Car cover - superb quality.

Hi Dudes, After 19 years of ownership i just treated the beast to a top quality car cover. I takes 7 minutes to put it on the car, four corner ties which tie around the spokes on the wheels and i center two inch wide strap, it holds fine in strong winds and has a soft felt lining to avoid rubbing marks on the paint work.

The reason i bought this cover is that unless your garage is heated and well ventilated, then letting the car dry outside and then applying the cover is the best option, IMHO, the other thing for me is i only use the car occasionally and if it was my daily transport i could not tolerate the hassle twice a day.

I just buffed the car with the new revolutionary compound, £28 for a litre, but it is an all in one treatment, not the three different abrasion type bottles.

Where i live, much traffic,smoky chimneys, building dust, factories etc, and i used to look at the car just after 2 days and it was full of crap and bird droppings, and getting wet, now the environment can do what it wants, as when i remove the cover, it is as clean as when i left it.

So for £60 my pride and joy has a winter coat, it had to wait 19 years for it, and be after it had it's NA/T conversion and new red and black superb quality leather seats, my wife is jelouse of the care my car gets. lol. Herbie.

Link??

My first Supra will be arriving soon and it'll need to be under a cover for a while. Measured up the garage and with my workbench at the back of it, the Supra won't fit in by about 60mm.

Need to get a shed to put the tools/bench/crap in and then Supra in the garage

my "expensive" car cover cost me a paint job.... id take it off. mine was a felt lined one too.

unless its in a garage id let it get bird shit on it, its better than the paint being rubbed off.

Wouldn't risk it dude, ruined the paint on my MR2 a long time ago. Didn't buy one for supra and definitely won't, not even another expensive one. only options are outside and in a garage. A decent paint job and correct waxing will withstand the elements anyway

i feel ive been really negative above its because im still bitter about it. my car cover was £400, cost me £3000 in paint. the body shop told me NEVER cover a car outside. lesson learned

I think "Look before you leap" comes to mind here on my part ? may be i have made a mistake? not sure in that on windy days the sheet is pulled very tight and i have placed additional straps on the car, it is also elasticated front and rear and it grips tight, little or no movement on really windy days. However i am not 100% sure that there is not some slight movement, which might be enough to rub off some paint? I will keep a keen eye on this. Any further experience on this will be welcome Thanks for info. Herbie.

Agree with the no car cover, thankfully the paint damage to mine was only minor as I didn't leave it on that long came out with a good polish. But no matter how good the straps are or how soft the underside it will rub the paint when it gets windy. The only solution I have seen work is the non contact covers like the carcoon or those metal ones that are like a snails shell.

I never recommend anyone to use a car cover. It will prevent your paint from being able to 'breath' correctly, and will over time and weather conditions cause damage. I would far prefer my car to be left in the elements if ungaraged, but having good quality protection applied, regularly depending on product choice. The only 'covers' I recommend are carcoons or an equivalent that do not touch the car in anyway.

Not to be negative regarding your purchase and I can understand people thinking they will help. But I have seen, fixed, and sometimes been unable to rectify too many horror stories to ever agree with their use.

Carcoon do a heavy duty one for outside use. Personally I don't like covers,

for the reasons above, and I like the air to get around the car. I was once told

that garaging a wet or damp car is worse than leaving it outside unless the

garage is heated and well ventilated or has air con. The heating in my garage

is so expensive to run I might as well live in there myself. In fact the wife has

suggested it, frequently.

I have just looked at my car following 5 weeks of windy wet weather etc, it is perfect and clean. As i said in my thread the movement on my cover is minimal and moisture cannot harm aged paint that is coated with laquer. See the link below, old paint does not need to breathe, it's a metaphore for the solvents on freshly painted cars.

I am going to keep a close eye on the situation, and i value the comments, BUT at this stage i do not understand why some owners have experienced damaged paintwork, moisture will not affect proper paint work, chaffing can be minimised to an acceptable level, mine ok to date, and paint does not need to breathe.

I fully agree with Chris on the garage no no and i put this in my starter thread.

I am still interested in any other experiences members have had.

Finally i also know how the ultraviolet waves and the heat of the sun is the most degrading element for dashboards and paint work degredation, the cover eliminates this. Herbie.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?3704-Paint-Needs-to-Breathe#HthTZKamO7ioOksM.97

Lets say you wash your car and go for a drive. When you return, are you going to wash the car again before covering it up? If you don't, regardless of how long or short your drive was the car is no longer clean and the cover will scratch the car to pieces.

If it rains whilst being out for a drive, the car is wet when you return, you cant cover it up. Once it dries naturally, its dirty and you cant cover it up before washing.

The car will need to cool down before you can cover it up after a drive.

No covers are 100% waterproof, if they were they wouldn't allow air to flow between the car and cover, the car will sweat and moisture will build up which is then trapped between the layers. You need air to circulate between them or the finish of your lacquer will degrade.

Using the car regularly, it will soon become tiresome applying the cover and equally storing it.

Will someone help you apply the cover every time you use it, ensuring it is never dragged over the car anywhere. Fleece lined or not, even lacquered paintwork is easily marked.

Overtime, and it wont take long, the cover will become dirty itself, inside and out. It will need washing. Will it fit in your washing machine? will it shrink? making it tighter to fit, promoting more chance of scratches.

However secure you strap it down, the wind will get underneath and blow it against the front and rear wings and roof.

I could go on They are seriously not worth the hassle, but I hope your works out for you. A lot of defects that can be inflicted will only be visable in certain light or angles, a quick check in shaded light will not give you a proper idea. Just keep an eye on things and think about the above

Thanks Stonkin, I take on board most of what you have outlined, i will say now that if i had to use the car most days, then a cover would be a no, no.

The bit about moisture i cannot understand it degrading acrylic lacquer it is impervious to water and many cars are soaking wet and covered in snow and ice for weeks in Lancashire.

Cleaning all the dust off is not a problem, and only chucking the cover back on when it is dry is also not a problem, takes me 7 minutes to roll it on from front to back, the elasticated hem gets under the front fender and holds the front well secure and rolling the cover back is non chaffing and dead easy.

In the spring and summer time my car sits in the shade for most of the day and the cover will not be used until the winter or during a period where i am away for a longer period.

The reason i am soldiering on is having seen the crap which has been kept off the car and the seems, nicks and crannies all soaking wet, bird crap, next doors cat, leaves, sycamore seeds, my neighbours building dust, grass cuttings. So my cover will only come off when i see the slightest sign of any even slight paint/lacquer deterioration viewed as you suggest in the correct light conditions.Thanks for your comments. Herbie.

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If Stonkin gave me any advice about my cars paintwork, I would follow it to the letter.

Yeh he is helpful and has given me good info, it's just the lacquer bit that i cannot understand. There are lots of google reports and different experiences with covers, if i do get any slight deterioration i am not arsed and will get shut of the cover.

Not just because he's helpful, but because he is an expert with paintwork. I've seen the results of his work first hand, and I wouldn't normally use this word to describe anything car related, but it was flawless.

No offence intended here but that cover looks an awful fit to me, is it the Halfords XL ?

That's what mine was and is now only used over a race car when being transported in a truck or

container with a custom made soft indoor cover fitted to it.

No offence intended here but that cover looks an awful fit to me, is it the Halfords XL ?

 

That's what mine was and is now only used over a race car when being transported in a truck or

container with a custom made soft indoor cover fitted to it.

Looks like that one, I had one also.

Used it when I was removing panels/bootlids etc but I'd never use one once it's painted/wrapped.

It fits well at the front , at the rear it does need me to place an extra strap. It's not Halfords, it was a company who specialise in the covers,(if that is possible) lol, and was circa £65 delivered.

What damage to your cars did you experience? and how was the cover fastened?

Up to now there are more reasons for me keeping the cover like i explained in my last posting, and as i said, if it lets me down i will bin it. So far there are no possitive comments, wish i had asked the Club prior to purchasing.

I have a heavy duty Storm Force cober, which is tailored specifically for the Supra, and cost a small fortune. But I doubt I will ever use it while the car is parked outside and used every day. The downsides of covering it up outweigh the benefits too much. Better to protect the bodywork with a decent wax or sealer regularly.

Hi j...jza80, I agree, as i said on my previous post, for an every day use of car situation, these things are a no no. The attraction for me is how clean my car is when i decide to use it, the performance is superb, but if it's full of all the useual, dust, bird crap, etc, etc, i would sooner spend 7 minutes taking the cover off, that cleaning the car. I accept the point about keeping the car protected with wax etc, but if the car has been soaking wet for 2 weeks, this cannot be good. I just hope the cover maintains it's performance of the past 5 weeks.

Just read this post and OMG, a lot of what has been said is true, but, you said you bought a top quality car cover......who ever sold that to you could sell sand to an Arab. £65 delivered is dirt cheap and as for fitting, I've seen less wrinkles in Nora Battys stockings!

I've been using a car cover for the last 5 years. The car is stored under a car port, but it has three solid sides, so a garage without a door. I only use the car about once a month, but before I put the cover on I always wash the car, dry her off, dust with a California dusted and a last quick detail.

My cover is made specific for my car ( tailor made ) and cost a lot more than £65.

Hi +1, Best info yet, especially the five years bit. Is the fit so good that you avoid windy chaffing?, I know about the pre- washing and dust free bit. A pici would be great. A protected car port would be great for me, but buildings not suitable, rain is not a problem with my cover though, it is as i have explained keeping car dry and crap free, my cover provides this, but only 6 weeks clocked up to date. I have now fastened up the rear of the cover and got a good fit like the front with the knicker elastic working well. Herbie.

I have now fastened up the rear of the cover and got a good fit like the front with the knicker elastic working well. Herbie.

So the wife's in for a fright when she reaches up for the baked beans in Sainsburys then.....

Got mine from specialised car covers, not cheap but a good fit. It has proper pockets for the mirrors and fits the car lines snugly.

Saying all that, I am going to build a garage hopefully this year and get an internal dust cover for the car.

Ian

Hi Chris as you well know, the best girls do not wear them. ! ! ! lol.