Product Reviews : A.R.E. Truck Caps and Tonneau Covers

Overall I like the Z-series cap for my Ram truck. I had a Z-series for 10 years on my old truck (Toyota Tundra) and felt it was an excellent product, both in fit and finish. I've only had the new cap on my new truck for a couple months, but I am pleased so far. My main dislike of the fit for the Ram is how A.R.E. deals with the very wide top of the tailgate. Instead of extending the full cap structure, the piece that fits over the tailgate is a large plastic piece that I feel is very vulnerable to breaking over the years (this happened with my old one on the Toyota). I didn't remember seeing this when looking at the models in the dealership. Also, it is unfortunate that A.R.E. won't let you get the pet screens installed on the Z-series (as told to me by the cap dealership). The reason given was that the windows don't open wide enough for a pet to escape, so they don't offer the pet screens on that model. I wanted them to protect the fragile screen material, not for keeping the dog inside the bed. Seems odd to me that A.R.E. and the dealership would turn away the chance to pick up a few extra dollars in the sale. Autoplex by VanWorks LLC did the installation, which I think could have gone better. Several minor items were disappointing, for example the electrical connectors used to wire in the brake light are not very rugged. I asked to be able to have a quick connect/disconnect as I take the cap on and off several times during the year. The connections I got are very hard to unplug without tearing the wires out. My old cap (installed by a different dealership) had a very easy and stout plug making it simple to plug/unplug the lights. Overall I'm happy with the cap even though I would change a few things. I'm not overly pleased with the dealership and installation.