Which would you rather? A question for the detailers
 

1. Leave car parked outdoors on grass, surrounded by medium sized shrubs, no large trees but susceptible to tree sap, bird poo etc

2. Purchase a good quality outdoor car cover eg: covercraft but possibly scratch the car.

Basically those are my two choices. Which is the lesser of the two evils? :iono:
I drive the car maybe 2-3x a week.

Thank you :D

Anytime you can keep you car away from the elements the better.

On grass? Looks like you can put a canopy there and park your car under it.

Just my 2cents

I did that.. Then the wind snapped it yesterday, luckily car was unharmed :/

I would think of what the wind would do with a car cover on. How long do you think it would take for the buffeting to start showing damage to your paint finish? I envision a dry towel being rubbed back and forth on a dusty car and what that would do.

If you buy a quality cover, specifically fitted for your car (I have 3 Noah covers by Covercraft, purchased from AutoAnything), ensure the car is absolutely clean before installing it and use the gust-guards front and rear you can leave the car out in gale force winds with no paint damage. The Noah cover is my favorite for outside storage, soft inside and thick enough to protect from falling nuts or small branches. And they wash easily in a commercial washing machine.

I rotate three cars outside year-round and with a little extra effort before covering, have maintained a show quality finish on all three.

BTW, parking on grass will allow the moisture to permeate your chassis and undercarriage and could result in degradation where you can't easily see it. It's much worse than parking on concrete or asphalt. If possible, I would stake a quality waterproof tarp down (I've used tent stakes) in the area where you're parking, then park over it before covering the car.

Just my 2 cents on this, there are a lot of opinions. I'm basing mine on some 30 years of experience in always having more cars than garage space!

Wind + car cover = swirl marks and the removal of paint.

On my fathers A7 we had a car cover, the wind would pick up and move the cover in a little bit and now near the trunk you see slight removal of clear coat. Only i can see it but still...

I'd only use a car cover for an inside car which won't be driven often, even then you have to be positive the car is 100% clean on the body.


If your so afraid of the paint just make sure you always have a good coating of wax or sealant on the paint. Maybe go Opti coat, it wasn't for me but it might perfect for you.

:thanks: so much for your suggestions.
My car isn't clean a lot of the time, well not spotless so it seems no car cover would be the better option.

I have opti-coat already but am still cynical on how much it can protect against swirls/scratches when using a car cover.

Below is what a quality, properly fitted cover should look like - it fits snug to every body panel. If properly fitted there is no movement of the cover at all in the wind and with the addition of gust guards, it will stay in place through most anything mother nature can dish out. Almost three years like this and I have no swirls (most of them come from improper washing), no rubs, no scratches and no damage anywhere. BTW, this is on a Mazda MX-5.

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/...psf724950f.jpg

http://i1206.photobucket.com/albums/...psacb40118.jpg

to lessen the evil on the car cover, only put the cover on after the car has been washed.

How will you get tree sap with no trees around?

Cheers,
GREG

Honestly, I have no idea, but it's all over my car. There are some big trees nearby (sorta)?
I have just come to the conclusion that trees like their sap spread like the plague.

This is big. You could build a small shelter to solve the tree sap issue, but if you park on grass or dirt, the moisture from the ground is going to ruin your undercarriage with premature corrosion. If you cannot park on pavement, definitely put down some thick plastic. Just like in the crawl space of a house.

I dont like either option, but I may go without the car cover. I've corrected a few cars specifically because of damage from car covers.

http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/...ps075e228f.jpg


http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/...psd86bcff9.jpg


http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/...psf471dcc2.jpg


http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums/...ps9aec6dbb.jpg

If you're on some land, you can do a try an industrial shipping container, and add a modern finish or paint to cover up the sheet metal if you need to, and just create a personal garage pod http://www.ebay.com/sch/Shipping-Con...-/92079/i.html