Best car cover to protect shite outside?

[mercrocker]

Bloke up the road has a pram hood cover on his Mk1 Berlingo. Its survived last nights gales and the Blingo always looks nice. He drives the car pretty much daily too so it cant be too much of a pain in the arse to use.

[Lord Sterling]

The pram thing I think is called a 'Perambulator':

 

 

My cars are kept under some well wrapped "ta' Paulin" it isn't great, can cause water to settle under or worse condensation within the car hence why I need to go and clean it off a couple of my cars.

 

Garages/carports are great, but not a option for many people. I'm sure many on here who do have garages and carports would use them if they can. Renting a council/housing association lock-up is really the only better option.

[mercrocker]

Didn't realise they did them to match the profile of the house roof...

[djimbob]

Agree with most posters, tarps etc only trap moisture and wreck paint, and possibly worst of all, once you have weighed the tarp down to stop it blowing off with wheels, buckets, bricks, lengths of wood etc..  there is no incentive to get the vehicle out and take her for a run - this is the best blow-dry you can do for a vehicle to get the moisture out of all it's nooks and crannies

 

So give the car a bloody good waxing and undersealing, and a regular drive out, and all will be reasonably well

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Shall add my two pence - I've used covers on motorcycles outside. They are great in heavy rain but best left off if it's dry at all.

 

Left on for extended periods condensation builds up and does more damage than just leaving uncovered.

 

Before I put the cover on I plaster all the exposed mechanicals in thin oil and all painted parts in wax (without buffing off)

[UltraWomble]

A car port perhaps ? Nothing touching the car, air can circulate freely, and you could work under it.

The autoshitters version is a large builders tarp strung up between a couple of points - I do this down on the hardstanding - I have three posts with hooks in them on the hedge side at about 6 and a bit foot tall and then secure them on the other side to a fence which is 4 foot tall. OK, it means on one side you have to be a dwarf to work on the car, but it keeps me dry if doing anything.

 

All this said, with the recent weather this would just turn into the world's biggest kite and end up somewhere in Lower Penwortham.

[danthecapriman]

All 4 of mine have outdoor covers on them. The Mercury is far too big for a normal garage anyway so it's the only option really.

I did used to just leave my Capri uncovered but it deteriorated much much quicker that way, not helped by the windscreen seal leaking slightly! With the cover on it doesn't leak and the car stays pretty dry.

 

I clean and wax the cars then cover them in breathable car covers in the wet weather. The covers come off on dry days to let the condensation/damp dry off, and I'll often leave the windows down for a few hours on dry days to let the interior air out and stop damp. Occasionally I'll take the car out for a run if it's dry enough.

Of course once the weather starts to get better in about May I usually leave the covers off and folded up in the boot until winter.

[dieselnutjob]

That's the other thing.  The 604 has leaked at times.  Sometimes water seems to get past the the trim clips on the rear quarters and fills up the rear wing.  It doesn't do it for months and then suddenly does.

 

This summer the sunroof drain tube blocked and the passenger seat and floor got soaked.  The leather has gone really hard on that seat but I did get the floor dry.

 

The car needs a total respray anyway so maybe for the time being it's better to suffer paint damage than have water getting in and rusting its way out.

 

I can't drive it at the moment either because the carb is needs rebuilding before it will get an MOT so it's SORNed.

[overrun]

I currently have a 5K mile, 2014 Vauxhall Adam, sans front end, mummified in a £5 delivered eBay 'outdoor' cover.

 

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