Buying a decent car cover!!

[cjhillman]

I think its definitely time to buy a car cover for my beloved Ford Escort Mk3. I cant afford a garage so it has to live on the street unfortunately. I've also moved to London so it's probably going to sit around a lot unless i work out of town etc. The car had a full respray recently too so a soft inside car cover is a must.

These are the 3 i've seen. I saw the Monsoon one on a webpage but also just found it on ebay. The "Winter Pro" one looks great too! Not sure about the 3rd example.

Monsoon:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Escort-MK-3-6-Monsoon-Waterproof-Car-Cover/251670284581?epid=1044804861&hash=item3a98b7c925:g:6J4AAOSwVFlT7eGa

WinterPro:
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Escort-Mk3-Mk4-RS-TURBO-1984-1991-WinterPRO-Car-Cover/251602850026?hash=item3a94b2d0ea:g:sCMAAOSwWTRWuc6K

3rd example
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ford-Europe-Escort-Mk3-Saloon-Tailored-Diamond-Outdoor-Car-Cover-1980-to-1986/172978165411?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49130%26meid%3D61d44887fc9641e9801a96e97aedce75%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D4%26rkt%3D5%26sd%3D172978165270&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851


I know a lot of people don't like car covers but, i'm really trying to keep the rust at bay now it looks pretty mint. Any advice on these covers is appreciated!

Cheers
Chris

[cjhillman]

Actually i think it was the "Stormforce" i initially looked at not the "Monsoon". This one seems to be the ultimate protection one .

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STORMFORCE-4-Layer-Car-Cover-Ford-Escort-Cabriolet-Mk3-Mk4-Mk5-Mk6-1980-00/111777170625?hash=item1a067044c1:g:ruIAAOSwPhdU7xpK

[slammedorion]

Don’t put a cover on it
It’ll rub paint, scratch it
Even cause micro blisters
Don’t buy a car cover!!!

[southside]

Trap moisture too so will probably rust quicker than leaving it open to the elements

[Deleted]

If you purchase a good quality, well specified breathable car cover it will be fine - make sure that you secure it well - more important than anything else make sure it is non flammable - very few are non flammable rated - I had a friend whose cover caught fire and wrote his E Type off - cheaply made covers that don't fit correctly allow the wind under them then they flap about and cause paint damage - you would be better off with a custom made one than a generic type - Chris

[SmokeEm]

I can only speak from experience. A car cover made me make the worst decision of my life!

A fair few years back, I purchased a mint Granada from Mercdan on this here parish. God I loved that car. At the time, I had a driveway that was one car wide but 2 cars long so as I only used it at weekends it sat happily at the back all through summer. When it got to late September, I decided that as it was so mint, I wanted to protect it from the winter so I fully valeted it, SORN'd it and purchased an expensive tailor made car cover for it. The cover had eyelets so I bonded some metal eyes to some concrete blocks and cable tied the cover to them so the wind couldn't blow it off. At the end of October, I decided I wanted to run the car up to temp and removed the cover. When I opened the door I was heartbroken! There was green furry curse word on the seats, mould on the seat belts etc etc. I was devasteted. I put an advert on ebay within hours and it sold that week. I still wish I had thought logically about it. I should've in hindsight left it uncovered with a thick coat of wax with some sort of dehumidifier inside. Something like a Unibond Aero 360 would do the trick for a tenner.God I miss that car.

[Deleted]

I have to agree with previous comments. Based on past experience with car covers... they actually make things worse, at best. They trap moisture, and then when things warm up again you just get damp sinking in to everything. They cause paint to bubble, they rub, the don't do a very good job.

I can appreciate that a bespoke made cover such as Chris is referring to might be better, but all off-the-shelf covers I have used have done ore harm than good.

Also, being the UK, there is rarely heavy rain without considerable wind, and all car covers I've ever tried are like parachutes that lift up with even a modest wind blowing. I've had all kinds of damage caused to paintwork and bodywork by covers getting yanked powerfully from their position and the straps getting rubbed back and forth - usually from up inside a wheel arch where the strap will end up, causing damage to the wheel arch area. I long ago gave up putting a car cover on and then returning to the car the next day to find it was all pulled up and strangled around one end of the car with the straps digging in to paintwork.

I'm sat here looking at my car outside on day two of heavy rain and itching to get my car old cover out. But I have learned from experience that it's just not worth it. If you can be on-the-ball enough to strap one on super-tight before a rainfall begins and then whip it straight off immediately once it's passed it's okay... but who has time to keep running in and out to do that?

(In case anyone is wondering why I would bother putting a rain cover on a fibreglass car.... it lets rain in in all sorts of places and that can rot certain weak points unseen).

A better idea is that after every rainfall, take the car out for a really good drive round to dry out all the nooks and crannies, and take in a few corners to swill out anything that may have pooled anywhere.

[pittaway]

use some winter rated wax, i use collinite ( canadian winter proven)

www.elitecarcare.co.uk/product/collinite-915-marque-delegance-detailing-kit-2/

keep some dehumidifiers in the car be it brought or home made, i use a bag of cat litter between the front seats.

there is alot of speculation about just starting a car up for a while as water and condensation caused can be a huge problem, escpecially to mild steel exhausts, but driving it will do it the world of good, even if its for 15 minutes a few times a month, get some air circulation, parts rotating and fuel moving through everything.

ive got mk3 fiesta "show car" from the max power era, not used it in years since my youth, i put i car cover on it for one winter and micro blistered the whole front end. i was gutted! since found there are better ways without covers

[generally01]

All I can add is that my Fastback has been under a cover on the drive (summer and winter) for the last 10 years since it was restored and it shows no sign whatsoever of damage from the cover.

I purchase a great quality goretex cover with fleece lining from here;

www.airflow-uk.co.uk/home.php

Winter jacket by Dave Campbell, on Flickr

Winter jacket by Dave Campbell, on Flickr

From my experience a damp garage with no air flow causes more damage than a cover.

I keep a damp trap in the car (saucer of salt will work as well) and I bought the plastic clamps market traders use to keep their stalls together to clamp the cover to my bumpers for extra security in the wind and like I said, 10 years and no issues.

Dave

[MkX]

Dec 11, 2017 11:10:25 GMT generally01 said:

I purchase a great quality goretex cover with fleece lining from here;

Goretex / fleece lined sounds as though it would cover both major issues, i.e. allow moisture out whilst reducing the potential for rubbing & scratching. Obviously if it's well secured it's less likely to catch the wind and move about rubbing the paintwork. I should think it was pricey though?

[Deleted]

[/quote]if it's well secured it's less likely to catch the wind and move about rubbing the paintwork[/quote]


Maybe not with a really expensive custom made one, but with the various shop-bought ones I've had I always used to spend absolutely ages fastening them as tightly as I could, and adding extra stuff to keep it on, but if the wind got up it would always yank it about eventually.

I think so far the consensus seems to be "get an expensive one, or don't bother"... it seems it's the middle ground where problems occur.

[generally01]

Dec 11, 2017 11:51:14 GMT MkX said:

Dec 11, 2017 11:10:25 GMT generally01 said:

I purchase a great quality goretex cover with fleece lining from here;

Goretex / fleece lined sounds as though it would cover both major issues, i.e. allow moisture out whilst reducing the potential for rubbing & scratching. Obviously if it's well secured it's less likely to catch the wind and move about rubbing the paintwork. I should think it was pricey though?

I bought the latest one (usually get 2 winters out of them) and it was £140ish.

[miniallsort]

Sorry to bring this topic back up but I’m currently looking for car cover for my classic mini has anyone used winterpro covers

[brachunky]

Although pricey and dependent on where the car is being stored, a Carcoon is what I would use. It would be no use of course if your area was full of yobs as it would probably get slashed
Carcoon

[redratbike]

i’d hit the classic car mags and see what’s recommend lots of ads in the back of those for covers including the ones at the top of this post

[DarrenW]

My Mk1 Golf, my E90, my brother's Rover 100 and my mate's Alfa 75 all live outside and have these covers:

www.concoursautoproducts.co.uk/


They work really well. Don't put them on a wet car and if you're leaving it on for a long time it's best to make sure the car has a good coat of wax on it. I think UV light eventually breaks them down so I tend to leave them off in summer and just use them in Autumn/Winter. The one on the Golf is left on most of the year round though, I think it must be 5 years old now and it's not quite as good as it was, but I bet a spray with nikwax or similar would help.

Zero scratching or rubbing, I look very closely at the paint regularly and I'd spot any instantly, but I never put one on a dirty car. The only damage has been where the one on the Golf was put on when it was damp and left for weeks, eventually the (not the greatest) paint on the wing microblistered but it was already going that way anyway.

Despite major storm winds and infinite rain they've all worked well.

[88zxturbo]

I’ve had a coverzone stormforce cover for the last 6 years first on a V3 type r Impreza, then bluebird zx turbo and now mu current bluebird, has never left a mark on paint or caused any damp/condensation issues