One Year with the UnderCover Select: A Real-World Folding Tonneau Cover Review

Pros

• Kept the bed dry through eight inches of snow, thunderstorms, and torrential rain. 

• Easy for one person to open, fold back, and close. 

• Rigid panels and a release accessible only through the tailgate add security. 

• Clear installation instructions and high-quality hardware. 

• No fading or chalking after a year; seals and hinges remain in excellent condition. 

Cons

• The front third remains covered when folded, potentially limiting room for tall or bulky cargo. 

• Installation is easier with two people, and drain routing takes some planning. 

• The surface can collect minor hard-water spots. 

After a year of keeping luggage dry, tools concealed, and everyday cargo within easy reach, the UnderCover Select has earned its place on my Frontier for as long as I own the truck. 

Somewhere between eight inches of Colorado snow and a Florida road trip downpour that seemed determined to find its way into everything, I stopped worrying about what was underneath my tonneau cover. 

Getting to that point started a year earlier, when I installed the RealTruck UnderCover Select hard folding tonneau cover on my 2026 Nissan Frontier SV 4x4 shortbed. I wanted to put the bed to work between the bigger hauling jobs, carrying groceries, tools, and luggage that would otherwise end up crowding the back seat. What followed was a year of figuring out how the cover fit into that routine, from the initial installation to loading up for long drives and folding it out of the way when a run to Costco for toilet paper turned into a new couch or TV. 

After reading enough stories on Facebook and Nextdoor about people having things stolen from their pickup beds, security was, bluntly, a big part of the appeal. 

I wanted somewhere to keep tools, purchases, and road-trip luggage without leaving everything visible to anyone walking past the truck, and the Select’s rigid metal panels provide a substantial barrier over the cargo underneath. Because the release mechanism sits beneath the cover, you have to open the tailgate to reach it, so locking the tailgate also restricts access to the cover’s release without adding another exterior lock or key to the routine.

I wouldn’t call any truck bed a vault, but I’m much more comfortable leaving expensive items under this cover while making another stop on the way home. That convenience matters when you use your pickup for everyday errands as often as hauling, especially when the alternative is squeezing purchases into the cab or heading home to unload before going anywhere else.

 What you carry and where you park should help guide your choice, but for my mix of daily storage and occasional larger loads, a hard folding cover made the most sense.

The installation was straightforward from the moment I opened the box, with clear instructions and quality hardware that felt appropriate for something expected to live outside year-round. All in all, it took about one hour to get it all locked in with basic hand tools. 

The UnderCover Select comes with the rails, clamps, and vehicle-specific mounting hardware, and its no-drill design makes this a manageable driveway project with basic hand tools. Having a second person helps when positioning the cover, although you can handle it alone with a little creative maneuvering.

Snugging down the clamps took a firm grip, while routing the drain tubes required a bit more planning. Those tubes serve the drain rails, which direct water away from your stuff. Fortunately, the punch-outs in my Frontier’s drop-in bedliner were in just the right places to provide convenient routes for the tubes. It’s worth taking your time with this part of the installation, considering how much of the cover’s job involves keeping whatever’s underneath it dry.

With everything secured, the matte-black aluminum panels sat snugly on the bed rails, giving the Frontier a clean, finished appearance while leaving the stake pockets accessible. There’s also a useful function for the occasional load that needs the entire bed: the quick-release design allows the cover to come off and go back on without tools after the initial installation.

I keep a cargo box near the tailgate, with a bracing bar behind it, which gives the Frontier a designated place for items that would otherwise slide around the bed. 

Grocery bags, smaller Costco purchases, and the loose odds and ends from a home improvement store run all have somewhere to go without migrating toward the cab at the first traffic light. It’s a simple arrangement that makes the bed useful throughout the week, and when a shopping trip involves something larger, the box and bar come out easily to free up the space.

Getting to everything is just as convenient, since opening the tailgate puts the release cable within easy reach. From there, the panels fold forward without much effort, and the retaining clips secure the stack when I need to leave it open for a larger load. The whole operation is easy to handle alone, including folding the panels back into place and closing them with a satisfying engagement from the Drop-and-Go Latches. These intuitive slam latches automatically lock when closed—no extra steps, and no fumbling with tricky manual clamps. 

With the cover shut, I’m only giving up roughly an inch of clearance below the bed rails by my estimate, so there’s still plenty of depth for loaded grocery bags, bulk purchases, and the various things I went to the hardware store for, along with a few I didn’t.

Trips to Wyoming, Tennessee, and Florida have given me plenty of time to appreciate having what amounts to an oversized trunk behind the Frontier’s cab. 

The cargo box and bracing bar keep smaller items organized near the tailgate, leaving the rest of the bed available for luggage and bulkier gear that would otherwise compete for space inside. When we stop, locking the tailgate keeps the cover’s release mechanism out of reach, and getting back into the bed is easy thanks to a release cable that can be operated from either side.

My setup also included a four-foot steel cargo retriever with storage hooks, a useful addition for reaching belongings that have worked their way toward the cab. You’d be amazed at just how many things roll directly out of your reach! My cargo box setup helps prevent that with smaller items, but anyone who has stretched across a tailgate for a bag just beyond their fingertips as their pants get all wet will understand the appeal.

Colorado supplied the sort of test you can’t stage in a showroom, depositing eight inches of snow on top of the Select during a late winter storm in early March. This is not fine powder, but wet, heavy snow that clings to everything. 

Its multilayer aluminum panels handled the accumulation without issue, and I found no water intrusion beneath, even after sitting like that for 12 hours. UnderCover rates the cover for up to 300 pounds of evenly distributed weight; I didn’t weigh the snowfall, so this wasn’t a test of that limit, but it was a convincing demonstration of how the cover handles an ordinary part of winter truck ownership.

What mattered most was being able to leave things in the bed through the storm without finding them wet afterward. That’s a substantial improvement in everyday usefulness when your pickup spends its winters outside, and you don't have to worry about dry gear. Total game changer. 

The Select has seen Colorado thunderstorms and plenty of downpours, including a Florida soaking where water came down in sheets to the point I had to get off the highway for safety. Even during that Southern deluge, when I was sure my luggage would be trashed, I did not find a drop of water. Color me surprised. 

Frankly, I was amazed at just how well those drains worked and how watertight the entire cover is, even after hundreds of open-and-close cycles. It made the time I’d spent routing the drain tubes through the Frontier’s drop-in bedliner feel like time well spent. 

That protection becomes particularly valuable on a road trip, when moving luggage into the cab would mean finding space among everything already in there. After seeing how the cover handled those storms, I’m comfortable leaving things where I packed them instead of reorganizing the truck whenever the forecast turns ugly.

The Select’s main compromise becomes apparent when you fold the panels forward, leaving roughly two-thirds of the bed open and the front third beneath the folded stack. 

Integrated retaining straps and clips secure the panels in that driving position, and the opening has been sufficient for most of what I carry. Bicycles fit for my use, although a motorcycle would require a closer look at dimensions and loading position, particularly in the Frontier’s short bed.

For loads that need the entire opening, the quick-release design allows the cover to be removed and reinstalled without tools after the initial installation. That gives you an option beyond working around the folded panels, although owners who regularly carry tall equipment may prefer a design that clears more of the bed without removal.

During our move this Summer, the UnderCover Select was ideal because I was able to use the ⅔ of the bed to carry larger items like fountains and pots, while using the covered ⅓ for smaller items that tuck underneath. On one run, I was able to fit an entire storage unit's worth of stuff into the bed and cab. 

So yes, your buddies will still be asking to use your truck for their move. Better get used to beer and pizza for payment!

UnderCover describes the matte-black coating as fade-resistant, and after a year in the Colorado sun, mine hasn’t shown any fading or chalking. Considering we are 5,000 feet closer to the mother star than most of the country, this is an impressive feat.  

The rubber seals and hinges are also still in perfect condition, with only a few minor hard-water spots on the surface to interrupt an otherwise clean finish. Those have come off with elbow grease, so keeping the cover presentable hasn’t added much work to the truck’s normal cleaning routine.

I’ve had good results washing the surface, including with a light-duty pressure washer at car washes, although the manufacturer recommends using mild car-wash soap and rubber-safe cleaners. That’s worth checking before using a specialty product around the hinges and seals. The Select also carries a three-year limited warranty, but so far, its condition has given me little reason to think about it.

The RealTruck UnderCover Select hard folding tonneau cover has made my Frontier more useful for everything from grocery runs to cross-country trips, keeping cargo dry and concealed while still leaving enough flexibility for the larger items I occasionally haul. After a year of living with it, it’s an upgrade I’d happily make again, and it’s staying on for as long as I own the truck.

If you’re ready to get more use out of your own pickup bed, RealTruck has options to suit how you pack, travel, and haul. The Select is a great place to start for covered everyday storage, while the RealTruck BAK Revolver X4s offers a hard roll-up design for owners who frequently need more of the bed open. To keep smaller gear organized, the RealTruck SwingCase toolbox offers lockable storage that swings toward the tailgate for easy access. 

Select your truck’s year, make, model, and bed length on RealTruck to explore the options that fit, then build a setup around what actually goes in your bed.