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

I chose the Z series for my '14 Tacoma mostly for the added security. I bought the truck to pull our new Casita travel trailer (they look great together!) and wanted the best security for our recreational equipment. I ordered Yakima rails to mount our Kayaks. The quality of the paint job can't be beat, no blemishes and the color matches perfectly. I would have rated it 5 stars and the fit higher except for two issues. 1. The Yakima rails were not parallel, just off a bit but enough to make the front and back bar mounts non-interchangeable so I have to mark the bars to I don't attempt to mount them in the wrong landing pads. The landing pads on my Honda element are spaced equally, no problem mounting the bars. This is a minor issue but annoying. 2. The base of the top covers the top channel of the side cargo rails on truck bed and half of the cargo rail on the front of the bed. This makes using cargo rail accessories impossible for the front rail. I was able to get cleats mounted on the side rails but one side of the cleat mount is resting on the topper base and the other side is resting on the cargo rail. This makes for a poor mount of the cleat, what I'd call a “B” grade fit. Even when you have a top, it is important to secure your cargo in the bed and this makes it harder to do so. I like the top and would buy one even with the two issues but I think A.R.E could and should design the top base so it doesn't interfere with the cargo rails.