K-Covers Tonneau (Advance) Cover vs. Fold-A-Cover
October 23rd, 2007When comparing Fold-A-Cover to the K-Covers Tonneau Cover (Advance Cover), keep in mind that our cover is the second generation of the original folding tonneau cover. The biggest improvements over that cover revolve around the removal of the surface mounted rails and the mounting of all of the latching and bracket hardware under the cover (so none of this is visible when the cover is closed). To explain this further, with our cover, you do not install additional side rails onto your pickup truck rails (WE HAVE NO RAIL SYSTEM). This cover sets right on top of your truck bed rails with all hinge and latch brackets located under the cover (on the inside rail surface in the truck bed). In the 4 panel configuration, the two rear hinges are locked by a sliding latch mechanism which secures to brackets that are mounted UNDERNEATH the cover. These brackets are mounted along the inside rail of your pickup and not on top of the rail, and are engaged by a rod which is depressed when it is completely closed. In other words, when the cover is closed (whether it is locked or not) you cannot open or lift up the middle hinges as they are now securely engaged in the ‘lock position’ by this depressed rod. This configuration gives us a much more low profile appearance without sharp corners or edges when compared to other similar folding tonneau covers. We utilize a patented latching system that automatically locks the middle two hinges down. Foldacover, in their original cover, uses top mounted sliding latches that hold the thumb tabs down which are very sharp. On their newest and now most popular model, the LS, there is nothing holding down their cover at the 2nd and 3rd hinge points as we have this under the cover latching system patented. This means that air gusts, when going by large trucks, had the ability to raise the cover off of the rails as they cannot use our patented under the cover latching design. With both latching systems (or lack of them), they have been known to not hold down very well. This means that your cover “Tee-Pees” in the middle and water and air gets under the cover, which at best, rain gets into your truck bed. At worse, the air can actual damage the cover or cause the cover to come off. This is why some people experience vibrating with this cover. However, as ours is latched securely at strategic points along the length of the cover, we have not encountered any problems like this to date nor do we expect to (Thank God!).
In addition, The Fold-A-Cover (F-A-C) models secure the tailgate by having the last panel “overhang” the tailgate to prevent it from opening. However, to keep it’s low profile appearance, the overlap is maybe one-half inch. As there is always play in the last panel, Fold-A-Cover users have complained to us that their tailgate “is not that secure” and that a stout yank on the tailgate will open it, making the cargo vulnerable.
In addition, our cover has a 4 point Automatic Latching that is much more low profile than the latching system they currently offer. Our latching system operates within about ¾” of space underneath the cover. Their latching system takes up 3 to 3 ½ inches of cargo space under the bed of the truck.
A few more points:
· F-A-C has no center latch
· F-A-C has no lift handles on the center panels
· F-A-C hinges are riveted between panels with small rivets – with their seal in between. These will come loose if the cover is slammed too hard and have a propensity to leak (you can basically “spring” the hinge). The rear panel can come loose and is susceptible to coming off. The K-Cover…our hinges are part of the aluminum channel and riveted from the other direction with larger rivets. If it is slammed hard…it will not come loose or leak.
· To replace a seal on a F-A-C, you must drill out the rivets and remove the tape and seal and replace. This is a big job that takes hours and it is not easy to do. It should be sent back to the factory and this is very costly (shipping alone is very costly). You actually have to take the panels apart from one another. Our seals go over the top and can be replaces with the cover on the truck. No tools needed and put on I approx. 5 minutes at a fraction of the cost.
· F-A-C latch is made from plastic and aluminum. Ours is made of stainless steel and aluminum. The F-A-C has a plastic box which hangs down 2” with aluminum rods out in the open with no protection point on each side of the cover and can be easily damaged and cause failure of the latch. These rods have 2 pieces of plastic which mount to the rod an d must be adjusted in two directions each and can vibrate loose. Our latch hangs down only ¾”. These rods are stainless steal and are incased so they do not get damaged. There are no adjustments on this system and no plastic ends. You simply clamp the bracket on the truck and adjust the bracket up and down. You do not need the key every time, unless you lock the cover.
· To remove a F-A-C, you must remove screws, and brackets from underneath. With our cover, you do not remove anything. You simply loosen the two nuts, and back two screws out about 3/16”, and remove it completely and reinstall the same way. This procedure takes about one minute and is done without getting in the truck box.
· We have a patented dual seal system on the truck box so it is much more weather and water resistant.
· Our covers are fully assembled when shipped
· Our hinges, seals and latch systems are covered by the patents listed on the “Operation of the Cover” sticker mounted underneath the system.
· Not only that, their most secure system (the original cover) has a rail system, and the rails are known to fade and warp as they are rigid plastic.
Hopefully this is helpful! We look forward to doing more comparisons of our covers to others soon!
The K-Covers Customer Service Team
1-800-261-1185