Anyone here have an Extang tonneau? How has it held up? Is it a quality cover?

I am asking because I ditched my tool box. It was just too much polished metal on a truck that just isn't meant for polished metal. It looked out of place and I was tired of constantly adjusting the latches. My mom's truck is black and chrome, so I gave it to her. Anyway, I would like to be able to cover stuff, but have full use of the bed when I want it and Extang claims their tonneaus let you do this easily and there is no drilling. In addition, they have this tonneau called the "Black Max" which is black with black rails and hardware. I think this would look good on my truck, but want some input on these tonneaus first.

 

i have one on my F150 and they are the best, im having some issues with mine since my truck is so new, but extang has their tech people helping me out, so they have great customer service too

 

Get a downey, the snaps are indestructable plastic that snap into the rails. I had one for about 5 years and it still looked new. Higher quality than extang. I had the SST model. http://www.downeyproducts.com/

 

I got the Extang Sabre Model... i absolutely love it. Plus no snaps looks so smooth. I knew i wanted the best soft tonneu i could find, and Extang certainly is it. :D

 

hey, ThatGuy.. how much was that cover??? its exactly what i wanna get for my truck.. i dont want any snaps visible

 

why do all the extang covers cost and arm and a leg? I was looking at the one that opens like a hard top and they want like $350, that's NUTZ IMO.

 

All of that style tends to be expensive no matter the brand.

The one I am looking at is $180.

 

Which one are you looking at? The cheapest I could find was around $250 or something.

 

Quality Costs...
I have an Access Limited Edition - no snaps and the bars roll up with the cover.
The lifitng soft cover is nice, but presents the same problem scenerio as a hard cover if you have a parcel that is too tall to fit under the bed rails.
With a soft cover with contained bars you just roll it up.
When down the cover is flat and has held up to the weight of a foot of heavy Vermont snow with no problems.
Stayed soft in below zero temperatures and still looks like new.
Expensive but worth it. I bought it from Real Truck.com
http://www.realtruck.com/products/acclimited.php

 

I have the Extang 'Classic Platinum' soft tonneau and am very happy w/ it. It is my second of this same make and model. I had one on my '99 as well and it too was just fine for my needs. I have had, however, a few problems w/ it.

One is that the rubber material on the underside of the rear-bar rubbed against the diamond plate strip I have on my current truck and the hard plastic drop in liner I had on my old truck. This made opening the tailgate difficult. In both cases the solution for me was to peel the rubber strip off the bottom side of the rear bar and call it a day. It probably is not as weather tight as before, but I'm happy.

The new cover, that I bought for the new truck isn't quite as well built as the old one. The cover itself is just as good, but the stays are a little cheaper, in my opinion. I have problems w/ the springloaded plastic assemblies in the ends of the stays falling out when I remove the stays. Once I wasn't paying attention and lost one assembly in the dark. Thankfully I was able to go back to the same spot the next day and found it, but it sucked having to do this. Someday I'll get off my rump and try to epoxy the assemblies into the stays so they don't fall out.

The rear bar does not fit as snugly as it did on my old truck. The rear portion of the frame 'pops' into the rest of the frame w/ these spring-loaded ball-bearings. The bearings then hold the frame together. In my old truck I was able to drive around w/ the cover rolled up and that rear bar still in place (and my tailgate up). Last December I was bringing the xmas tree home and the rear bar came off in the middle of a busy intersection. It was then runover by a semi truck and I had to use a bench vise, some 'persuasion', and a few choice words to get the bar square again! I think peeling the rubber strip off the bottom of the bar probably contributed to this, but the moral of the story is to take the rear portion of the frame off whenever you don't have the cover snapped to it.

In the end I'm quite happy w/ the cover. It does what I want: keeps the grocerys dry and (maybe) saves me an MPG or two. Not bad for <$200. I forget exactly what I paid for it, but it was ~$200 shipped. A few days after I ordered it I found the same cover in a local dealer for nearly the same. Overall I'd gladly do it again, unless I were to buy a cap (which has crossed my mind).

 

I'm looking at the Black Max. It isn't hinged, but it will give me full access to the bed when I need it.

There are some cheap ones on Summit Racing, but I have never head of the company that makes them, so I don't know about quality.

 

I kind of thought about a cap, but then I saw the prices of painted low profile ones...yikes! Some of them run well into the thousands.

Thanks for all the advice everyone. When I have some mod money I will be getting an Extang for my truck. It should look and work better than the tool box I had.

 

I agree, hence my comments about the price being acceptable.

Mostly I'd want the cap for camping and carrying a boat. My dad's neighbor drives a GMC full-size w/ a cap. He's got his canoe mounted on the thing year round and goes for a padle any time he feels the urge and has a few momements. It's a nice setup. For the unfortunately few times I get to paddle these days I have a rack that I built out of 2x4's. It looks like ***, but it holds the boat up. A nice slick cap would be oh so much better..

 

Mine is the Extang Sabre model... i love it. Im gunna try to find the site that i had Summit Racing price match for me (it was easier going to Summit, they're right down the road from me) but u can order it online from them, they're based out of toledo, and if i remember right it was only 180 or so, and had free freight at the time.

 

i used to have the blackmax b4 i got my hadt tonneau(sp) and it was great. it held up to the weather and also rolled conveniently up and out of the way.

 

wheres that site?

 

When we were at Summit, D said something to the guy about his cover, and how something was wrong with it. The guy from Extang gave D his number, and they're going to send out whole new cover for D. With service like that, no cost for shipping, I'd highly recommend an Extang for the extra money. Lifetime warranty means lifetime warranty. I think Brad was with us when the guy was telling us he'd replace it for free. Now that's service! :)