How to Measure a Chevrolet Colorado for a Car Cover (Step-by-Step)
Why Exact Measurements Matter for Your Colorado
The Chevrolet Colorado has gone through two very different generations since 2004, and the body dimensions aren't close enough to eyeball. A cover cut for a 2010 model will fight you on a 2022, and vice versa. Get the sizing wrong and you end up with fabric that gaps at the bumpers or bunches up around the mirrors, which defeats the whole point of covering the truck in the first place.
Cab style and bed length do the most damage here. Regular cab with a short bed and crew cab with a long bed can differ by well over a foot in overall length, and that's the single variable that trips up most people buying a cover online without measuring first. A truck that long makes a real difference in how a cover drapes and cinches.
Knowing how to measure a Chevrolet Colorado for a car cover properly means the fabric sits snug: no loose material flapping in the wind, no edges dragging on the ground collecting grit, no gaps letting rain or UV in where it shouldn't. This guide walks through the process step by step, with a diagram showing exactly where to put the tape measure so you're not guessing.
Tools You'll Need Before You Start
Grab a fabric or flexible tape measure, at least 20 feet long. Metal tape measures work in a pinch, but they don't bend around curved body panels the way a soft tape does, and the Colorado has plenty of curves along the fenders and bed rails.
You'll also want somewhere to log your numbers as you go: a notepad, your phone's notes app, or a printed measurement chart. Trying to remember five different figures until you get back inside is how mistakes happen.
Bring a second person if you can. Holding a 20-foot tape taut across the length of a pickup by yourself is awkward, and it gets worse once you're trying to measure over the bed or across the cab roof. An extra set of hands keeps the tape from sagging, which throws off your reading.
Last thing: check your exact trim and generation before you start. It's stamped on the door jamb sticker on the driver's side. Some sizing charts, including the one at CarCovers' Chevrolet truck cover page, organize options by model year because the two Colorado generations aren't the same size.
Step-by-Step: How to Measure Your Chevrolet Colorado
Step 1: Overall length. Measure from the very tip of the front bumper to the back of the tailgate or rear bumper, whichever sticks out further. Keep the tape in a straight line, not following the curve of the hood or bumper cap. Curved measurements always come out longer than the truck actually is.
Step 2: Overall width. Measure at the widest point of the truck. If you're shopping for a cover that's meant to include the mirrors, measure mirror to mirror. If the cover tucks around the mirrors instead, measure body to body and skip the mirrors entirely.
Step 3: Overall height. Measure straight up from the ground to the highest point of the roof. If you've got a roof rack, light bar, or anything else mounted up top, measure to the top of that instead. Skipping this step is an easy way to end up with a cover that's technically the right length but too short to clear your accessories.
Step 4: Ground clearance. Measure from the ground to the bottom edge of the rocker panel (the body section beneath the doors). This matters more than people expect if the cover you're considering uses an elastic hem or bottom straps, since those need enough fabric to reach.
Step 5: Bed length. Measure separately, from the back of the cab to the tailgate. The Colorado comes with either a 5-foot or 6-foot bed depending on cab configuration, and this number is what most sizing charts use to sort trucks into the right bracket.
Write every measurement down twice. Small errors creep in easily when you're stretching a tape across a truck bed by yourself, and confirming a number before you check it against a sizing chart saves you a return shipment later. The diagram below shows all five points as arrows on a pickup silhouette, so you can see exactly where the tape should start and stop before you head outside.
Once you've got all five numbers, cross-reference them against CarCovers' vehicle sizing guide to see which size bracket your truck falls into.
Accounting for Cab and Bed Configuration
Chevrolet sells the Colorado in three cab styles: regular cab, extended (or double) cab, and crew cab. Each one adds cab length, which stacks with bed length to determine where your truck lands on a size chart. A regular cab Colorado with a short bed sits near the bottom of most size ranges. A crew cab with the long bed sits near the top, sometimes close to the upper limit of what a "mid-size truck" bracket covers.
That's why checking the high and low ends of a size range matters, not just picking the row labeled "Colorado" and assuming it fits. If your measurements land near the edge of a bracket, it's worth double-checking against the pickup truck bed size guide to confirm exactly which bed length you're working with.
Accessories complicate things further. Bed racks, toolboxes, tonneau covers, and bull bars can all push your truck's actual footprint outside a standard size bracket, even if the factory dimensions would have fit fine. If you've added any of that hardware, a universal or semi-custom cover might not clear everything, and it's worth looking at a custom-fit car cover built to your Colorado's exact configuration instead.
And don't skip the generation check. The 2004-2012 Colorado and the 2015-present Colorado aren't the same truck under the skin, and their exterior dimensions differ enough that a size chart built around one generation won't reliably fit the other.
Common Measuring Mistakes to Avoid
The biggest one: following the curve of the bumper or hood with the tape instead of running it in a straight horizontal line. It feels more "accurate" to trace the body contour, but it actually inflates your length reading, sometimes by several inches. Straight line, every time.
Second mistake: forgetting mirrors, roof racks, or bed accessories when measuring width and height. These add real inches, and a cover sized without them will strain across the widest points where it needs room the most.
Third: using a generic "mid-size truck" estimate instead of measuring your actual vehicle. This one's tempting because it's faster, but it ignores everything specific to your Colorado, especially if you've added any aftermarket parts.
Last: not recording your model year alongside your measurements. Size charts are typically split by generation, not lumped under one "Chevrolet Colorado" entry, so a number without a year attached isn't as useful as it looks.
Matching Your Measurements to the Right Cover
Once you've got your five numbers, you're choosing between two basic approaches. A universal or semi-custom cover is sized off a length range, built to fit a bracket of vehicles rather than one specific model. A custom-fit cover is built to the Colorado's exact factory dimensions for your generation and cab configuration. Custom-fit costs more, but it's the better call if your truck carries accessories that don't play nice with a generic bracket.
Where you park the truck matters too. An indoor car cover prioritizes soft-touch fabric that won't scratch your paint over garage storage, since it's not fighting wind or rain. An outdoor car cover needs a tighter, closer-to-exact fit to keep wind from getting underneath and pooling water from collecting in loose fabric.
If you're still not sure which trim or year you've got, or your measurements don't line up cleanly with either bracket, the coverfinder tool will narrow things down faster than guessing off a size chart.
Getting the size right is half the job. The other half is installation: proper installation with straps and cable locks keeps a correctly sized cover snug whether it's sitting in a driveway through a windstorm or riding along during highway transport.
Next Steps: Get the Right Fit for Your Colorado
Keep this checklist handy while you shop: overall length, overall width, overall height, ground clearance, and bed length. Those five numbers are really all you need once you've learned how to measure a Chevrolet Colorado for a car cover the right way.
From here, it's worth browsing Chevrolet-specific truck covers built around these exact dimensions rather than settling for a generic mid-size fit. And if your Colorado's carrying a bed rack, tonneau, or anything else that doesn't play nice with a standard size chart, a custom-fit option is going to save you a headache down the road. Bookmark this guide, take your measurements twice, and you'll spend a lot less time guessing next time you're shopping for a cover.
