One of the best ways to spruce up your ute or pickup truck is with a new tonneau. They not only look great but a perfect tonneau cover can save you money on fuel and protect your load. But finding the cover to suit your ute can be a bit chancy if you don’t know where to look. This tonneau cover buyer’s guide can help truck owners get the best ute covers for the best price.
Where Do I Get a Tonneau Cover?
Ute Covers Direct has all types of tonneau covers from soft and hard covers to suit most ute covers at the best prices you’ll find anywhere. We provide high quality, handcrafted, aftermarket alternatives to the tonneau covers sold at car dealerships. The following guide can help you finds the best tonneau covers that suit your needs.
Reasons to Buy a Ute Cover
This guide can show you the reasons to buy a tonneau cover and help you decide on the best cover you can buy from Ute Cover Direct
- Security - Exposed pickup trucks are like gifts to wannabe thieves but a tonneau will keep your load hidden from prying eyes. Some tonneaus are lockable for theft protection.
- Prevention - both soft covers and hard tonneaus are water repellant so they offer weather protection and keep your cargo dry. They keep out debris, dust and sunlight and also stop your load from moving or falling out.
- Fuel savings - a tonneau properly installed can reduce drag, increasing fuel efficiency and mileage by around 10 per cent.
- Appearance - a soft or hard tonneau cover can improve the look of your ute and make it more streamlined than having a bare ute cover. Ute Covers Direct tonneaus flawlessly match your paint colour so they blend in and look as if made just for your ute.
Finding the Right Ute Tonneau Cover
Do you buy a hard or soft tonneau cover? A hard ute tonneau cover will usually cost more, but they offer better security features, and soft tonneau covers are cheaper and more versatile, so it depends on what you want. Neither tonneau is better than the other. The following guide is about the styles available:
Folding Tonneau Covers
The relatively inexpensive folding tonneau cover uses panels manufactured by stretching high-quality vinyl over metal frames. Gain quick access to your load by folding the panels on top of one another by buying this style.
Roll-Up Tonneau Covers
Soft roll-up covers are lighter in weight than hard covers and are opened by rolling the cover back from the tailgate as little or as much as needed for fast access. A good buy!
Hinged Tonneau Covers
Buying a hinged tonneau cover means you get one built with a metal frame and vinyl that connects at the front of the truck’s bed nearest the cab. You open it by tilting the soft cover away from the top of the tailgate.
Hinged and Roll-Up
This is both a hinged and retractable cover in one package so it's also a good way of buying the best on offer - it is lifted from the tailgate for fast access to your load and rolls right up to the rear window for full access to the ute bed.
Retractable Tonneau Covers
A retractable tonneau cover can come in various styles with remote control and retract into a canister in the bed near the cab. These are hard tonneau covers, the best buy for truck owners with bigger vehicles who struggle with rolling or folding.
Before You Order Your Tonneau
To get the best tonneau cover that right for your ute or truck, a good guide is to ask yourself the following questions:
1. What is your main reason for buying a tonneau?
If you want security, function, appearance, easy open and versatility it can clinch your decision on whether you want to buy a roll-up or hard-top.
2. How often do you need to open the tonneau?
If you need quick access often, buying a hard or soft version in folding covers and retractable covers is a good idea.
3. What's your budget?
Buying a soft cover, in general, will cost from $250 to $550, and hard versions from $500 and more than $2000.
4. Who will install your tonneau?
You can install most tonneau covers yourself but if you are buying from Ute Covers Direct we can do the job for you at a cost.
Buying tonneau covers from us at Ute Covers Direct is easy and economical. We're an Australian family-owned and operated business with more than 25 years of experience in designing and manufacturing products in Australia. You can buy the best cover for your truck from us with total confidence. We use only top quality raw materials that have proven to work over many years. Contact us today for all your ute cover needs.
