Outdoor car covers...thoughts

Klasse Act

Klasse Act

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 21, 2012
Messages
27,740
Reaction score
2,768
I'm at my wits end with these F'n pine trees! I know, 1st world problems, I get it but I've gotta do something️️

As you guys know, o bought the monthly subscription at the carwash to combat the issue...kinda and we all know how THAT worked out, it didn't and doesn't even solve the ultimate issue

Here in greater Chicagoland you can't park overnight from 2 a.m. thru 6 a.m. so I can't even park on the street away from pine trees even

I've looked into outdoor car covers, I'm desperate but I hear that dust can get up under them and when taking them off can scratch the paint, one problem causes another that causes another that....🫣

What's your experience with outdoor car covers...can I use them safely??

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
 
I used to use two on top of each other back when there were times when I parked outside occasionally but I found the cover was lightly marring my paint so I stopped using it. Perhaps today there are marring free fabrics but I'm unaware of them
 
If it's raining and you have to go somewhere, where do you put that wet car cover? And to answer your question..I live in a Condo and almost everybody who gets a new car will buy a car cover and it may last a month or two.
 
Don't, just don't, especially if you have ANY wind

A tiny bit of sand or dust trapped between the cover and your clearcoat acts like sandpaper

Been there and done that
 
My experience with the Evolution covers and that ilk (the breathable ones), from a long time ago, is that if they get rained on a fine silt will wash through the cover and deposit on the car.

My situation was a little different in that it was a car that I had outside that I wouldn't drive often, so it would sit under the cover for months at a time. So when I would take it off, you've got this (frequently) wet, dirty cover...and no where to put it really. And you can't really put them in the washing machine, they are too big (maybe these new front loaders or top-loaders with no agitator would fit one, I don't know. I'm sure you can take them to the laundromat.

Anyway, that car/cover is a bad example because it was an old beater. But let's say you put the cover on when you park to keep the sap off, where are you going to put the cover when you go to work in the morning? You've got to be able to keep it clean so you don't inadvertantly drag something back onto the car. There is a whole procedure to rolling the cover so the outside doesn't touch the inside, which if I'm remembering right, means the inside of the cover is on the outside after you roll it up. I had a cover on a garage queen for a while, that I would put in a storage bag after rolling it up, which would keep it clean.

And of course the car needs to be clean when you cover it so you don't get the inside of the cover dirty, etc., which probably isn't a problem for you. I guess you have to decide if cover stress is better than sap stress.
 
And just to echo everyone that posted while I was writing my dissertation, I also don't use covers anymore, not for ages.
 
I think I was able to put a Noah cover in the washing machine but it’s not like doing that prevented any marring
 
Bill D said:
I think I was able to put a Noah cover in the washing machine but it’s not like doing that prevented any marring
Click to expand...

Is that the one I had? What is the Evolution? Do I have that wrong, I looked at a picture of a Noah and it looks like the ones I had. I still have the one for that garage queen, I would use it inside under the right conditions, I guess. The other problem with covering the garage queens is getting to the battery to charge.
 
I think Evolution is a mesh like fabric and Noah is like a nylon fabric
 
So Noah is an indoor cover? The place that had the picture of Noah--it looked exactly like the Evolution that they also had, but the Noah was more expensive.
 
Adding my voice to the "Don't do it" chorus. The beating the cover and the car under it are going to take with some of those vicious T-storms that have become all too common around here - plus the "usual" crazy winds we experience - isn't enough, IMO, to offset the issue of not having to deal with pine needles. As others have noted it's also a large PITA to remove/store/transport every time you want to go for a drive.
 
So my g/f and I are going to the police station this Saturday to see if they're willing/able to help me out

I really only need to park on the street on dry days, so it's not everyday, I guess we'll see what the cops say

Thank you everyone for your input...now if you excuse me I've gotta go and wash my car...again

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
 
Where I live we also have no on-street parking 2-6 AM, but if you call the police and tell them you need to leave a car in the street, it's no problem, you just give them the license plate, so hopefully you will be fine. Sorry I didn't think of that sooner, we could have saved all this car cover talk.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Where I live we also have no on-street parking 2-6 AM, but if you call the police and tell them you need to leave a car in the street, it's no problem, you just give them the license plate, so hopefully you will be fine. Sorry I didn't think of that sooner, we could have saved all this car cover talk.
Click to expand...
We have that too but they'll be onto me after a couple days. I'd like them to know "I'm that guy who parks on the street all the time...guy"

I guess we'll find out Sat

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
 
Klasse Act said:
So my g/f and I are going to the police station this Saturday to see if they're willing/able to help me out

I really only need to park on the street on dry days, so it's not everyday, I guess we'll see what the cops say

Thank you everyone for your input...now if you excuse me I've gotta go and wash my car...again

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
So after a foam/dwell/rinse/free flow & dry the EN is clean...well was because by the time I was done I looked at the back window...small sap dots already there 🫣🫣🫣
fa57c77d5e3e34f53f100bc3b1bd1254.jpg


Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk
 
The owner if this BMW bought a Sealskin car cover this past weekend. He had me give it a quick maintenance wash and under the cover it went. I normally wouldn’t have been very supportive of the idea, but since his car parks under a carport I can sort of agree with his desire to use it.

He says it’s made to fit the vehicle and “fits like a glove” He hasn’t removed it yet so no word on whether or not his paints scratched to hell or not.lol j/k it shouldn’t be scratched at this point..

I think he said he paid a couple hundred for it.

a6f63d178d3de0259d7769cd1303acc6.jpg

8aae12c8edecb2784bf8be71d8318f90.jpg

0af4b85e888425d5ce81637ce57c7895.jpg
 
Custom car covers are nothing new. My car covers are tailored to my car but it doesn’t mean marring can be prevented
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top