Why It’s Important to Perform Tonneau Cover Maintenance in Summer

Key Takeaways:

• Gas springs react to temperature changes, which is why it might feel a little bit different to open your bed cover on a hot summer afternoon than in the morning.
• With a simple tonneau cover maintenance routine of washing and checking for wear, you can keep your cover in prime condition.
• We recommend checking your tonneau struts (in the early morning) before taking a long trip this summer to avoid having to swap out parts while you're on the road.

Your truck bed cover lives outside most of the year. It bakes in the sun. It gets road dust in the hinges. It gets slammed shut, popped open, and leaned on when you're tailgating. Your truck bed cover is constantly under stress, which is why tonneau cover maintenance is so important. 

The struts under a tonneau cover are typically gas springs. They use pressurized nitrogen and a small amount of oil to create lift and cushioning. That’s what helps the cover rise and stay up.

If you’ve ever noticed that it’s a little bit easier to lift your cover on a hot afternoon, that's because heat changes the pressure inside the strut. When there's increased pressure, you get a little more push.

But if it starts opening too aggressively or it’s putting extra stress on the hardware, that could be an issue that requires a little TLC. 

The Best Tonneau Cover Maintenance Routine

Here are a few things we check in the driveway before taking a summer trip or before a stretch of hot weather.

• Wash Your Cover

Many tonneau cover makers keep it simple in terms of cleaning. 

You can pretty much wash it like the rest of your truck. If you take your truck to a car wash bay or do it at home, you can use the same soap and water treatment. Sometimes, a little bit of spray conditioner can make it look like new. 

Just make sure that for anything related to tonneau cover maintenance, you follow what your specific cover manufacturer says.

• Make Sure Your Hardware Is Tight

This includes your clamps, bolts, and latches. 

A lot of truck owners have their tonneau covers installed by local shops, and many don't realize that some have knobs and other hardware that need to be tightened and inspected regularly. The more you drive, the more likely your hardware is to come loose. The last thing you want is for your cover to flip off the back of your truck when you're flying down the freeway.

Make hardware checks part of your tonneau cover maintenance routine. 

• Look at Seals and Hinges

Heat and UV are rough on exposed materials. The cover itself might still look okay from ten feet away, but rubber seals can dry out, and plastic or coated parts can age faster in the sun. 

If you notice things are looking a little weathered during your tonneau cover maintenance routine, you can run your fingers along the weather seal around the cover and try to feel for brittle spots or small splits.

If you see some dirt packed into the hinge line, you can typically get it out with a little soap, water, and a soft brush or microfiber cloth. Make sure to dry the area once you're done so you don't leave any grit behind.

You can also try opening and closing the cover a few times and watch how the hinges are moving. If anything is rubbing or moving side to side, you may just need to replace the hardware.

Checking Your Tonneau Struts Before They Fail

If there’s one piece of advice we can hope to leave you with after this tonneau cover maintenance guide, it’s that a five-minute strut check can save you from a lot of aggravation later on. The best time for checking your tonneau struts is in the early morning, before temperatures are at peak heat. Supports are temperature-sensitive and actually perform best at higher temperatures. So checking at cooler temps can reveal issues you might otherwise miss. To check your tonneau struts, start with the cover fully open. Watch both sides. Do they rise evenly? Does one side lag behind? Does the cover drift down after a few seconds? If one side looks a little lazy, that's your first clue.  Next, look at the strut body and rod. See any oil residue? Or a bit of rust starting to form? That typically means your strut may be reaching the end of its life. While your gas springs need oil for lubrication, you shouldn't see any of it leaking on the outside.

Now do a simple feel test. Open the cover after the truck's been sitting in the sun. Then do it again later when things cool down. Checking tonneau struts this way helps you tell the difference between temporary heat-related changes and an actual weak strut. If it feels sketchy all the time, not just when it's hot, that points to replacement.

One more thing for your tonneau cover maintenance. Listen for binding.

If you hear your cover rubbing as it opens, or it feels like it catches on something for a second, it could even be an issue with the mounts or hinges. It’s not always a strut issue.

When It’s Time to Replace the Struts

Some parts can be cleaned up and adjusted during your tonneau cover maintenance routine. Struts usually aren't that kind of part.

Replacement is usually the right move if you're checking your tonneau struts and:

• The cover won’t stay up
• One side is obviously weaker
• The rod is leaking or starting to rust

If something's failing on a gas spring, it’s almost always internal. And you can’t fix these internal issues from the outside, which is why it’s better to just replace them. 

Plus, keeping bad struts can be dangerous. The last thing you want is to be loading up your truck, and the cover drops on your arm. Once struts get weak, they don't usually come back. They get worse.

A lot of truck owners put off replacing their struts because the cover still kind of works. We get it. But if you’re in and out of the bed all the time, it can make daily life a lot less of a pain.

Stay Ahead of Strut Problems

A few quick checks now can make a big difference in the summer. That’s pretty much all tonneau cover maintenance is. A few quick checks.

Wash the cover when it's dirty. Check the clamps and latches. Look over the hinges and seals. Spend a few minutes checking your tonneau struts before you go out on any long trips. Do that, and you'll be ready for anything.

And if your struts are done, they're done. Replace them and move on. Lift Supports Depot has a big inventory of lift supports, gas struts, and gas springs, plus a U.S.-based team that can help you match the right part for your application.