Rough Country Bed Mat Review: Thick, Grippy and Slow to Lose the Smell

Buy the Rough Country bed mat if you want a heavy rubber floor that stops cargo sliding and costs noticeably less than a BedRug. It's 3/8 in Nyracord rubber, molded for one truck and bed, and it lies on the floor with nothing to fasten. Loads stay where you set them, from bags of gravel to an open box of shotgun shells left standing on end, and it holds up for years.

The catch is the smell. It arrives smelling strongly of rubber, and for some owners that fades in a couple of weeks while for others it's still there most of a year later, after weeks in the sun and repeated pressure washing. Under a tonneau cover or a cap you'll notice it every time you drop the tailgate, so give it as long as you can in open air before it goes under a cover.

Check your bed before you order. On most trucks Rough Country makes this mat for the short bed only: nothing for the 6 ft Tacoma bed, the Tundra's longer bed, or the F-150's 6.5 ft and 8 ft beds, and nothing yet for the 2024 and later Ranger or the 2023 and later Colorado and Canyon. The Silverado and Sierra 1500 are the exception, with every bed length covered. It also isn't made to sit on a drop-in liner.

The short version

What works:

• Grip: cargo stays put on the textured top, and on a slick spray-in liner it fixes the sliding.
• Weight and thickness: 3/8 in of rubber that stays down under its own weight, with no hook-and-loop or fasteners.
• It lasts: one ran 8 years in a 2015 F-150, and we know of no report of one tearing or cracking.
• Easy in: Rough Country puts the install at about 10 minutes with no tools. Unroll it and lay it in.
• Price: noticeably cheaper than a BedRug for the same Ram bed, with a limited lifetime warranty against defects.

What to watch:

• The smell: strong rubber smell out of the box, and on some mats it lasts for months.
• It ships rolled: some lie flat right away; others need sun and weight on the corners, and longer in cold weather.
• Mostly short beds: no long-bed versions for the Tacoma, Tundra or F-150; only the GM 1500 gets every bed length.
• Drop-in liners: Rough Country says it doesn't fit over one. Pull the drop-in or plan to trim.
• Floor only: no tailgate piece and no gap guard, and a large RC logo molded into the top.

Which trucks and beds it fits

Rough Country molds one mat per truck and bed, and Amazon sells each as its own listing. We confirmed each listing below on its own product page; the fitment table under the score panel has the part numbers and restrictions.

• Ford Maverick: 2022-2026, 4 ft 6 in bed (RCM669).
• F-150 (Gen13 and Gen14): one listing for 2015-2026, including the Lightning, Tremor and Raptor, for the bed Rough Country calls 5 ft 7 in (67 in) and Ford sells as the 5.5 ft bed. That covers the Gen13 (2015-2020) and the 14th-generation F-150 (Gen14, 2021 on). It's the only F-150 bed length Rough Country offers.
• Silverado and Sierra 1500 (T1XX): 2019-2026 in all three beds. The 5 ft 10 in and 8 ft mats are on Amazon; the 6 ft 7 in mat is on Rough Country's own site, and the only 6 ft 7 in Amazon listing we found is for the older 2007-2019 trucks, so that row is a search link. None fits the CarbonPro bed.
• Ram 1500 (DT): the 5 ft 7 in and 6 ft 4 in beds. The titles read 2019-2022 while the fitment bullets read 2019-2026 plus the 2021-2024 TRX, so match yours to the row notes. Neither fits a truck with RamBox. These are DT mats; Rough Country sells a separate one for the Ram 1500 Classic.
• Tacoma (3rd and 4th gen): the 5 ft bed only, as one listing for 2005-2023 and another for 2024-2026. On the 4th gen, Rough Country warns that the Trail Special Edition's factory bed storage box may have to come out for clearance.
• Tundra (3rd gen): Rough Country sells a 2022-2026 mat for the 5 ft 7 in bed (RCM689) on its own site, but we found no Amazon listing for it, so its row is a search link. Check fit for your truck.

Long beds are the gap everywhere but GM. Rough Country makes no mat for the 6 ft Tacoma bed or the Tundra's longer bed, and none for an F-150 bed other than the 5.5 ft, which is why long-bed Tacoma and Tundra owners keep coming up empty. It lists the Ranger only through 2023 and the Colorado and Canyon only through 2022, so the 6th gen Ranger and the 3rd gen Colorado and Canyon have nothing yet. Rough Country's own advice is to measure from the bottom of the bulkhead to the tailgate opening before you order.

Liner type matters too. Rough Country's page for every truck except the F-150 says the mat does not fit trucks with a drop-in bed liner. It says nothing about spray-ins, and spray-in owners run it over LINE-X, Rhino and factory coatings with no fit trouble.

The specs that matter

Rough Country publishes no weight, and a floor mat has no load rating. Here's how its published specs line up against the two mats it's most often cross-shopped with:

Two of those numbers are worth a second look. Rough Country says its 3/8 in mat gives "up to 50% more protection than standard mats." That's the thickness math against a 1/4 in mat, since 3/8 in is half again as thick; it isn't a measured protection figure, and the Dee Zee publishes the same .375 in. And with nothing fastening it down, weight and grip are what keep the mat in place. Rough Country doesn't publish the weight, but one owner puts theirs at about 40 lb, and that weight, not a fastener, is what holds it down.

Fit, grip and water

Grip is the reason to buy it. The textured top holds boxes, coolers, fuel cans and loose gear, and owners with factory and aftermarket spray-ins buy it because cargo slid around on the coating. It's softer than a spray-in and firmer than a padded BedRug, so it spares your knees some but not much.

It arrives tightly rolled. Some mats lie flat the first day; others take a while, and the fix is a sunny afternoon with something heavy on each corner. In deep winter it takes longer. An F-150 owner who returned one for Ford's own mat found the Ford rubber softer and flatter, so if a perfectly flat floor matters more than thickness, look at your factory mat.

Water gets under any loose mat, so plan to pull it now and then. The Amazon listings describe a knobby underside that keeps the bed dry, but Rough Country's own pages don't mention it and owners disagree: a Ram owner describes a field of little nibs that hold the mat off the floor, while a Tundra owner says theirs has no anti-slip nubs at all and never moves anyway. Look at your listing's photos if airflow under the mat matters to you. Either way, it comes out in under a minute for a sweep or a rinse, and we'd do that after any wet or dirty load rather than leave grit and water sitting under it.

Don't plan on laying it over a drop-in. Rough Country says it won't fit, and on a Maverick with Ford's drop-in, the mat fit only after three of its four sides were trimmed back, cutting off the raised lip around the edge with a utility knife and a stack of blades. Another route is to pull the drop-in's floor section, keep its sides and tailgate piece, and put the mat in its place.

We score fit and coverage at 7.2. The molded fit, the weight and the grip earn most of it. Points come off because it covers the floor only, with no tailgate piece or gap guard, because some mats take days to flatten, because there's no long-bed version for the Tacoma, Tundra or F-150 and nothing yet for the newest Ranger, Colorado and Canyon, and because it isn't made for a drop-in.

Build quality and living with it

Durability is where this mat earns its keep. One ran 8 years in a 2015 F-150 and was still fine when the truck went; its owner bought another for a Silverado. Another has spent two years hauling chain-link fencing, gravel bags and landscaping supplies without degrading. Nobody describes a tear or a crack, and Rough Country backs it with a limited lifetime warranty against manufacturer defects, covering structural and workmanship damage.

The smell is the complaint you'll hear most, and it's the reason we'd think twice before putting one straight under a cap. Some mats lose it in a couple of weeks. Others still smell after four months, six months, or most of a year, and for some of those owners weeks in the sun, a winter outdoors or repeated pressure washing changed nothing. A closed bed keeps the smell in. One fix worth trying: a Tundra owner found the new mat had an oily film that showed up when it got wet, washed it off, and the smell went with it. Wash yours before it goes under a cover.

• The logo: a large RC and Rough Country logo is molded into the top, and Rough Country calls it part of the design. If you'd rather not advertise a brand in your bed, that's a real reason to pick something else.
• No tailgate piece: the mat stops at the end of the bed floor. Add a tailgate mat if you load over the gate a lot.
• Cleaning: pull it, hose it, put it back. Rubber doesn't hold dirt the way carpet fiber does.

We score durability at 8.0. Thick rubber with no reported tears or cracks earns it. What keeps it from going higher is how thin the long-term record is: two owners describe years of use, and most of the rest have had theirs a season or two. The smell is a nuisance, not wear, so it doesn't count here.

How it compares

• BedRug XLT Bed Mat: a carpet-style fiber floor over 3/4 in foam, noticeably more money on the same bed. It's the better floor for kneeling and for furniture and clean loads; the rubber mat is the better floor for wet, muddy and gritty ones, and it hoses off. The BedRug is listed for bare or spray-in beds and has an integrated tailgate gap guard.
• BedRug Impact: the same 3/4 in foam under a rubberized TPO floor that BedRug says won't absorb water, for a padded floor that still handles dirty loads. It costs well above the Rough Country, and owners have little time on it yet.
• Dee Zee: on paper, close to the same mat: .375 in Nyracord rubber with cleats underneath that let water drain. Its Lined Tacoma listing says it works with bed liners, and Dee Zee's warranty runs three years for the original purchaser. Our Dee Zee Heavyweight Bed Mat review covers its two tread styles and which one the long owner record belongs to.
• Factory mats: Ford's mat is softer and lies flatter. Toyota's Tundra mat has small bumps underneath and a stickier top, while the Rough Country is thicker and heavier. Tundra owners describe a long stretch when the factory mat couldn't be had, which sent some of them to this one.
• A cut-to-fit stall mat: the cheap route if you don't mind trimming one to shape. You give up the molded fit and the tie-down cutouts that the Maverick mat has at the back.

We score value at 7.6. It costs noticeably less than a BedRug for the same Ram bed, carries a lifetime warranty against defects, and holds up for years. The months-long smell some owners live with is the cost, and it's why value doesn't score higher.

Installing it

It's a 10-minute job by Rough Country's estimate, with no tools. Sweep the bed, unroll the mat in the sun, set something heavy on the corners until it relaxes, then lay it in and push it against the bulkhead. If it's cold out, give it a day indoors or in the sun first. Wash off any film from the factory before the first wet load.

Over a spray-in, nothing extra is needed. Over a drop-in, either take the drop-in out or expect to trim the mat's edges with a sharp utility knife, and keep spare blades handy. Nothing gets drilled.

Who should buy the Rough Country mat

Buy it if your truck and bed are on the list above, your loads are the kind that slide, and you want a floor you can hose off and forget about. It's the mat we'd put over a slick spray-in on a work truck or a weekend hauler, and it's the easy answer on a Maverick, a 5 ft Tacoma or any T1XX bed.

Skip it if you have a long-bed Tacoma, Tundra or F-150, if you plan to keep a drop-in liner, or if you kneel in the bed a lot and want padding: a BedRug suits that truck better. And if you're sensitive to the smell of new rubber and the mat will live under a cap or a cover, either air it out for weeks first or pay more for a different floor.