Best Tailgate Seal?

[Spurshot]

Many people don't have a cover and want the bed to drain. As far as the sides, all manufacturers I have seen look like Swiss cheese

 

Dan,

I'd be happy if they just made the beds like all other makers....heavy steel and complete without any odd shaped holes under the rails. But, what I meant, was that they could simply make the tailgate jamb accommodate a seal that they could make available thru the parts dept. But making an effort to make the tailgate able to be sealed would be a huge improvement. The beds on these trucks is an afterthought, IMO. They are weak, thin and used heavily like old trucks, they fall apart at the spot welds. Seen it. It may not matter to me. I don't know if I'm buying another truck in my life. Maybe one more..

[kstruckcountry]

When I was looking at getting a topper (still am for fishing/camping trips) I looked at what was available. I basically settled on buying my own weatherstripping like you did. I think that GM could do a decent job including it or offering a kit, but like most things I'd be happier with my own job.

[andy670ho]

With all these manufacturers of tonneaus and caps I wonder why no one has come up with a good kit to seal these up?

[Spurshot]

I think the complex shapes a really good seal would need in the top tailgate area would require a custom rubber mold. That's a big investment for a small company. Even if you had the best tailgate seal in the world, what's the target price? If you charged the same as everyone else, that's only about $25 for the seal. Figure you would only get $12-13 as the manufacturer. If you charged twice the other competitors, you'd lose some market share, since there's so many people that will buy the cheapest product regardless of quality. There's just not a lot of money in it for a mfr.