Protecting Tonneau from Dust on Dirt Roads

[LaVee_35]

Hi!! We picked up our brand new CT on Friday! It had 3 miles on it before we started our trek home. After getting it home, driving it yesterday, and unloading groceries last night, I’m worried about dust. Per the recent post about dust destroying the tonneau cover rails/electric mechanism, I’m concerned about our situation. We live 6 miles from a paved road, and the dirt and dust is very prevalent. The pictures are after less than 20 miles on those roads. Is there anything I should do to try and clean the tracks? Does it need to happen each time after we get home? I’ll be using the bed for groceries and hay and stuff like that, so I can’t just not open it once the dust is on.

Secondly - is it safe to secure things to the dash with museum putty? Ha - not a major concern, but we’d like to keep some stuff up there without it flying around.

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[RustyEdges]

9 months of ownership, thousands of miles driven, only a couple of washes, parked outside, everything still works fine This is a truck. Congrats and go enjoy your CT!! Stargazing must be outstanding by you.

*Looks like an unidentified being was standing on your vault!!

 

[LaVee_35]

9 months of ownership, thousands of miles driven, only a couple of washes, parked outside, everything still works fine This is a truck. Congrats and go enjoy your CT!! Stargazing must be outstanding by you.

*Looks like an unidentified being was standing on your vault!!

Ha! Yes, I’ve identified the being now My youngest loves that he can walk on the tonneau. So I shouldn’t be worried at all that our everyday drive is allowing an insane amount of dust into the crevices and under the cover? Guess I thought I’d be able to keep stuff under there a little cleaner than what it seems.
And yes - the stars are amazing! Looking forward to taking the truck up the hills to watch them.

 

[RobertWarren]

I used a full can of silicone spray on the tonneau cover tracks, rubber vault seals, the tailgate seal, door and window seals and frunk seal because they were all frozen shut after driving home from delivery in a snow storm in January. Definitely helps keep the rubber pliable. I did the Dempster highway in August and didn't have any issues with dust in the tonneau tracks. Dust did get in the bed from the gap at the bottom of the tailgate however, I wish it was sealed better.

 

[jeniferkey]

I drive a gravel road regularly and bought this stuff and put it along the edge of the bed, skipping the vault area (this is longer than needed, but I figure when it wears out with hay hauling, etc, I’d replace it). I think it helps with the dust getting in. Hay in the tonneau tracks is the thing I hate the most. First I’d vacuum after hauling, but now I simply leave the cover open a few drives after hauling and it mostly blows out. I do spray lubricant in the tracks every once in a while. Usually I can tell because it won’t close fully on one push. I find the frunk better for groceries because of the dust. 52.5Ft Car Door Seal Strip https://a.co/d/11meo6j

 

[silvercybersurfer]

Some of us have chosen to do some improvements to the vault. Check out this thread. https://www.cybertruckownersclub.co...d-vault-how-to-diy.43427/page-6#post-30624168

You can also add weather seals to the gaps at the bottom of the tailgate to prevent dust

 

[sansoy]

After driving my cybertruck for about a year, my tonneau started moving only in increments of 2 in in either direction. I couldnt even run the calibration. So I took it in for service and Tesla told me the dusty weather in New Mexico is not covered and that to fix my tonneau would cost me $700. I was stunned. I didnt opt for this paid service and tried clearing the tracks and all but still have same problem. Also the onboard tonneau graphic shows the cover is half open. Anyone else run into this and have any recommendations.

 

[JET51]

I drive on gravel a lot. I did have my tonneau cover replaced once when it stopped opening and closing. the Minneapolis (Rogers) service center did it under warranty. I asked it if was dust and they just said something went out of alignment. I have about 25000 miles on mine, about 10-15 percent on gravel. It's dirty all the time. yes, the dust and dirt collects all over in the cracks. I do try to clean the tracks every couple of weeks. I need to figure out how to remove the truck bed so I can rinse out the junk that collects in the cracks. it drains pretty well. I think cleaning the tonneau tracks more than occasionally is probably overkill.

 

[LaVee_35]

I used a full can of silicone spray on the tonneau cover tracks, rubber vault seals, the tailgate seal, door and window seals and frunk seal because they were all frozen shut after driving home from delivery in a snow storm in January. Definitely helps keep the rubber pliable. I did the Dempster highway in August and didn't have any issues with dust in the tonneau tracks. Dust did get in the bed from the gap at the bottom of the tailgate however, I wish it was sealed better.

Thanks! Do you think the silicone spray helps keep the track sliding smoothly, as well as the rubber pliable?

 

[LaVee_35]

I drive a gravel road regularly and bought this stuff and put it along the edge of the bed, skipping the vault area (this is longer than needed, but I figure when it wears out with hay hauling, etc, I’d replace it). I think it helps with the dust getting in. Hay in the tonneau tracks is the thing I hate the most. First I’d vacuum after hauling, but now I simply leave the cover open a few drives after hauling and it mostly blows out. I do spray lubricant in the tracks every once in a while. Usually I can tell because it won’t close fully on one push. I find the frunk better for groceries because of the dust. 52.5Ft Car Door Seal Strip https://a.co/d/11meo6j

Great ideas. Thanks so much!

 

[LaVee_35]

Some of us have chosen to do some improvements to the vault. Check out this thread. https://www.cybertruckownersclub.co...d-vault-how-to-diy.43427/page-6#post-30624168

You can also add weather seals to the gaps at the bottom of the tailgate to prevent dust

That’s great. Thanks so much for linking that, and for the ideas!

 

[ABILISK]

A few squirts of this will ensure that thing keeps going up and down - might even speed up its regular pace.

P.S. Please don’t do that. Pay me no mind.

 

[Limes2]

After driving my cybertruck for about a year, my tonneau started moving only in increments of 2 in in either direction. I couldnt even run the calibration. So I took it in for service and Tesla told me the dusty weather in New Mexico is not covered and that to fix my tonneau would cost me $700. I was stunned. I didnt opt for this paid service and tried clearing the tracks and all but still have same problem. Also the onboard tonneau graphic shows the cover is half open. Anyone else run into this and have any recommendations.

This is one of my major concerns before buying the CT. If you look where the cover rolls into the "cassette" there is just a very tiny brush up top before it rolls itself up with any dust and other items going with it.

If you have any trees with extremely small leaves they get into everything during the fall and there is really no way to clean them out without disassembling the cover mechanism. I find small leaves in my cabin filters on other cars all the time in the spring.

Similar to the issue where hay or straw in the bed can accumulate where the air compressor is at under the vault bed.

No real easy way to clean stuff out.

 

[jeniferkey]

I grabbed a picture yesterday of where I put the weatherseal stuff on the bed. I had just unloaded hay, so it’s not typically that messy. It’s held up pretty good after a year of abuse.

 

[RustyEdges]

Awesome sky pic @LaVee_35! I totally missed @Cybergirl's post about the true dangers of DUST earlier this month, literally like kryptonite to the vault/tonneau, wow! I don't know if there's enough rubber to seal all the cracks. Smh. FleshLube water probably won't help either.

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