Retractable tonneau covers are a highly sought after tonneau cover on the market today. The price range on these tonneau covers are among the highest for tonneau covers but with good reason.

They usually are manufactured with aluminum panels. Some are painted with a very durable powder coat finish. This is a very tough paint system which holds up to protect the tonneau from the elements. Others have a powder coated frame and hardware but the aluminum slats or panels are laminated with weather proof padded polymer to give the cover a leather look.

All these retractable tonneau covers glide along rails which are usually clamped along the top of the truck box rails. The cover rolls up into a canister which is located behind the cab of the pickup truck. The cover usually has spring tension on it to help with opening and closing the tonneau.

They are constructed to withstand a snow-load and water is directed into the side-rails and then to the canister and out of your truck box through drain hoses. They pretty much have the same basic design.

These retractable tonneau covers really look sharp on the back of a pickup truck and save you fuel at the pumps. They are pretty lightweight and allow the wind to pass over them rather than hitting against the tailgate causing a drag.

They protect your cargo from thieves in a couple of ways. They usually lock at the back to protect your cargo from thieves and they also just keep your cargo out of the eyes of people who like to take things that don’t belong to them. The hidden factor alone is a great asset for the tonneau cover owner.

The retractable tonneau covers also protects your cargo from weather conditions such as rain and snow. Your cargo is also protected from ripping winds caused from higher speeds. This is especially great if you are carrying delicate cargo such as plants.These covers are great when you need to carry larger, taller loads as you can open them up very quickly and easily giving you complete access to your truck bed.

If you are looking for a tonneau cover that opens and closes easily, looks great, saves fuel, has locking capability, completely opens for complete access to your truck bed, maybe you should have a look at the retractable tonneau covers.

Let me start with a brief description:

The RT Tonneau Cover by Extang is a low profile tonneau cover that sits nearly flush to your truck box. The tarp is made from an industrial vinyl. The bows are not so pronounced as other soft tonneaus. There is what they call a “perfect fit control” at the cab end to keep your cover adjusted to suit the different hot and cold climate conditions. This adjusting is done manually. The rear rail locks at the rear and you must open it with the tailgate down from underneath the tarp. The bows roll up with the tarp. The tarp seals with an industrial Velcro sealing system. There are buckles to secure the tarp when it is rolled up to the cab. This tonneau cover also comes in a tool box edition.

Benefits:

The Rt sits almost flush with your truck box.

The bows roll up with the tarp to give you quick easy access to your truck bed.

Lock on rear for added security.

Protects your cargo from weather, winds from higher speeds and keeps your cargo out of sight from thieves.

Great new look on your pickup truck.

As most tonneau covers it saves on fuel consumption.

Easy installation with no drilling required.

Customer Woes:

Many say this cover is nice and snug but some say the tarp does flap a little at higher speeds. Some do admit they may have to play around with the adjuster.

Some say they get a little water.

Although the stake holes are usable some did not like the fact the tarp did not cover these.

Make sure the rails are straight for the lock mechanism to work properly.

Although the tarp locks at back but even with a tailgate lock it would not be hard for thieves to get in.

A tonneau cover is about the best aftermarket auto accessory you can invest in for your pickup truck. The advantages of owning a truck bed cover heavily out-weigh the amount of money you are going to pay for one.

The advantages of owning a tonneau cover can be such as the great added look you will give your vehicle by adding one to your truck bed. There are so many different types out there you should have no problem picking out a look that is right for you. You can get a sleek looking low profile, or one that stands up a little. There are soft covers, fiberglass tonneau covers, aluminum, roll-up, retractable, electric, folding, hinged and more.

Having a truck bed cover on the back of your truck will protect your cargo from weather conditions such as snow or rain. There is no need of having everything in your cargo area soaking wet. Who wants to shovel snow out their truck box before using it? Just being able to keep the debris out is a bonus with pollen or leaves in the fall. It just a real clean sleek look having a tonneau cover.

Whenever you haul delicate cargo such as flowers or plants or even paper products a truck lid will protect them from winds such as created from higher speed highway driving.

Without a tonneau cover you don’t feel safe leaving your vehicle with cargo in it, even for a few moments. There are a lot of people out there who like to take things that don’t belong to them but when they can’t see what your truck box contains they don’t even think about it. For added protection there are quite a few tonneau covers that are lockable today.

Having one on your truck bed in the closed position will create less wind resistance by allowing the wind to pass over your vehicle instead of hitting the tailgate causing drag. Less drag spells less fuel consumption and there is no need for me to mention the advantages of saving fuel to you.

Investing in a lid is just the logical thing to do when you’re the owner of a pickup truck. For those of you who have not decided if a tonneau cover is any good. Well Duh. Have a happy shopping experience, you’ll be glad you did.

When asked recently “What tonneau cover would fit a Honda Ridgeline?” I really had to dig but there are a few covers that fit the bill. First of all not being familiar with the Ridgeline by Honda I had to investigate. The Honda Ridgeline looks sort of like a cross between an SUV and a pickup truck. I certainly am not knocking this vehicle I think it looks absolutely great. Unfortunately at the time I wrote this article there are not a lot of tonneau covers manufactured to fit this pickup truck. I do hope that changes in the near future.

The first and my favorite for the said automobile that I did find is the BakFlip folding tonneau cover by Bak. This is a lockable hardtop tonneau cover made from an ABS plastic laminated over a honey comb core for extra strength. This tonneau cover allows you quick easy access to your truck bed by folding up in sections and when folded back all the way, it protects your rear window from large loads. The cover is easily removed by loosening a couple of wing nuts. This cover would add a great look to an already great looking automobile.

The next tonneau cover I found for the Honda Ridgeline is the Lo Pro soft roll-up truck bed cover by Truxedo. This soft roll-up tonneau has no snaps, it uses large velcro loop system for great sealing. This tonneau cover has a patented tension control so it will keep a snug fit on your Honda Ridgeline in all types of weather conditions. The Lo Pro rolls up and out of the way for easy access to your complete truck bed.

The last tonneau I found to fit the Honda Ridgeline was the Access Roll-up tonneau cover. The roll-up by Access also uses a hook and loop system to seal the tonneau. This cover uses an easy dial tensioner to keep the tonneau snug. The frame of this tonneau is made from aluminum and everything rolls up quickly to get at the bed of your Honda Ridgeline.

Whatever your choice is you will be getting a quality tonneau cover with any of these three truck bed covers. There are not a lot of tonneau covers for the Honda Ridgeline but these three would all look great on this pickup truck.

You have probably heard theses gas saving tips from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and whoever taught you to drive. Yet very few people actually bother to implement them.

Why is that? Are people tired of hearing them? Have these gas saving tips been said so many times that people tune them out? Well, you are going to hear them again in this series of articles, along with the reasons why they DO work!

Gas Saving Tip #1: Know Your Vehicle’s Fuel Efficiency

The actual fuel efficiency of your car will probably differ from that stated on the price sticker. Variables such as make, model, weather, city or interstate driving, and driving habits will affect the fuel efficiency. Efficiency is measured in miles driven per gallon of gasoline used (miles per gallon or mpg).

That is why you should periodically calculate your vehicle’s fuel efficiency. If you see it decreasing, you know that something’s not right with the engine and can take quick action to fix it.

Some people are unaware of how to properly calculate fuel efficiency. It is more than simply dividing miles by gallons. For example, if someone drives 500 miles and then buys 1 gallon of gas, the fuel efficiency is not 500 miles per gallon!

Here is the proper method to calculate fuel efficiency in mpg:

1. Fill up your gas tank. Do not top it off. 2. Write down the starting mileage. 3. Drive until the tank is almost empty. 4. Fill the tank up again the next time you need to buy gas. 5. Write down the ending mileage. 6. Write down the number of gallons of gas it took to fill up the tank. 7. Calculate the Miles Traveled as the Ending Mileage minus the Starting Mileage. 8. The fuel efficiency in mpg = Miles Traveled / Gallons Used

Example:

A driver fills up her tank when the odometer reads 25,000 miles. When the tank is almost empty, she fills up with 18.5 gallons, and the odometer reads 25,500 miles.

Starting Mileage = 25,000 miles Ending Mileage = 25,500 miles Miles Traveled = 25,500 - 25,000 = 500 miles Gallons Used = 18.5 gallons Fuel Efficiency = 500 miles / 18.5 gallons = 27 mpg

If her next efficiency calculation under similar driving conditions is only 20 mpg, she knows that something is wrong with the vehicle.

As gas prices go higher, the need to save gas and save money on fuel is greater than ever. More gas saving tips can be found at the website below.

With the unofficial start of summer underway, InsureMe, the leading online insurance shopping service, is offering tips to keep cars in prime condition during the high heat and humidity of summer.

Because summer heat can be particularly hard on vehicles, InsureMe recommends the following:

Flushing and refilling the cooling system. Coolant levels and conditions should be checked throughout the summer to avoid overheating—the greatest cause of summer breakdowns.

Checking the vehicle’s radiator core. Cars that have been through a harsh winter face radiator corrosion from salts and deicers on the road. Using antifreeze, even during the summer, will help to reduce corrosion and keep the vehicle from overheating.

Changing the oil. While technicians advocate an oil change every 3,000 miles, cars that are routinely subjected to high heat, humidity and stop-and-go traffic need to be serviced more often.

Checking tire condition and pressure. Keeping the right amount of tire pressure is central to preserving fuel economy and extending the life of the tires. Drivers should also be on the lookout for visible damage to tires, which can worsen under intense heat.

For the numerous car owners who don’t perform their own vehicle maintenance, many repair and tune-up shops are offering summer car care packages which include many of the above mentioned services, with some major retailers offering the summer services for under $100. [PRWEB]

Dependable Auto Shippers (DAS) announced the addition of special hard-sided motorcycle shipping carriers to its vehicle relocation fleet. The new enclosed trucks ship motorcycles safely and efficiently, protecting them from inclement weather and other open-air transport hazards.

DAS is the country’s largest privately held vehicle relocation company, shipping private- as well as dealer- and corporate-owned vehicles almost anywhere in the world. The new hard-sided motorcycle transport carriers make a welcome addition to its $30 million, 200-truck transport fleet.

“We are very pleased to announce the addition of our enclosed motorcycle vehicle transport trucks. Motorcycle owners take pride in their machines and we like to know that we are offering the best protection whether we’re shipping a single bike or a hundred bikes across the country or across the world,” describes John Roehll, Executive Vice President for Dependable Auto Shippers.

As a large and reliable vehicle transport company, DAS is a sound choice for private parties in need of motorcycle and auto transport services. With over 50 years experience in the vehicle shipping industry, and a policy of integrity, reliability, and customer satisfaction, DAS offers particularly responsive care and high professional standards.

In addition to shipping motorcycles, Dependable Auto Shippers transports cars, trucks, ATVs, vans, recreational vehicles, antique cars, custom cars, boats, planes, and other specialty vehicles. It also offers state-of-the-art satellite location tracking of all its vehicle transport carriers, one of the features that makes DAS the car shipping and relocation vendor of choice for the majority of Fortune 500 companies. [PRWEB]

Shipping motor bikes or any other vehicles demands quite a big deal of care on the part of the shipper. Some of these shippers provide storage from basic to full maintenance programs that even make sure the proper care of car stereo. These programs do cost a lot but ensure the complete care of each part of the vehicle including cd changers and tires. The snapshots of before and after conditions can be captured even in a short mobile video.

Since its inception, The Snow Tire FAQ has helped thousands of people learn about snow tires and has helped them make the right choice for their needs. “There are many people making many claims about tires. We try to help the consumer see through the confusion and make clear choices,” says editor John Werner.

To that end, the Real World Snow Tire Tests were started in 2001. The Tests provide both quantitative and qualitative evaluations of snow tires in Real World conditions. “While testing tires for ice traction on a hockey rink has the definite benefit of being very reproducible, it doesn’t necessarily correlate with the conditions that are likely to be found in the real world. Very seldom have I seen bare, flat, glare ice on the roads. Usually I see snow with a mix of ice and pavement, and none of it is flat.”

The 2006 edition of the Real World Snow Tire Tests marks the 4th time the tests have been run. For this year, three manufacturers agreed to provide a total of four sets of tires to be tested and reviewed:

• Green Diamond Icelander
• Nokian Hakkapeliitta 4 (studded)
• Nokian RSI
• Vredestein SnowTrac 2

The snow tires are fitted on nearly identical cars that are driven on real roads throughout the winter weather that Rochester, NY has to offer. The weather provides a good mix of snow, dry, ice, and mixed conditions road conditions. It is the driving the cars in the real world that forms the base of the qualitative reviews.

The quantitative evaluations come at the Shoot-out. In the Shoot-out, the fore/aft and lateral acceleration of the tires is tested. The testing includes braking and acceleration tests along with a series of timed runs through a closed course.

According to John Werner, “the Shoot-out provides us with hard numbers to back up the opinions of the drivers. It also provides the testers with the chance to make further qualitative evaluations under identical conditions.” [PRWEB]

tagTRAX: snow tires | acceleration tests | real world | john werner | snow tire

Related Stories:

• Protect Your Car From Road Salt
• e-TireChains.com Explains Tire Chains

(QT Auto News) – Gasoline prices have trended upwards during the first two weeks of January with nearly a 20 cent increase at the pumps since December. Will prices continue to skyrocket in the future or is it a temporary market fluctuation?

Short term, expect that volatile prices will continue especially with instability in the Middle East. Moreover, during the next few years, the growing Chinese automotive market will put an ever-increasing pressure on oil prices.

Be prepared for this year’s Hurricane season, as speculators drive gasoline prices higher with Gulf area production closures due to weather.

As a consumer, we have very little control over market fluctuation. Political unrest and supply shortages will always drive prices higher. But as a consumer, we control the demand side of the equation.

An immediate reduction in demand would take place if we simple improve our driving habits.

• Slow down. Drive at 65 MPH instead of 75 MPH.
• Maintain proper tire pressure.
• Minimize acceleration
• Anticipate traffic conditions to prevent stopping

Customizing the Colt is surely a hit for enthusiasts who want a personalized appearance for their car. Dodge Colt’s interior can have that fresh air comfort in all weather conditions by customizing. [PRWEB Jul 16, 2005]