Hi all. I have a soft tonneau cover that has really stiffened up after this last winter. It doesn't want to roll up so much as sloppily fold up. My first thought was to spray it down with Armor All, but I did see one product that explicitly said "tonneau cover protectant". My question comes from the fact that nothing really claims to soften it. So thinking of things like my boots, I started to wonder if I should just heat it up and treat it with mink oil.

Anyone else run into this problem? Any suggestions?

 

tonneau tonic. Works great.

 

Yes they do stiffen up.. I offer no help. but mine is 9 years old and still doing well..

just more stiff.

 

First I would clean it. It is porous and you want to scrub all of the dirt out of there before coating it. Dirt will wear it out faster.

Now, you can use Leather/Vinyl cleaner. Any auto parts store and Walmart carries the stuff. You can also look at the Leather cleaners as most are Leather/Vinyl protectants. I wouldnt use Armorall.
I actually have a plastic/vinyl portectant that works very well. It's an oily type substance to lubricate and is UV resistant. The UV rays are what hurts the cover the most.

 

I have a Access rollup cover on my Ram. I use the Access brand on my cover. I just wash it with Zip car wash, dry it, then put the tonneau condition on it and let it dry in by its self. After drying then wipe it down. DO NOT put any silicone on it .. It will make it crack & rot. If not sure what to do call the manuf. and ask them. My Access is warranted for life.. Good luck...

 

Thank you for mentioning us, Ram Man.

Here is what we recommend for our ACCESS® Roll-Up Covers: ACCESS™ COVER CARE™ Cleaner.



You can order it directly from us or from retailers who carry our covers.

Also, I wrote a blog post a few months back about making your tonneau cover last as long as possible. You can read it here.

And if you ever have any more questions about our Roll-Up Covers, don't hesitate to ask me. You can also email me here at my company at ladams@agricover.com.

 

This is a common misconception...
Actually, silicone causing deterioration problems is quite a misconception! What actually causes the problems is the chemical used as a projector in aerosol cans. It's not the silicone that actually causes the deterioration. So, if one did want to use silicone, it would have to be from a tube or a manual spray bottle rather than an aerosol can.

 

Thanks for the replies. I never really thought about the cover needing special attention. I'm going to scrub it and spray it with something. I'm temped to use something silicon based as a water proofer. It would be nice if in the winter the snow slid off it easier, but it's probably not worth the time trying to avoid an aerosol can. I'll just pick up a bottle of cover spray like posted above at one of the automotive stores.

 

I would advise not to use anything like armor-all. After treating one that I had with armor-all, everytime it rained it would run off the tonneau and really make a mess on the paint....kind of like when you spray tires with it and don't dry it and it sprays up on the paint.