thinking about a car cover

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  • LCHIEN
    Internet Fact Checker
    • Dec 2002
    • 20914
    • Katy, TX, USA.
    • BT3000 vintage 1999

    thinking about a car cover

    Anyone know anything about car covers? With my garage full of tools and projects I park the cars outside but I am having trouble keeping the car clean and worse, having dust and particulate falling from trees, not right overhead, but nearby, clogging up the roof drain and causing leaks into my car when it rains heavily..

    I'm driving it about once or twice a week.

    Wondering who has experience with the cloth car covers and how much trouble they are to use, any hints, is a fitted on (specific for car model and year) of just a generic one fitted for "sedan, 186-193 inches" OK? How do they hold up?
    Click image for larger version  Name:	714hXrL7scL._AC_SL1500_.jpg Views:	0 Size:	74.9 KB ID:	844233
    Last edited by LCHIEN; 05-22-2021, 10:49 PM.
    Loring in Katy, TX USA
    If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
    BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions
  • mpc
    Senior Member
    • Feb 2005
    • 979
    • Cypress, CA, USA.
    • BT3000 orig 13amp model

    #2
    I don't have any recommendations for what works best in the rain; when I used a car cover it was one specific to the car model and even had little pockets for the side mirrors. It was a very basic cloth type with no water repellent so it was not to be used in wet conditions. It came with a used car I picked up... I used it a few times then wadded it up in the garage and it has been there ever since. What I would look for though is one that has two (or more) cables that run underneath the car, from door to door, to hold the cover in place during winds; many attach via padlocks for security. Such covers are more work to put on and take off... but they do stay put. A buddy of mine at work had a regular car cover for his classic Boss Mustang and whenever the winds were more than a gentle breeze it'd blow off the car. And usually end up covering half of mine! He later got one with the cables and it was MUCH better. I didn't have to re-cover his car to take mine to lunch!

    I looked at car covers roughly 25 years ago and there were a few types back then:
    1: simple cloth ones that were lousy in the rain as they had zero water repellent. Hardly any better than covering your car with a bed sheet.
    2: heavier ones with repellent but no liner material. These could be rough on the paint finish especially if the car was dusty or if the cover had dirt/grit trapped in it.
    3: expensive ones with repellent and a pleated liner material - something soft - that looked a lot like the white liner inside the old 5 1/4 inch floppy diskettes. Those were more friendly to the finish even if a little dust/dirt was present. And they could be washed.

    I never did get a car cover for my then-new car; it seemed the general feeling was to use them only on dry days and remove them prior to wet weather. Putting the cover onto an already wet car was strongly discouraged as that made mold/mildew issues in the car's ventilation intakes more prevalent plus the cover would absorb some water and then hold it against the paint. My car was under a car port at home initially (apartment), then garaged once I bought a house. Only at work did it sit outside for hours at a time. I've always been good about washing and waxing it so the paint still looks fresh today. For your situation, I'd look for one of the pricier versions with the soft liner and the under-body cables to keep it in place.

    When it comes to cars, the shop, and the garage, my rule has always been the cars spend the night inside the garage regardless of the current shop project. That's a big reason why all of my shop tools and cabinets are on wheels of some sort: it also forced me to stay disciplined about clean-ups. Any way you could put a wall, a vine covered trellis, or other decorative structure between your parking spots and the dirty trees?

    mpc

    Comment

    • d_meister
      Established Member
      • Feb 2009
      • 184
      • La Conner, WA.
      • BT3000

      #3
      My wife inherited a 1969 Cadillac convertible many years ago. Big dreams for that POS, but it finally went away. During it's residency here on the apron at home in San Diego, LOML went through half a dozen car covers of different quality levels. Nothing will stand up to sun forever, even the silver tarps she put over the flannel lined car covers.
      I buy cheap eBay silver light weight covers for my SUV., like the $17.99 one in the list, but my SUV ones are around $35. The fabric is a lightweight nylon with a soft finish on the inside, and metallized on the outside.

      Get the best deals for car cover at eBay.com. We have a great online selection at the lowest prices with Fast & Free shipping on many items!


      They're easy to put on, easy to pull off and scrunch up into a milk crate in the back, takes literally seconds, and will last at least a year. A car cover does no good in the trunk, so ease of tossing it on is everything. Just be sure the hood and tailpipes have cooled off a bit before it goes on.
      Try to get one sized for the car, or ask about dims. A wee bit too big and they'll flutter in the breeze, which is actually not like buffing the car. I only put mine on when the car is clean.
      Mine has a belly cord and actually came with a wire-rope security cable. Not to sure that it provides much security, but hey! you can lock it! The one I got for the wife's sedan has a little strap at each wheel, to maybe tie to the spokes. I find that I can loop it around the tire footprint and tug it a bit to lock it in place.

      Comment

      • cwsmith
        Veteran Member
        • Dec 2005
        • 2737
        • NY Southern Tier, USA.
        • BT3100-1

        #4
        I have a custom fit cover on my 95' Miata which I've now had for more than a decade. It's cloth, but I've long ago misplaced the paperwork that came with it. I just looked at the Moss Motors site to refresh my memory (https://mossmiata.com/car-cover-guide) and mine looks like the by it's color and fabric texture. "MOSOM PLUS MAZDA MX-5 MIATA CAR COVER BY COVERKING" color and fabric texture. This ad, describes an updated version of the cover I bought. Looks the same and while mine is multi-layered, mine isn't totally dust proof.

        It has an elastic band sewn into the skirt and so the cover is relatively easy to pull off and put on. It keeps the cover tight and even after all these years still has that fitted look. At the Painted Post house I didn't have a garage and kept it in the driveway, driving it back and forth to work everyday (so easy to put on and off and on nasty days, I'd even keep it covered at the end of the parking lot.

        Since we've moved here, I keep the Miata in our garage with the cover on it. It has held up well, but dust still seems to find it's way through the fabric over these long periods.

        CWS
        Think it Through Before You Do!

        Comment

        • capncarl
          Veteran Member
          • Jan 2007
          • 3564
          • Leesburg Georgia USA
          • SawStop CTS

          #5
          I found the car covers more trouble than they are worth if you use the car very often, The cover does it’s job and collects all the pollen, bird crap and dust that would settle on the car. When I removed the cover and try to fold, no actually wrestle the cover into a ball, all of this pollen, bird crap and dust gets on my clothes and hands. I stored the cover in a 35 gallon Rubbermaid garbage can with a lid. After a flash flood/ wind storm I came home to find the lid to my cover storage can gone and the can half full of water. Not an easy task to clean a wet car cover. I used it for several months before I put it up. It went with the car when I sold it.

          Comment

          • Carlos
            Veteran Member
            • Jan 2004
            • 1893
            • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

            #6
            It's really only useful if you keep the car pretty clean. Otherwise now you're dirtying everything, and scratching the paint with any motion. I had one for a car that I kept clean with drive-through washes every couple days, and that was fine. But I got a cover for the wife's car, and she would never wash it, so the cover got used rarely. Total waste of money. She also hated the effort to put it on, even though it was a very small car (Z4).

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