BAKFlip F1 Review: MX4 Ratings for Less, Weaker Panels

Buy the BAKFlip F1 if you want BAK's fold-to-the-cab hard cover with the MX4's ratings and a fiberglass top instead of an aluminum one. RealTruck rates it at 400 lb evenly distributed and backs it with a 5-year warranty, the same as the MX4, and the Amazon listing says the tailgate closes with the cover open or shut. On Amazon it cost less than the MX4 on six of the seven same-truck, same-bed listing pairs we compared, and only a little more than the cheaper G2 on most. If the MX4 is on your list, look at this one first.

The catch is the panels, and the thin record behind them. Each panel is a fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP) skin over a foam core with an aluminum underside, and that's where the complaints land: a top surface that broke down in a year and a half, panels that soaked up water and got heavy, panels that warped in hard heat. The F1 also has a much thinner owner record than the MX4 or G2, so its water record rests on a handful of reports, most of them from trucks several years old.

The short version

What works:

• Ratings: 400 lb evenly distributed and a 5-year warranty, matching the MX4 and beating the G2's 300 lb and 3 years.
• A tailgate that works on its own: the Amazon listing says an upgraded rear seal lets the tailgate close with the cover open or shut, and a Tacoma F1 opens and closes its gate without lifting the cover.
• Two ways to open it: fold it to expose two-thirds of the bed and buckle it there, or stand the whole stack against the cab on prop rods for the full bed. RealTruck says it leaves the third brake light clear.
• Price: it cost less than the MX4 and the UnderCover Ultra Flex on almost every same-truck, same-bed listing we compared.

What to watch:

• The panels: an FRP top has broken down early, and the foam-core panels can take on water or warp in hard heat. Inspect them before you buy used.
• Weight: RealTruck doesn't publish it, and owners disagree on whether the fold is heavy.
• Spray-in liners: on trucks that get BAK's adhesive bulkhead seal, it has to stick to a spray-in liner. If it lets go, water gets in at the cab end.
• A thin record: few owners write about the F1 by name, so expect less to go on than with the MX4 or G2.

Which trucks and beds it fits

BAK sells one F1 part number per truck and bed, and Amazon lists them the same way. We confirmed the fitments below on each listing's own product page; the table under the score panel has the part numbers and bed lengths in inches.

• F-150: 5 ft 7 in listings for the 14th-generation F-150 (Gen14, 2021-2026, including Raptor and Lightning) and the Gen13 (2015-2020). RealTruck also lists 6 ft 7 in parts for both that we didn't confirm on Amazon, and no 8 ft F1 for the Gen14. RealTruck's F1 page says nothing about Ford's BoxLink, so ask before you order if your bed has it.
• Silverado and Sierra 1500 (T1XX): a short-bed and a 6 ft 7 in listing (2019-2026), both of which say they work with the MultiPro and Multi-Flex tailgates. The short-bed listing won't fit the CarbonPro composite bed, and RealTruck says that part won't work with factory bed storage boxes. Amazon calls the short box 5 ft 10 in; RealTruck calls the same part the 5 ft 8 in bed. RealTruck lists no 8 ft F1 for these trucks.
• Ram 1500 (DT): the tailgate and the RamBox decide it. There are three 5 ft 7 in listings: one that doesn't fit the multifunction split tailgate (part 772227), one that works with it (772226, 2020-2026), and a RamBox version (772227RB). Amazon's RamBox listing says it fits with and without the split tailgate, while RealTruck's notes for the same part say it isn't compatible with it, so confirm with RealTruck before you order that one for a split tailgate. The 6 ft 4 in listing we confirmed works with the split tailgate. On a TRX, RealTruck says the bed bar has to come out.
• Tundra: a confirmed 3rd gen (2022-2026) 5 ft 7 in listing. RealTruck says it won't work with the Trail Special Edition storage boxes, and the tie-down cleats come out for the install and can't go back in. RealTruck lists a 6 ft 7 in part as well.
• Colorado and Canyon: a confirmed 5 ft 2 in listing for the 2023-2026 trucks.

The Tacoma and Ranger aren't in the fitment table. RealTruck lists F1 parts for the 4th gen Tacoma (2024 on), which require Toyota's deck rail system, for the 3rd gen (2016-2023), where the 5 ft 1 in part won't work with factory bed storage boxes, and for the 2024-2025 Ranger. We didn't confirm any of them on an Amazon product page, so check fit for your truck with the search links in the picks. RealTruck lists no F1 for the 2026 Ranger, though the G2 and MX4 have parts for it. RealTruck doesn't offer the F1 for the Maverick; the MX4 and G2 are offered for it.

Two cautions on the listings themselves. Several Amazon titles say 2026 where RealTruck's own fit line stops at 2025 (the Gen14 F-150, the short-bed Silverado and Sierra, the Colorado and Canyon, and the Ram split-tailgate part), so confirm a 2026 truck with RealTruck. And Amazon carries third-party listings titled as aftermarket replacements for the BAKFlip F1. Those aren't RealTruck's cover; buy from the RealTruck store listings linked here.

The specs that matter

RealTruck rates the F1 at 400 lb evenly distributed and backs it with a 5-year limited warranty for the original buyer, which doesn't transfer. Each panel is an FRP top skin over a high-density foam core with a powder-coated aluminum bottom skin, in a textured gloss black, on aluminum rails with EPDM rubber seals. RealTruck quotes an install of less than an hour with no drilling into the bed, using the included clamps, and says the cover is assembled in Missouri. It doesn't publish the cover's weight. The Amazon listing's detail table gives 71 lb for the Gen14 5 ft 7 in, which may include packaging.

Here's the F1 against BAK's MX4 and G2 and RealTruck's UnderCover Ultra Flex, from RealTruck's product pages and, where those are silent, the Amazon listings:

All four are hard folders that clamp on with no drilling on most trucks, per RealTruck, and none has a weight on RealTruck's pages. Against the MX4, the F1 trades the aluminum top for FRP and keeps the rating, the warranty and the tailgate. Against the G2, it adds 100 lb of rating, two years of warranty and a tailgate you don't have to work around.

The two-thirds position is more useful than it sounds. On the Gen14's 67.1 in bed, two-thirds open leaves about 45 in of bed exposed, while the folded stack covers the front 22 in or so. That's room for a load of mulch bags without standing the stack against the rear window. Folded all the way up, expect it to block part of your view out the back.

The 400 lb figure means weight spread across the whole closed cover, parked. It isn't a rating for someone kneeling on one panel, and BAK's install sheet says not to drive with objects on top of the cover and not to tie cargo to the cover or its framework. The F1 has no rack rails. BAK sells a cover-and-rack bundle, the BAKFlip CS, separately; don't plan on adding a rack to a plain F1.

F1, FiberMax or another BAKFlip?

BAK's hard folders look alike, and used listings mix them up. The F1 and the FiberMax both have FRP tops in a textured gloss black, but RealTruck rates the FiberMax at 300 lb and lists it with a conventional tailgate seal, where the F1 gets a dual-action seal on most applications. RealTruck's warranty terms give the F1 five years like the MX4 and the FiberMax three years like the G2. The MX4 is the matte aluminum one, and the G2 is the gloss aluminum one. Ask for the part number before you pay: RealTruck's F1 parts start with 772, the FiberMax's with 1126.

Weather sealing and leaks

We'd expect an F1 to keep a bed mostly dry, with the usual hard-folder caveat that it isn't sealed tight. BAK's own install sheet says the cover is not airtight. Water that lands on the cover runs into channels along the rails and out through two drain tubes at the front of the bed, the same approach RealTruck describes for the MX4, backed up by EPDM seals along the rails, rounded hinges, the dual-action tailgate seal and, on some trucks, an adhesive seal across the bulkhead at the cab.

The few F1 owners who describe their own bed mostly report little or no water. One F-150 cover sees very little to none, even through car washes, and what does get in comes at the tailgate and the back of the bed. A Silverado cover was very waterproof until its owner dented the top of the tailgate; now a little seeps in there. That's a better record than the MX4's, which we rate high for leak risk, but it rests on far fewer reports.

The front seal is where we'd pay attention. On an F-150 with a LINE-X spray-in liner, the adhesive bulkhead seal held for about two days, then stopped sticking after a wash, and the bed took water in hard rain and at the car wash. Another F1 on a LINE-X bed has kept its seal in place for a year, and the difference may be prep: clean the liner with the supplied cleaner or isopropyl alcohol, which the install sheet lists, and let it dry before the seal goes on. With a drop-in liner, BAK's sheet says you don't need the bulkhead seal at all.

Plan the drain tubes before the first rain. The install sheet gives three routes: behind a bedliner, through the bed plugs, or through a 5/8 in hole you drill in the bulkhead. The clamps need no drilling, so that hole is the only drilling the F1 asks for, and it's optional. If water shows up anyway, the sheet's troubleshooting section covers leaning rails, water intrusion and side seals that arrive wavy out of the box. We'd also run a hose over both ends of the cover once it's on, before you trust it with anything that can't get wet.

We haven't set a leak-risk gauge for the F1. Three owner reports on their own bed aren't enough to rate it either way.

Build quality and living with it

An F1 can last. One still looked new when its owner sold the truck after more than five years, and some owners plan to buy another. The weak spot is the panels themselves, and the complaints about them are specific enough to plan around.

• The FRP top: the Amazon listing calls FRP heat resistant and virtually dent proof, and RealTruck sells it on impact resistance. We have no hail reports either way. On a Tundra, the top surface broke down badly after about 18 months; BAK covered it under warranty and let the owner switch to an MX4.
• Water in the core: an owner who ran two F1s saw both fail when the panels soaked up water and got heavy. The MX4's panels can do the same in hard winters, so this looks like a BAK design trait more than an F1 one.
• Heat: panels on one F1 warped, though the cover still fits and works. In hot climates, its owner's advice is to leave the cover open or take it off when it gets very hot.
• Weight: owners split. One who moved to an MX4 calls the MX4 way lighter, while a five-year F1 owner calls it easy to remove and not too heavy. RealTruck publishes no weight, and the Amazon detail table's 71 lb may include packaging.
• Hardware: don't overtighten. An owner of an older F1 warns that overtightening the screws that hold the cover down can dimple or crack the lid, and BAK's install sheet warns against overtightening the clamps.

Security is the usual BAKFlip setup. Each panel latches into the rails as it closes and releases with a pull cable once the tailgate is down, so the bed is locked when the tailgate is. There's no keyed lock, and BAK's own install sheet says a bed cover won't prevent theft. Two warranty conditions are easy to miss: clear snow and ice off the cover before you open it, and don't tow the truck from the rear with the cover installed. The warranty stays with the first owner, so a used F1 comes without it.

Most of the F1's record comes from covers several years old, and the Amazon listing describes an all-new upgraded rear seal, so older reports tell you how older F1s aged rather than how a new one will.

How it compares

• Versus the BAKFlip MX4: the same rating, warranty and independent tailgate, with a matte aluminum top instead of FRP and far more owner history. It also has a worse water record: we rate its leak risk high. The F1 cost less on six of the seven same-truck, same-bed pairs we compared on Amazon. Unless you specifically want aluminum, we'd buy the F1.
• Versus the BAKFlip G2: BAK's aluminum hard folder for a little less money on most listings, rated 300 lb with a 3-year warranty, and you lift its rear panel to shut the tailgate. If the price gap on your truck is as small as it was on most listings we compared, the F1 is the better buy. The G2 makes sense if you open the bed a few times a week and want the lower price.
• Versus the UnderCover Ultra Flex: RealTruck's other hard tri-fold, rated 400 lb with a 5-year warranty, and it stands on prop rods clear of the cab when folded instead of resting against it. It cost more than the F1 on every pair we compared. We rate its leak risk moderate, with a deeper record behind that than the F1 has.
• Versus the LEER HF650M: four panels, a 450 lb rating and a seal design that doesn't rely on drain tubes, for less money on the F-150. LEER has taken it off its own website, and LEER's page gave it a 3-year warranty. If water worries you more than anything, look at it.
• Versus the BAKFlip FiberMax: the other FRP BAKFlip, rated 300 lb with a 3-year warranty. We haven't reviewed it, and we'd pay up for the F1's rating and warranty.

Installing it

RealTruck rates the F1 a simple install and quotes less than an hour. The sheet's tool list is short: a 1/2 in wrench or socket, a Phillips screwdriver, a utility knife and isopropyl alcohol for the seals, plus a 5/8 in drill bit only if you route the drain tubes through the bulkhead. Depending on the truck, six to eight clamps hold the rails to the bed. Tighten them to the figure on BAK's install sheet and no further.

Square the side rails to the bed rails before you tighten anything. BAK's sheet says the rear latch won't engage if the rails are off, and it traces a sticking latch to the release cable pinched under its guide. The buckle straps that hold the two-thirds position screw into pre-drilled holes on the front panel by hand. If your truck has a power tailgate, check that it opens and closes properly with the cover shut, and slide the cover toward the cab if it doesn't, as the sheet directs.

Prep the bulkhead seal surface carefully if you have a spray-in liner, route both drain tubes out of the bed, then hose the cover down before the first real storm. Paying a RealTruck dealer to install it is a reasonable call on a new truck, where a crooked rail costs more than the install.

Who the F1 suits

Buy the F1 if you were going to buy an MX4. You get the same 400 lb rating, the same 5-year warranty and the same tailgate that works with the cover shut, an FRP top instead of aluminum, and on most Amazon listings a lower price. You also get a thinner owner record and panels that draw the complaints, so check them the day it arrives and keep the warranty paperwork.

If you rarely open the bed and want the lowest BAK price, the G2 still does the basic job. If a dry bed matters more than anything, start with the LEER HF650M. Skip the F1 if you need a rack on the bed rails or own a Maverick.