Any advice on weatherproof car covers?

[Paulfc]

Hi,

Has  anyone any experienced based advice to offer on external all car covers? I will need to leave the car (TR6) outside for a while and want to buy the best available. I've seen "best buys" advertised ranging in price from £30 through to £300. I'm aware, too, that the club has offers. 

Any advice will be gratefully received.

Paul

 

[poppyman]

I personally would not bother Paul, as they cause all sorts of paint and condensation problems. On a TR6 i would just get one that covers the roof and screen, just to make it a bit more water tight and give the body work a nice coat of wax and cover the chrome with vaseline if left for a longer period of time. Even expensive covers are not good...........

Tony. 

[Pete Lewis]

i agree  a top hat cover works well . covers get wet under and wind flapping removes  the paint as the dust on a dirty car turns into grinding paste  

then frost bite  all make things worse than leave her open , 

Pete

[AndyTV8]

I kept my old Stag under a Hamilton Classics outdoor cover for 8 years without suffering paintwork damage. But I did replace it every 3 years as I found there was degradation at seams and the ‘fluffyness’ of the inner lining. (The car was white, finished In 2-pack, so quite hardy)

My current TR has the luxury of a garage, but I use a cockpit/hood cover when parked in the office car park in poor weather because it’s never going to be watertight when sat still in pouring rain for 10hrs!  The cockpit cover is also a Hamilton Classics because I’d had such good experience with the previous outdoor one.

i checked the clubshop prices (both TSSC and TR register) but at the time, got a slightly cheaper deal by ringing the company direct.

‘Best Available’ is probably a Carcoon, but that was beyond the depth of my pockets.

....... Andy 

forgot to add..... I’m assuming you have hard-standing without large-scale water-pooling.... parking up for an extended period on a grass surface is going to deteriorate the car quickly  due to the amount of moisture coming out of the ground

[ShaunW]

I can't agree about 'top hat' covers. I got one and the elastics went saggy after a month and it blows up like a parachute. And being small it's tricky to get it lashed down properly with ropes.

I can't quite decide whether it's best to have a full cover or just treat it like you did when they were new,  ie no cover and drop the windows (or roof) on any good day for doing the washing, to keep it aired. Trapped damp does far more harm than sometimes getting wet and drying out. If it's not going to be used, I smear my shiny bits with grease (oo er missus) and spray some chain lube on the bits I don't want surface rust, like track rods, half shafts etc. 

Great advice about (not) parking on grass AndyTV8. I suppose you could park it on a tarp?  Parking under trees has its own problems too at any time of year. 

[Colin Lindsay]

9 hours ago, ShaunW said:

I suppose you could park it on a tarp?  

On one, but certainly not under one! I know that's not what has been recommended so far but it's the best paint stripper you could ever find. I used a cheap tarp-style cover on a Herald which had to be moved due to another car being sprayed in the garage, and it sat outside for maybe a month. It kept the rain out but the flapping in the wind wore right through the paint wherever it touched. Heralds of course have more sharp points than TRs but whichever cover you use I'd advise blunting any sharp angles - windscreen frame top corners, for example - or it will just wear straight through amazingly quickly. I'd like to think that more expensive covers are more resistant.

[daverclasper]

I have been using the more expensive covers 24/7 for over 5 years.

Not caused any problems to paint that I can see (though I admit I am not dead fussy, as main purpose for me is to use car).

They are the fleecy lined ones and have a bit of weight, so don't flap about.

I think, as a lot of our cars aren't always 100% watertight (door/boot/smaller seals etc + other nooks and crannies, where water will settle), then, using a cover can be very beneficial.

My cars left on the street and I think a cover minimizes vandalism, also UV light damage to rubber.

I always keep an old cover that I use for periods of dry/very sunny weather/light rain, and my newest cover should therefore last a lot longer, as I think it's UV light that deteriorates them the most.   

Dave  

   

Edited September 12, 2019 by daverclasper

[Chris A]

1 hour ago, daverclasper said:

I think it's UV light that deteriorates them the most.   

Dave  

   

In my case I use a Hamilton's cover, need to get a new one this autumn though, biggest cause of wear to the cover are that the seams come unglued so need regular regluing and our cats ! They love using the car cover to sleep on and strop their claws on when they climb on the car. As for paint damage no real problems but will second the comments about sharp bits on Heralds and the need protect the cover. I leave the windows slightly open in winter (cover is on of course) to aid airing and do try to remove cover on warm sunny days from time to time, I also run the car a little in winter as well.

[Bfg]

.

Mine cost about £60 a few years back and is fleeced.  It seemed a decent weight and it does stay put,  but its waterproofing stated to fail within the first year (I think UV caused its outer surface to crack).   However I'm presently still using it,  as this car (a small Citroen) is for sale ..and so it's as much to keep dust and morning dew off the car.  It also means I can leave a side window open (without flies, leaves and dust going inside) ..so the inside of the car is not closed up when the weather is good for drying.  It can of course be closed up when the weather forecast predicts damp.  I live in a farm house so security is less an issue here, but if I were in town then I'd be happier to keep any sports car under wraps. 

Personally I use polystyrene-like plumbing pipe lagging tubes under it.  The cover is put one and then they're pushed under to lay along the roof.  They sort of look like a banana shaped ridge pole.   This is to give a little air gap between the cover and the metal roof which a.) increases the drainage angle,  b.) gives a gap so morning dew / condensation doesn't go straight through into the car,  and c.) so there's a little air flow inbetween the cover and the car to help dry it out. 

I have laid paying bricks on a tarp under the car which although it catches and slightly rain puddles under the car - it also soon dries out.  Conversely, when there's soil under the car - it is devoid of sunlight ..so takes positively ages to dry out.   Although it cannot be seen in the photo below, there are no bricks for a 2-foot wide strip along the centre line under the car (but there is still the tarp), so that level is a couple of inches lower than the bricks the tyres are sitting upon.  This extra 2" in clear depth of passage is to encourage air flow under the car.   I then have 6ft high fence panels, approximately 6ft to one side and likewise behind the car (the direction of prevailing wind) and so this helps prevent driving rain from going under the car, but they are not so tight as to stop all air movement.   And yes the tree will need cutting back a little more before the winter.

I'm selling this car (..hoping the deposit will be paid today) to buy a TR.  I'll then be parking that in the same place, but the plan is to erect a simple ridge pole the whole length of the car + four to six foot at either end. Then I'll drape a tarp over this.  As a ridged car-port (on the cheap).. rainwater and snow will run off easily, and the wind will not catch under it so easily.  But the tarp will not be rubbing against the car, and its bottom will be 18" off the ground, so again driving rain will not so easily get under the car but air movement will be free.  I can use this same (now not waterproof) car cover under that, just to keep the flies, dust and leaves out.  This is of course the very same as a camping tent with flysheet and inner.

I like Dave's suggestion of having two covers, one mainly used for winter weather and the old one for summer. Perhaps my flysheet will help protect the car cover longer..  And who knows possibly one of those tent / jacket waterproofing compounds might work to improve this cover ? 

Anyway, I hope the above might give you some ideas. 

p.s.  There's a TR6 hardtop on ebay which is cheap. If you don't have one then it might be worth spending £50 just to place on the car while it is parked up, and/or through winter months.

 

[Paulfc]

Thanks to one and all, plenty to ponder on.

Paul