definitely not use a cover. Especially if you get strong winds. The buckles and such will cause wear and damage to the truck. And after the first couple of winds, the cover will be trash. You have very little to worry about degrading on the truck just because it’s sitting in the sun. Since you have the Flash, you don’t even need to worry about the moonroof seals. The biggest worry I would have is to make sure you do your tire rotations at least as often as the maintenance manual calls for so your parking habits don’t cause asymmetrical environmental degradation to the tires (one pair of tires always facing the sun).

 

[daibt6]

I’ve happily had the Flated air topper on my 24 lightning since Dec and have loved it! Install was easy to do solo, strength and durability excellent so far, functionality all I could ever want. Truck is parked outside and air chambers have been trouble free so far. Side windows are attached with Velcro and a little annoying taking off and on, but the Velcro is super strong I wanted the ability to solo install/uninstall so am ok with window assembly. I’ve taken truck through snow, rain and sun and it’s holding up nicely so far. Hoping for many years of use.

 

[flyct]

This is great to hear. Mine is Oxford White, so maybe pretty resistant to strong sunshine…

Mine is also white. My previous Lighting was Gray and the painted surfaces got REALLLLYYY HOOOTTTT in the Florida sun. White not so much.

The reason I would want a cover on my truck is to keep the interior heat reduced and protect the moon roof seals.

 

[nerdondo]

I would definitely not use a cover. Especially if you get strong winds. The buckles and such will cause wear and damage to the truck. And after the first couple of winds, the cover will be trash. You have very little to worry about degrading on the truck just because it’s sitting in the sun. Since you have the Flash, you don’t even need to worry about the moonroof seals. The biggest worry I would have is to make sure you do your tire rotations at least as often as the maintenance manual calls for so your parking habits don’t cause asymmetrical environmental degradation to the tires (one pair of tires always facing the sun).

Thanks for this advice and note about tire rotations!

 

[nerdondo]

I’ve happily had the Flated air topper on my 24 lightning since Dec and have loved it! Install was easy to do solo, strength and durability excellent so far, functionality all I could ever want. Truck is parked outside and air chambers have been trouble free so far. Side windows are attached with Velcro and a little annoying taking off and on, but the Velcro is super strong I wanted the ability to solo install/uninstall so am ok with window assembly. I’ve taken truck through snow, rain and sun and it’s holding up nicely so far. Hoping for many years of use.

Looks pretty cool… what doors the inside look like?

 

[nerdondo]

Looks pretty cool… what doors the inside look like?

I meant “What *does* the inside…”

 

[Storx]

I don't have a garage big enough for my Lightning and would like to use a truck cover to protect it. I've read some reviews of covers that did not last long and leaked. Does anyone have good/bad experiences with a truck cover? Or is it better to skip the cover and just leave it out in the elements?

I don't know what your DIY abilities are, but i wanted somewhere to park my truck and trailer out of the elements and built a DIY carport. I dual purposed the build and used it to extend our solar system, using solar panels as the roof panels.

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