Tonneau Covers vs. Truck Bed Liners: Can You Combine these Truck Accessories?

Discover the best truck bed cover and truck bed liner combination for your truck.

The Benefits of a Truck Bed Liner

Truck bed liners are a protective barrier between your truck bed and your gear. These liners not only cover the bottom of the truck bed, but provide coverage along the walls and wheel wells, too. A bed liner also makes it easier to reposition items in and out of your truck bed.

Another protective alternative is a drop-in rubber truck bed mat. One major difference is that bed mats only cover the bottom surface of the bed, while liners provide complete coverage up the side. Bed mats are often made from durable materials, like Nycord rubber or polypropylene foam. We carry a wide variety of bed mats, which allows you to choose from the some of the most trusted names in the industry — names like BedRug, Dee Zee, and Lund. You can also read what past customers have said by following this link to our bed liner reviews page.

The Benefits of a Tonneau Cover

Tonneau covers provide the ultimate protection for your payload. Many styles are available for your careful consideration, from the always popular retractable tonneau cover to the tri-folding Bakflip F1 Tonneau Cover. Adding a cover to your truck bed is a sure way to complement its utility and complete its protection without impacting your rig’s aerodynamics. Our large selection of tonneau covers includes top brands like Extang, Pace Edwards, and UnderCover.

Combining a Truck Bed Liner and a Tonneau Cover

If you choose to add both a bed liner and a tonneau cover to your truck bed, you'll want to make sure they're compatible with one another. Tonneau covers work with all below-the-rail bed liners and spray-on or paint-on bed liners. Using a bed liner that extends over the top of the bed rails prevents access to the mounting points used by most tonneau covers and may result in improper installation.

A simple solution to this problem is to notch your bed liner. This involves cutting small reliefs, or notches, into the liner in the same location where the tonneau cover rail clamps attach. This allows the clamps to properly secure to the underside of the bed rails, meaning you can use both accessories at the same time.