Breakfast in Tuscany

Posts Tagged ‘tonneau’

You have just purchase a brand new and very expensive pickup truck.  Its shiny gloss paint has probably painted a permanent smile on your face.  Then for some reason and because of its purpose, you have to load different kind of stuffs into the truck bed such as hardware materials.  Would you allow scratches on your nice brand new ride?  Would you allow valuable things to be taken away from you without your knowledge?  Anyone who has a high regard for value will never allow that.  And so, there are many people who desire to purchase a cover.

There are a few kinds of cover that your ride may need.  First is the cheapest which would be a rubberized mat to cover just the bottom of your bed.  This is ideal for someone who does not plan to carry a large quantity of materials that might damage the truck bed.  Keep in mind that this will not cover the sides of your bed.  Depending on where it is purchased from and the quality of the material, price for this cover ranges from $100 to $300 dollars.

Next is the bed liner, which is a plastic shell, molded to fit your truck bed.  This is the choice for most people who are using their truck as a work vehicle but does not wish to destroy their bed with the work material they use everyday.  When purchasing a bed liner, make sure first that you have all the information regarding bed size, vehicle type, and the like, as these are formed and fitted specifically to each individual vehicle.  It needs to be noted that if you ever remove this liner from your vehicle, they may leave scratches on the bed themselves.  Bed liners are fairly simple to install if you are manually dexterous but may require two simpletons.  Cost for this cover is between $350 to $550 dollars.

Lastly and most importantly, you need to install tonneau covers.  These cover the top of the bed, mainly to protect whatever you keep inside the truck bed.  These covers come in two general varieties: soft and hard tonneaus.  The soft tonneau is usually made of leather-like cloth or vinyl and opens and closes either with snap buttons or zipper.  The hard tonneau is usually made of fiberglass, with folding tonneau covers as the most popular.  Both types most likely require some good deal of installation.  Like the bed liners, tonneau covers are made for specific vehicles thus you should have all the necessary information when purchasing one.  The soft variety comes in the price range of $300 to $500 while the hard truck bed covers are quite expensive with price ranging from $1000 to $2000 dollars.

These covers have become a necessity for the purpose of protection and security of loads and preservation of the vehicle.  In addition, tonneau covers offer more with savings on fuel in the form of reducing drag.  So start shopping around now before something which cannot be undone will happen.

With the high demands and declining supply, gas isn’t going to get any cheaper than how it is. Because of this, car manufacturers and drivers themselves have tried to find ways to effectively optimize gas usage for their vehicles. But one thing they often overlook is that not all gas saving tips involves just proper driving and car maintenance and in fact, a simple installation of a truck bed cover would be able to help pickup truck drivers save tons of gas in the long run.

Of course, we still need to consider the traditional tips in which one of these is driving safely at a constant speed, not accelerating too fast or hitting the brakes too sudden. When you’re on a road with moderate to tight traffic conditions, observe the flow of traffic and time your speed to not waste too much gas. This trick takes some patience and time to master but once you apply it, it’ll surely improve your gas economy by at least 20 percent.

On the other hand, if you’re on a highway, driving on high speeds, reducing air drag may be your best bet to save gas. Just when you thought that keeping the AC off will produce more efficient mileage, you often see similar or worse results. This is because of air drag: when you’re driving on high speeds and keep your windows down, air comes into the windows and tries to slow you down. Now, don’t blame the wind, simply cool off by turning on your AC. But trucks have another problem with regards to this: the same air drag is present in the truck bed, specifically on the tailgate. The answer to this problem lies on one simple yet efficient accessory: a tonneau cover.

Tonneau covers, as the name implies, covers the truck bed which will eliminate your air drag problems. This is a simple yet effective solution for those high powered trucks that just consume too much gas like Dodge Rams. If you spend too much on gas for this model, simply get a Dodge Ram tonneau cover and watch your investment pay you back in gas savings.

In addition to that, tonneau covers also offer protection for your truck bed against harsh weather conditions such as rain and snow; and the simple installation of a soft tonneau cover eliminates the chances of your luggage being stolen as they are concealed by the cover within the truck bed.