How To Repair A Tonneau Cover

A tonneau cover is an essential part of your truck. It protects your truck bed from bad weather, utilities from dust and reduces the chance of cargo stealing in the middle of other things. Most tonneau covers are made of vinyl. Without proper maintenance, your tonneau cover can be damaged, dry, or even tears. These problems commonly arise from wrong fitting, wear due to age, frequent use, and incorrect vehicle size. These problems lead to leaking, flipping and the cover may stick to the bed of the truck. Don’t worry, you can repair your tonneau cover yourself by following our instructions.

Before start repairing you have to make sure what kind of damages is done. Because there are different ways for fixing a tonneau cover for different types of damages.

• Small Tear in a Leather Truck Bed Cover
• Water Leakage
• Noisy tonneau cover
• Cover becomes stuck

Small Tear Repair

Most soft truck bed covers are merchandised as leather and are made of vinyl. These covers are destructible even though vinyl is stronger than leather. So, let’s see how to fix a small tear using a vinyl repair kit.

Step -1: Clean the area

Carefully clean the area around the tear and remove dirt and oil. Otherwise, it may prevent the vinyl from bonding with the repair material. You can use soap and water initially and then alcohol.

Step -2: Remove edges

Use a razor blade or scissor to remove rough edges around the hole.

Step -3: Sealing them off

Under the tear, insert a canvas backing from a vinyl and leather repair kit using tweezers. It may require you to apply glue to seal the vinyl and the canvas together.

Step -4: Filling the tear

Now, from the repair kit use the vinyl touch-up kit to match the colour of the cover. Using filler material, mix the pigment. Apply filler material in several thin layers rather than one layer to fill the tear.

Fixing Water Leaks

It is possible to make the tonneau cover water-resistant, but notice that there is no tonneau cover that is completely waterproof. It can be leaked anytime, no matter how good the cover is. Let’s not worry much, your tonneau cover is still usable. You can fix a leaking tonneau cover by applying some simple steps.

• Find the leaking position using the fake rain method. To do that, close the cover completely and keep the back of the truck bed open. Then, spray water from outside and do it this way as it is falling naturally. Now, use a flashlight to find the leaking positions.
• Mark the positions of the leakage using tape or a marker pen.
• Seal the leaks using adhesive tape or find out what material best seals them off.
• Repeat the first step to see if there is any leak remains.

Noisy tonneau cover

You may hear some noises if your cover didn’t fit well. Noises are caused by loose installation or holes created through airflow inside the truck bed. To fix this, do the following.

• Check the tonneau cover for fitting. If needed, tighten the cover.
• Installing a larger size cover to a small truck can cause noises. Check if the cover is the right size.
• Check the seals to find any cracks.

Repairing a Stuck Cover

Generally, an ideal tonneau cover glides smoothly while opening and closing. If it gets stuck suddenly, then check if there is any rust in the opening mechanism. If there is any rust, apply lubrication and check if there is any damage using the cover frequently.

Conclusion

A tonneau cover can last long if it is maintained carefully. Tonneau cover related tips & reviews are available on our site. for example, Tonneau Cover Straps replacement guide, top Nissan frontier tonneau cover, and more. For further assistance, leave a comment below.

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