Car Covers

[phaeton88]

Hello everyone,
So I'm gonna buy a cover to keep the dust off my car while it's being stored in the garage. First, I just wanted to get a 30$ cover from Amazon, but then I've come across some custom made covers that cost 200$. I certainly don't want to pay 10 times more for a piece of cloth, but I'm worried that a cheap cover might scratch the paint on my car... Do you guys think expensive cover might be worth buying or should I be fine with a cheap one? Thanks!

[Paul A.]

I had an expensive one and it still lightly marred my old car.

[gibson24]

Hello everyone,
So I'm gonna buy a cover to keep the dust off my car while it's being stored in the garage. First, I just wanted to get a 30$ cover from Amazon, but then I've come across some custom made covers that cost 200$. I certainly don't want to pay 10 times more for a piece of cloth, but I'm worried that a cheap cover might scratch the paint on my car... Do you guys think expensive cover might be worth buying or should I be fine with a cheap one? Thanks!
I just a bought a 2016 WRX and was also looking for a car cover as well. Found Subaru makes a perfect fit cover. No idea in regards to effect on paint finish though.

Sent from my LG-LS997 using Autogeekonline mobile app (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=87407)

[MarkD51]

If you shall only use the cover for indoor use in a garage, then that gives you many options.
Sure, a universal cover would work, usually are less expensive than custom fitted, serve its purpose generally, but don't expect it to be custom fit even perhaps if it says it's for your vehicle. Often, they won't look real pretty and properly conform to the vehicle.

You will usually find that you do get what you pay for when it comes to a cover.

As for a company like Covercraft (sold here) they are about the best in the business, and if you contact Covercraft directly by phone, they will gladly and quickly send you out free labeled sample swatches of all the various materials they incorporate for their Covers.

When catching a good sale here, such as 20% off, no exclusions, free shipping for $X amount of dollars, that's a good time to purchase such a Covercraft Cover. That's what I did.

With the variety of materials available from Covercraft, and reading their descriptions, some of these covers for an average Car, or even SUV are quite compact, and lightweight, meaning they can be easily washed at home when required.

A indoor cover will generally stay much cleaner than one used outdoors such as my top of the line Covercraft Weathershield HD Cover will. They may then be softer and kinder to a paint finish, but they in no way will be as durable. That such indoor use covers won't hold up well for outdoor use, nor possess many of the properties better more expensive covers have such as being waterproof-water resistant.

With an indoor cover, and not having to deal with high winds often as I do here, provided a person properly removes and installs a Car Cover, there is very little risk of marring the paint.

In that you don't "drag" a cover off the vehicle, you roll and or fold the cover up at the front and the back towards the center, then lift the cover off the Car. Reverse the process for installation, unrolling it.

Hope this helps.

[FUNX650]

Do you guys think expensive cover
might be worth buying or should I
be fine with a cheap one? Thanks!

Here's a little something that I was
taught when I was a wee Lad, that
has always served me very well:


"I'm not rich enough
to buy cheap stuff"... ~Dad


Bob

[MarkD51]

Prior to buying the Covercraft brand of custom fitted Cover for my Tahoe, I was ignorant, went for price, bought another brand cover.

And it was a huge mistake. The cover looked like I threw an Air Balloon over the vehicle, just a ridiculous-pathetic non-fit, was so large and billowy no way could I use-keep it.

The company let me return it for full refund, but the return shipping was on my dime, and it wasn't cheap. Lesson learned.

My next cover was then the Covercraft NOAH. Said to be a good cover, but it did not hold up long, the outdoors took its toll on this cover, and it failed before the warrantee was up. Part of the reasons it perhaps failed, was that it began to lose its water repellency, and I sprayed the cover with Aerospace 303 Fabric Guard.

I believe this product compromised and drastically effected-degraded the particular material on the NOAH Cover. Again, lesson learned. (the hard way)

Some of the lightweight covers are of a nylon material, or have nylon incorporated into the fabric blend. Found that out the hard way too, when my NOAH began to tear at the lower seams from using Gust Guard Tie Downs.

Thought I could simply use an Iron-On Patch to rectify the tear. Nope. The cover instantly "melted"! I had a bigger mess on my hands, and with Covercraft's help, and sending me material, I had to sew in patches to help make the cover last a bit longer.

It got to the point with the NOAH then, it was garbage can fodder, out it went, and bought the TOTL Weathershield HD. Vastly more durable than the NOAH (which felt like a fuzzy thick paper), but not as soft as many of their other Cover Materials. The Weathershield HD is probably IMO the least "paint friendly" of all their Covers made.

But I've had it now for 2 years, it's holding up like a champ outside 24/7, and that's not an easy thing here in the Southwest Desert.

[phaeton88]

Thank you for the suggestions!
Just ordered a new cover which I believe should be a good compromise. I wasn't feeling comfortable paying over a 100$ for a piece of cloth, but I didn't want to buy a cheap POS either. So, after a couple hours of online research I got a basic Ready-fit cover by Covercraft, semi-customized for all generation Mustangs. It was offered for 89$ on American Muscle, and has excellent reviews. I think it should be a decent indoor cover, but time will tell.

[MarkD51]

There was a time where I have used on occasion Cotton Bed Sheets.

While I had a custom fitted Cotton Duck Cover for my '67 Stingray, I never had one for my '68 SS396 Camaro.
Thus, freebie Cotton Sheets worked in a jam.

Either of those cars would be stored in my Garage during Chicago Winters back then, and weren't coming out till spring.

Hope all works out well for you.