ARE CX Rear Drainage

Does anyone else have issues with the drainage on the rear of their topper? This is my second CX. My first was on an ‘02 with no issues. This cap for my ‘18 has been nothing but water issues. It allows water to soak into the carpet of the topper. The bulkhead issue has been mostly resolved. There are the obvious holes and seams that slightly leak and one day I will have time to correct. I have finally been told about the bedrails issue which I was able to verify. I have a plan to fix that if I am unable to return this product.
Is this a proper installation of the rear part of the topper?

 

I have a snugtop and had water come in at the corners too. I put silicone on the carper at those edges. It helped with the carpet not sucking in the water.

 

Thank you. Hopefully I do not have to resort to my own modifications but it looks like it will be going that way. Their warranty states if I modify it I void the warranty but I also want a top that doesn’t keep moisture inside of the enclosed bed. I also want to silicone or bond under the edge of the bed rail caps with the topper off. I used tape to cover that seam for testing and it stopped a lot of water from coming in.

 

On my snugtop you can see the gasket comes across. Yours looks to have none of that. I put silicone on these leading edges of the carpet. You can also maybe add a rubber strip on the outer metal edge trim. Like something below.

 

Thank you for the pics. There is one gasket but it pushes in anytime the gate is closed.

 

I’ll get pics tomorrow. Mines not perfect, but it works.

 

Looks like the same amount of gap to me and I do get some water seepage but nothing I would consider excessive. I had a Leer topper previously and got an equal amount.

 

Thank you for your pics.

Do you have the carpet installed?

I get puddles the size of the back corner nook from the wheel well to the gate. The water travels up the carpet half way to the front and drips as well. We had a good rain where my truck was sitting in the driveway with a little down pitch towards the rear. It was soaked back there. I thought I had a puddle pic but do not have a recent one. This pic was from October during a snow melt off. (Montana)

 

My leer has the same side overhangs on the rear door like that. We need to have a flap that sits on the outside of tailgate when closed, not push in like your picture. I collect small puddles there in soaking rains while sitting stationary. I haven't figured out a solution yet but I'm building some wood drawers/platform right now so I'll need do. The tailgate is sealed with ESI ultimate tailgate seal and I just ordered their supercap and front rail seals to redo the bed rails/bulkhead, with silicone in the front corners where the bed has slight gaps.

 

I am glad you mentioned about the push in flap. I had the same thought. Also, thanks for mentioning the tailgate seal kit, I will look into that. I was going to fashion something myself.

For the bed rail caps..
Has anyone tried the Butyl caulking? I think this is a thing and what I used when I sealed the metal roof seams when I did my new patio cover. My plan would be to painters tape along the edge of the bed to rail cap to protect the paint, then slightly lift and fill. But I will also look at the other product you mention. I have never had to ice scrape inside and outside of the topper. I cannot have that much humidity in there. Between the water and humidity it makes this topper worthless for me.

Thanks again for your input!

 

My Century does a similar thing. It looks like it's constructed similarly to other makes, as well. I bought it used and it leaked badly around every window, especially the back one. I stripped all the weatherstripping from it and reapplied it. This was my solution for the corners lol. I just used what I had available, and so far it's held up ok.


Here's that little flap that gets pushed in every time I close the tailgate. Both sides are cracked pretty bad. I obviously haven't tried to repair or replace it, as I only get a few drops inside the bed and everything in there stays pretty dry.

 

Thank you. I was thinking I might trim that flap up a little so it does not push in but has enough down force to seal and redirect water out instead of in.

 

Try silicone on the leading edge of the carpet. I was getting water there as well. Mostly when washing. Also added the tailgate seal. Havent had water since.

 

I'm about to do an angled stack of leftovers like @BlackSheep since my rubber flap is cracked and torn off/leaking around the rivets.

 

We conveniently had some wet weather today for this post. I was honestly surprised at the amount of water I had in the back when I checked, and it was on one side more than the other. I'm guessing it was the angle I was parked. As near as I can tell the water is entering through the gap and then running a short distance before dropping to the bed. The carpet linear had only a small amount of water (at arrow in photo) but no pooling on the sill.

 

Do they have warranty against water or leaks when you buy them new? Seems like when you pay $3-5K they should come with some warranty!

 

Mine is about the same. I put some extra rubber strips in there but it looks like I need to do a little more

 

Yes. I will probably be doing this after my last attempt with the retailer. You all have been more helpful than the retailer.

 

I keep getting the line that I signed the wavier about water and dust. It is a perfectly working shell. My main issues are if it is perfectly well then why does it not account for the lower bulkhead so it needs double butyl tape and why does the water drain down the back into the cargo area. The retailer said they can’t possibly ask everyone what they will use the topper for. I told them I volunteered that information. You would think they could double check all these known issues to make sure their customer would be happy. I signed the release based on my other CX I had that worked great. Who puts paper or other materials that soak water up in the back of their truck was another question I was asked. I had a tool bag that soaked up water and rusted the tools inside which was discounted by the retailer (I wasn’t trying to get any retribution). I haven’t been able to set up my truck because of the water and having to take everything out for leak tests. I will probably go back to old plastic tubs on lids upside down to keep my things wet, but then there is excessive humidity.
ARE website shows how great their shells are. I tried calling ARE who said I need to talk to the retailer. They sure plaster Truck Hero in giant letters on their topper.
The retailer has been doing ‘leak tests’ at their cost, except one time, which the one good guy refunded my money.

 

It seems like more than a little but the retailer says there are much worse ones rolling around. It doesn’t matter the angle for mine. I was wondering if the single handle rear door would produce different results (my old one was single handle) but it gets at lease that much water in. I think a heavy rain or snow melt off would get the carpet soaked up the sill on yours too.

 

I have had and now have several different toppers on several different trucks.
I also have and have had several Trailers of all kinds that leak at times and the trick to stopping water is usually the same.

I only bought 1 of them new from a dealer and they too seemed to have literally no concern at all about whether mine had a decent seal against water incursion after I left the store.

I typically try to use light from outside the truck in a darkened garage to try to understand where the gaps are and then go to town with different things hoping to find solutions and so far as long as I chuck the shitty foam usually installed by a dealer and buy real rubber weatherstripping I have been able to keep things pretty well dry from normal weather events.

Water can be tricky though as it wicks and flows downhill through cracks and gaps and often ends up nowhere near where it seems to be coming from.

It can also help to have another person spraying and pointing light while you try to understand from inside the bed where water is coming from.