Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

[Charles P.]

I have just purchased a beautiful 2001 low mileage, yellow convertible. I've been looking for a bit and thought that probably I would have been a little closer to spring before I finally pulled the trigger but when the perfact car suddenly rolled up............. I was hooked. For one reason or another (it is what it is) it will have to sit outside on occasion this winter; not all the time but some. I'm in the Detroit area and since I can't coordinate those times with the weather, the cover will have to do double duty - protection against possible wind, rain and snow while outside and regular duty inside. Does anyone (particularly from that area) have a suggestion as toi a strong, tough, waterproof yet breathable cover. Price is not the consideration, protection is. The car will be driven lthough not on inclimate days so ease of putting it on is a consideration but not at the expense of protection. One that comes with a storage bag would be nice but that is not mandatory.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks,
Charles

[Jerry P.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

california car cover........... in my opinion the very best... calcarcover.com/ jer

[Don L.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

I'm in SE Michigan, and although my cars don't sit outside, I second the endorsement for California Car Covers. Good stuff. Not cheap but no surprises either.

[Terry M.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

I have three California Car Covers. All cars are indoors. My personal opinion is that outdoor car covers are a bad idea. I think they trap more than they protect -- but it is your car.

[Patrick N.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

To add another option, I have the Cover King Storm Proof on my 88 that is outside while the 68 consumes my garage. Just outside of Philly, hurricane Sandy hit us pretty hard, 70 - 80 mph winds. The cover did very well against rain and wind. My only complaint was that the front nose blew off at first. I added a grommet to the front and now can tie the front down so it does not blow off. It is good if the underside is very soft material that wont rub a hole through your clear coat when the wind blows under the cover. A fabric will cat like fine sand paper. We just had our first snow a couple days ago and the cover, which is black, grabs the heat and melts the snow quickly. I won't pretend to get nearly the snow you see but we get our share- (yes those are foot prints on my car from my boys trying to use my vette as a snowboard ramp)


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snow-1.jpgsnow-2.jpg

[Paul J.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

My personal opinion is that outdoor car covers are a bad idea. I think they trap more than they protect -- but it is your car.

Good point, they also will give the car "cover rash". While I used car covers outside for years, I will not do that anymore unless I don't car that much about the paint.

[Charles P.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

Thanks for all the input. I'm not sure about more snbow in MI than Philadelphia.... I was raised in Gladwyn on the Main Line and I don't think the snow there was much less than we are now seeing now outside of Detroit. I wondered about the "better to cover or not to cover" thing as well. There is only space in the garage for one car and since my companion is still working, I don't want her to deal with snow on her car when she has to get to work so that's when my C5 would probably be evicted, for a storm. Maybe I'll get one of the good outside ones and only cover the car if it's outside during a storm. The rest of the time I think you're probably right, the rubbing could do more harm than good. Thanks

[Harry S.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

I have two of their Dustop covers, indoors only. They work fine.

[Robert L.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

I suggest you rent a storage area. The car will be inside and you should have access to it when you want.

I keep my corvettes in the garage and our daily cars sit outside all winter. Have a tolerant wife.

MCMLVII

[Jeff P.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

What about an inexpensive "portable garage" from Harbor Frieght. 10'x17' for about $180. Just a thought. I haven't seen one in use.

[Paul J.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

What about an inexpensive "portable garage" from Harbor Frieght. 10'x17' for about $180. Just a thought. I haven't seen one in use.

Jeff, these can be an eyesore in the wrong (right?) neighborhood. The less expensive ones also have coverings that are not that sturdy. Finally, I would not want to pierce my pavement to anchor it, and you want pavement under it or the moisture issues that Terry mentioned will surface. Tarps on the raw ground don't cut it if the car is nice, and/or it has aluminum suspension and engine parts. Now that I've said this, I am going to purchase one of the quanset hut designs for the extra storage that I need for the next couple of years. It will be accepted in my neighborhood because they are tired of looking at my non-ambulatory cars. I also have a wooded area to put it in and it should disappear in the summer months. The only problem is that I'm having trouble finding a dark green one.

Paul

[Patrick H.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

I suggest you rent a storage area. The car will be inside and you should have access to it when you want.

I keep my corvettes in the garage and our daily cars sit outside all winter. Have a tolerant wife.

MCMLVII

I'm with this one, though my daily cars sit outside in the summer. My Corvettes live in my Dad's barn for the winter.
It's not that hard to find a place to store it, and then take it back out again in late April.
In Michigan there's not much of a reason to even have it accessible for the next 5 months.

[Jim D.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

My personal opinion is that outdoor car covers are a bad idea. I think they trap more than they protect -- but it is your car.

I've seen several cases where moisture has been trapped under the cover and the paint has blistered. I've seen the same thing happen on Corvettes that have had a bra installed. A buddy called me up in a panic when he took his off. The front of his car had more pimples than a teenage boy with raging hormones.

[Edward S.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

Friend of mine bought a "car bubble" then went to locaL Home Depot and bought by the yard indoor/outdoor carpeting which has rubber backing to line the bottom of the bubble. Been doing it for a few years and seems to work fine. Even though my car is in my one car garage with a cement floor I park it on top of the same type rubber backed carpet.

[Charles P.]

Re: Car Cover for Wild and Wintery Micgigan

Au contraire, unfortunately. There is a very good reason to have it accessable which I don't much care to get into. Things are not always ideal although we all might like them to be. Thanks for all the input everyone. Jeff, a great suggestion Jeff but Paul is right, in the neighborhood we're in, this wouldn't fly. I got the best Covercraft they had and we'll just hope the days I can keep it inside vastly outnumber the ones where it has to stay outside.
Charles