Hi,
I am looking to purchase an outdoor car cover ready for winter and have looked at many different sites with a range of costs and I’m finding it difficult to decide on which one to go for.
Halfords say that you have to put a protective cloth on top of the soft top convertibles before you put the cover on, does anyone know if this applies to all type of covers?
Hoping someone out there can help!
Thanks
I’m not sure I’d bother. Every car cover i’e seen, including the “tailor made” types don’t really fit well. They tend to flap in the wind and sometimes scratch the car itself.
The only ones I’ve seen that get over this are the Portable Garage type of thing (a sort of dome) but they aren’t practical if you leave the car on the street…
Don’t know anything about the Halford thing but you protecting the hood is good idea…
I bought an outdoor cover from Halfords a couple of weeks ago, about £65.00. Nothing was mentioned about any additional covering the hood being required, so I don’t.
The material is an odd looking finely perforated stuff on which the rain seems to bead up and run off, seems ok so far.
Bob
Hi,
Thanks for your response. The following information is located at the bottom under additional information:
On soft top convertibles you must cover the textile hood with a protective cloth to prevent abrasion.
How well does it fit & do you think the material could cause damage to the paintwork?
I might consider going for the half cover as I more interested in protecting the hood.
Thanks
I bought a Stormforce fitted cover just after Christmas this year for my MK1 from Cover Zone http://www.cover-zone.com/prices_records.php
It was double the cost of the Halfords one and while it kept the car very dry I did end up with light scratches in the paint work where dust/grit had got trapped between the cover and car body, but that said they did polish out. I didn’t use my Roadster last winter so having it covered up while it sat on the drive was a good thing. This winter I’m probably going to have to use it as my daily transport and can’t see me putting the cover on just for a night as found it a pain taking it on and off every day, OK when its not being used for a few weeks at a time.
Car covers can scratch the paintwork and sometimes cause discolouration. Your car is covered in paint,let that do the job.
Well it certainly isn’t tailored to fit, I bought the medium size cover and it is, in my opinion, quite a good fit.The 2 retaining straps are a bit of a fiddle unless you happen to have loads of space either side of the car, which I don’t.
As for damage to the paintwork, it’s always a possibility due to particles of abrasive substances getting trapped between the cover and the car, obviously taking care to keep it off the floor when handling is essential, but on the whole the cover seems ok. I took it off yesterday after a couple of good overnight exposures to rain, both it and the car were dry.
I will get the Halfords website up and look at the additional information, must have overlooked that first time around. Not sure what sort of protective cloth will be appropriate to cover the hood though?
Bob