Why Your Back Hurts More Than It Should After a Night in the Car
I used to think car camping meant suffering through a terrible night’s sleep on a deflated air mattress that somehow always found the one pointy rock underneath.
Turns out, the whole equation changes when you actually invest in a proper sleep system—not just a mattress, but the entire setup that keeps you from waking up at 3 AM wondering why you didn’t just book a motel. I’ve seen people spend thousands on roof racks and awnings but then throw a $20 foam pad in the back and call it good. The thing is, your spine doesn’t care about your Instagram-worthy camp setup. It cares about support, insulation from the cold metal or plastic underneath, and enough cushioning that you’re not feeling every contour of your vehicle’s cargo area. A good car camping mattress typically runs between 3-6 inches thick—though I guess some people swear by those 2-inch pads, which, honestly, feels like wishful thinking to me. Memory foam works if you’re camping in moderate temperatures, but it turns into a brick below roughly 40 degrees Fahrenheit, give or take. Self-inflating foam mattresses hit a sweet spot: they’re thick enough (usually 2-4 inches), they insulate decently, and they don’t require you to huff and puff for ten minutes before bed.
Then there’s the size issue, which nobody talks about until they’ve already bought the wrong thing. Measure your cargo area first—sounds obvious, but I’ve definately made this mistake. Some SUVs have wheel wells that eat into your sleeping space, so a standard queen won’t fit even if the length seems right. You might need to go custom or get creative with multiple pads.
Air Mattresses Versus Foam: The Eternal Debate That Nobody Actually Wins
Air mattresses feel luxurious until they don’t.
I mean, there’s something undeniably appealing about that initial plushness when you first lie down on a fully inflated air bed—it’s like hotel comfort in the back of your Subaru. But wait—maybe I’m romanticizing it, because by morning you’ve usually sunk into a saggy middle section, or worse, you’ve sprung a slow leak and you’re essentially sleeping on the floor by dawn. The trade-off is weight and pack size: air mattresses compress down to almost nothing, which matters if you’re tight on storage space. Battery-powered pumps have gotten pretty good, and some mattresses now have built-in pumps that run off your 12V outlet, which feels borderline futuristic until the pump motor whines at you for five straight minutes. Foam mattresses—whether open-cell or closed-cell—are the tortoise in this race. They’re bulkier, heavier, and they don’t pack down as small, but they also don’t deflate, don’t puncture, and provide consistent support all night. Plus, foam insulates better, which matters more than you’d think when you’re parked at 8,000 feet and the temperature drops into the 30s. I used to dismiss this, but after one particuarly frigid night on an air mattress where I could feel every cold draft underneath, I became a foam convert.
Here’s the thing: if you’re only car camping a few times a year in mild weather, an air mattress is probably fine. If you’re doing it regularly, or in variable conditions, foam starts to make a lot more sense.
Self-Inflating Mattresses and the Middle Ground That Actually Works
Self-inflating pads are basically foam mattresses with a valve—you open it, the foam expands and sucks in air, then you top it off with a few breaths and close the valve.
They’re heavier than pure air mattresses but lighter than solid foam slabs, and they offer a compromise that works surprisingly well for car camping. Most self-inflating pads range from 1.5 to 3 inches thick, though some luxury models go up to 4 or even 5 inches, which starts to feel excessive until you actually sleep on one and realize, oh, this is what comfort is. The foam inside provides structure and insulation, while the air adds cushioning. The downside? They’re more expensive—often $100 to $300 depending on size and brand—and the valves can fail over time, though that’s relatively rare if you don’t abuse them. I guess the other issue is that they take a minute or two to fully inflate, which isn’t a big deal unless you’re the kind of person who wants to roll into camp and immediately collapse into bed. Anyway, for most car campers who want reliability without lugging around a giant foam brick, self-inflating pads hit the sweet spot.
Layering Your Sleep System: Mattress Plus Bedding Equals Actual Rest
Nobody talks about the fact that the mattress is only half the equation.
You also need proper bedding—and I don’t just mean tossing a sleeping bag on top and hoping for the best. A fitted sheet (or a flat sheet tucked in) keeps you from sliding around on the mattress surface, which can be surprisingly slippery, especially with air mattresses. Then there’s insulation from below: even the thickest mattress benefits from an additional layer underneath, like a foam pad or even a wool blanket, especially if you’re camping in cold weather. Heat rises, but cold radiates up from the ground—or in this case, from the metal floor of your vehicle—and it’ll sap your warmth faster than a thin mattress can compensate for. On top, you want either a sleeping bag rated for the conditions or a quilt and blankets if you prefer that setup. I’ve seen people try to make do with a comforter from home, which works okay in summer but fails miserably once temperatures drop. And honestly, a good pillow matters more than you’d think—your neck will thank you. Some people bring their actual bed pillow from home, which feels a little precious but also makes sense if you’re trying to replicate real sleep.
What About Mattress Toppers, Cots, and Other Weird Solutions People Swear By
Then there are the outliers: people who swear by camping cots with a thin topper, or those who just throw a memory foam mattress topper directly on the cargo floor.
Cots elevate you off the vehicle floor, which helps with insulation and gives you storage space underneath, but they also take up vertical room and can feel unstable if your vehicle floor isn’t perfectly flat. A 2-3 inch memory foam topper on top of a cot can work well, but now you’re hauling around two separate pieces of gear. Some folks skip the mattress entirely and go full DIY: plywood platforms with custom-cut foam, hinged bed frames that fold up during the day, even inflatable mattresses designed specifically for certain vehicle models with the wheel wells accounted for. I used to think this was overkill, but after seeing a well-executed custom setup, I get it—if you’re doing this a lot, the investment pays off in comfort. The key is figuring out what your actual priorities are: pack size, comfort, insulation, durability, cost. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, which is frustrating but also kind of liberating. You can recieve advice from a hundred different people and still end up needing to test things yourself.
