The tonneau cover on my F-150 has been there almost as long as I have. Eight years, more car washes than I could ever count, and it finally lost the fight. The weatherstripping gave out; water started finding its way into the bed, and after nearly a decade of good service, it was time.
OPENROAD reached out to see if I'd put their aluminum retractable cover through its paces, so this is that story. Full disclosure up front: OPENROAD provided the cover at no cost in exchange for an honest review, and the link in this post is an affiliate link, meaning I may earn a small commission if you buy through it at no extra cost to you. Neither of those things changes what I'm about to tell you.
Out With the Old
The old cover had done its job almost flawlessly for eight years. By the end, though, the weather stripping had failed, and water was getting into the bed. I gave everything a good cleaning, unboxed the OPENROAD unit, and got to work.
First impression: this thing is heavy. Everything is packaged well, but I'd genuinely recommend the install as a two-person job. I didn't have a second set of hands, so I improvised with a couple of ladders to support the arms while I worked. If you're installing this alone, budget extra time and don't be afraid to get creative with support.
The Install
The process itself isn't complicated; it's just involved. You attach the cover to its rails, run weather stripping across the back of the bed, lift the whole assembly into place, and bolt on the top plate with six bolts. From there, four C clamps anchor the rails to the bed itself, and a rubber mallet gets everything seated.
I'll admit I skipped reading the instructions closely enough on the C clamps and had to redo one. Lesson relearned: read the instructions, even when you've done a hundred installs before. Once everything was clamped down, I spent a few extra minutes getting the whole assembly centered and symmetrical in the bed. Worth the patience.
The part I wasn't expecting was the drainage system. Four tubes route water out of the bed, front and back, and getting them in meant drilling new holes in the bed rails. I'm not thrilled about drilling into a truck I've owned for eight years, but the tubes need somewhere to drain, and the alternative is standing water. I ran the hoses down, zip-tied them at the bottom for the cleanest possible drain path, and moved on.
The Bonus Fix: Dead Bed Lights
Since I was already elbow deep in the bed of the truck, I finally tackled something that had been broken for years: my bed lights. The button that controls them had stopped working a long time ago, and it turns out this is a common failure point on these trucks; the button corrodes and simply quits.
The fix was straightforward. Pry off the old button, disconnect it from the harness, install a new one, done. I found some old tape wrapped around the connector that I suspect was left over from when I had Line-X spray-in bedliner installed, not a factory detail. If your bed lights have stopped working, this is the first thing I'd check before assuming anything more serious is wrong. I've linked the replacement button I used below.
Can It Actually Hold My Weight?
OPENROAD rates this cover to support up to 440 pounds. I'm about 250, so I climbed up to find out for myself. Short answer: yes, no problem. There's a little flex, and the black aluminum gets legitimately hot in direct sun, so I didn't linger, but it held me without any concern.
The Real Test: The Car Wash
This was the moment that actually mattered to me. I've run my truck through the same car wash for eight years with the old soft cover, and it never let water into the bed. Could the new aluminum cover match that?
On camera, it didn't, not at first. Water got in at the front. I adjusted the cover about an inch rearward when I got home and was optimistic it would solve the problem, but I didn't have confirmation at the time I finished filming.
I do now. I ran the truck through the wash again a few days later, after the adjustment, and checked the bed. Bone dry. The rearward adjustment fixed it. If you install one of these yourself, don't be surprised if it takes a small tweak to get the seal exactly right, and don't assume it's a defect if the first pass isn't perfect.
Living With It: The Good and the Not So Good
The price is genuinely the standout here. I looked into what comparable aluminum retractable covers cost for an F-150 while putting this review together, and it's not close. Retrax's RetraxONE MX runs somewhere between $1,350 and $1,450 depending on the sale. Gator's Recoil sits around $899. OPENROAD's F-150 cover lists at $699.99, and their TSTDRVR discount code knocks another 10% off that. It's a genuinely rare case where the cheaper option isn't a worse-looking product; this one looks rugged and built to last.
A few things keep it from being perfect. The assembly at the start is not beginner-friendly. If you're not someone who enjoys wrenching on your own truck, budget for patience or a helper. There's a handle button that, as far as I can tell, does nothing; the sticker instructions imply it should move something, and it doesn't. And the whole mechanism ultimately depends on a nylon strap to slide the cover open and closed. That's my biggest long-term concern. Nylon doesn't age gracefully, and when that strap eventually fails, you're stuck without a way to access the back of the bed until you replace it. The drain tubes also give the install a slightly more aftermarket look than I'd prefer; it's a small tradeoff for keeping water out of the bed, but worth knowing going in.
Final Verdict
This is a real upgrade over the tired soft cover it replaced, and at this price point, I don't think there's a better hard cover option for the F-150 right now. It's not without quirks: the assembly, the mystery button, and the nylon strap are all things I'll be keeping an eye on over time, but the fundamentals- security, weather sealing once properly adjusted, and load capacity- are all there.
I'm grateful to OPENROAD for sending this one over to test. If you want to grab one for your own truck, the link and a 10% discount code are below.
https://openroad4wd.com/?aff=1161
Discount code: TSTDRVR
