Plain truck beds are boring. Bed rails add curb appeal to your truck, make it easier to get into the bed and help strap things down You can buy generic bed rails at your local auto parts store or have them custom made to your specifications at a shop. Most bed rails fit into the slots and hook holes that are already in your pickup bed. You can take them out or change them at a whim.
By far the most common type of pickup bed rails are round chrome rails. These glint in the sun and are easy to keep clean. Especially if you have a lot of chrome on the rest of your truck, chrome bed rails look great. You can even get gold chrome rails if you don't like silver.
Wooden bed rails give your truck a rustic look. These usually have to be custom made and installed at quite a hefty price. For antique or older trucks, wooden bed rails painted to match your truck--or just treated wood--will bring you back to the old days of wooden beds. A lot of modern truck beds can take wooden bed rails that look like fence above the bed without much change to the actual bed.
Composite material bed rails are both practical and attractive. Less flashy than chrome and cheaper than wood, composite bed rails resist dents and scratching. Composite rails are usually black or gray, but you can paint them any color to match or contrast with your pickup. If you have a pickup bed liner, these are easier to match.
If you don't want a rail attachment, try sleek and stylish bed rail caps. They come in composite, chrome or diamond-plate and protect the bed rail from scrapes without adding height to them. They snap down or screw into the bed and provide a smooth, sophisticated look around the bed of your truck. You can even get a matching tailgate cap.
