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Old 11-04-2014, 09:50 AM   #1
Slufoot733
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Tonneau cover shrinking

I have a black vinyl tonneau cover for the bed of my tow vehicle. Now it is over ten years old but still in pretty good shape. BUT, as it has aged it has shrunk. When it's warm out it will still fit but now that the temps are cooler it has shrunk a lot. I am no longer able to pull it to get the snaps lined up. Does anyone know of a product that might soften the material and allow t to streach out a little? I have used a cleaner/conditioner over the years but it doesn't seem to help at this point. If not, I'll just have to break down and buy a new one .

Thanks,

KT
 
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Old 11-04-2014, 10:22 AM   #2
Tom S.
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Maybe take it inside and warm it up or try warming it up outside, either with a hair drier or by putting a heater in the bed. What brand is it? You might be able to buy just the cover.
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Old 11-04-2014, 01:27 PM   #3
jlb27537
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10 years, sounds like it's life is about over. You can get a new Truxedo for about $350-400 that uses velcro. I love my LoPro QT cover.

http://www.truxedo.com/

Jim

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Old 11-04-2014, 09:28 PM   #4
Ray Audet
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You might want to check the waranty. I have a Truxedo LoPro and love it. After about 7 years some of the stitching that holds the velcro to the cover was coming apart. I went back to where I bought it, just to see if they knew of someone who could re-stitch. They told me that my cover was guaranteed for life. They took some pictures, sent them to Truxedo and about a week later, I received a brand new one at no cost!
Big bouquet of roses to Truxedo.
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Old 11-05-2014, 02:45 AM   #5
Slufoot733
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On a nice warm, sunny day the cover is soft and pilable. It streaches out nicely. But it's cooler here in western PA and it shrinks over an inch. I have tried to warm it up but it's too big to get the whole thing warm long enough to get it on.

As for service life, I have no conplaints. It's been around for a long time and been on & off the bed hundreds of times. The brand is unknows since the tag wore off years ago and I know it only had a one year warrenty. Sounds like it's time for a new one.

Thanks everyone,

KT
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Old 11-09-2014, 12:43 PM   #6
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Well, I finally got it on the bed. Today the sun was shining so I placed the cover on the bed and let it warm up. It did, but not enough. SO, I decided to try hot water. Four buckets of 'hot as I could get' out of the hot water tank. It did the trick. I snapped as many snaps as I could. I then poured hot water on the cover and allowed it to soften and streach. That allowed me to fasten more snaps. I repeated this until I got to the rear and was able to fasten the last few snaps. It worked, I got plenty wet......and it's time for e new one. Thanks all.
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Old 11-09-2014, 03:20 PM   #7
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10 years is a pretty good run for the money
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Old 11-10-2014, 03:47 AM   #8
scattershot
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Sounds like you found a solution. I usually spread mine out over the bed on a sunny day, and it doesn't take long to soften up. Mine is older than yours, and still gives good service.
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Old 11-10-2014, 03:07 PM   #9
Bill-N-Donna
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Our cover is a Fold-A-Cover and its life is about over. It became somewhat tiresome to open and close lifting it in sections. However, it started sagging a little making it more difficult so I removed it. I used it without a cover this summer and it wasn’t a problem. Since I have a place to park it out of the weather now I really haven’t given it much thought.
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