Soft Tonneau Installation

[andrewb]

Hey,

I've purchased a genuine soft tonneau cover for my '12 D40 ST. It's on its way over from the East coast and while I'm waiting I thought I'd familarise myself with the installation. Does anyone have an installation guide for these covers? This isn't the bungee type cover, it just sits snug on the top of the tray. After doing some reading online, some say you need to pop rivet some rails on?

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[nathand22]

Hi Andrew, your spot on mate, you do indeed need to pop rivet it all on but the side rails are also held on with double sided tape.

First thing i have learnt from doing three now is throw away most of the rivets the kit comes with and go up a size in both width and the grip length, the only ones you will need to keep of the originals is the four that go through the press studs, they need to be that size to fit in correctly but the rest need to be stronger.

The other tip is the side rail which there will be four of and the rear rail that goes over the tail gate have double sided tape, i only peel back a few mm on each end of each one so you have just enough to hold it in position while you drill out the holes for the pop rivets, (it is a good idea to sit rivets in the holes as you go just to make sure nothing moves on you.)
once you have all the holes drilled remove the rail and clean out all the metal shavings to prevent them from sticking in and on the tape and rusting between the rail and your tray.

the other thing i do is run some more double sided tap along the rail that goes against the back board of the tray, this will help keep it a little dryer when the tonneau is on.
just incase they dont tell you that rear rail goes vertically on the back board, NOT horizontally like i have seen some try and do.

any probs let us know.

Nath

 

[andrewb]

Hey Nath,

Thanks for all the helpful info, hopefully the installation isn't too tedious!

I'll be sure to post up some photos when I'm done.

Thanks,
Andrew

 

[nathand22]

No probs at all mate, one thing that i didnt make clear was after you remove the drill shavings from then peel the backing on the double sided tape, but have one rivet in one end and line it up then stick the rest down.

Its a pretty easy job mate, i just found those few things make it a little easier and stronger, as i have had some of the shitty stock rivets let go.

 

[andrewb]

Hey,

My cover arrived last Monday and so did my newborn son! I just got around to installing it yesterday. The installation went pretty well however would've gone more smooth if I paid more attention to the instructions.... Forgot to put the support bar brackets in, so I had to drill out the two rivets and start over

Here's the end product:
http://imgur.com/eSCPD11

Also, I've scanned and uploaded the instructions in case anyone was after them https://www.dropbox.com/s/bia5aye94pfx2s6/Scanned.pdf

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[nathand22]

congrats on the baby boy!! and on the install lol