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Paid $95 for a plastic sheet draped over my car in St. Louis and it saved me a $1,400 respray | Car Storage - HW Forums

Paid $95 for a plastic sheet draped over my car in St. Louis and it saved me a $1,400 respray

So back in March I parked my car in a covered spot near my place in St. Louis, and every morning there was this gross yellow film on it from the trees and the parking deck above dripping god knows what. I drove myself nuts washing it every weekend for a month until my neighbor Ray, who parks next to me, showed me this cheap fabric crate cover thing he picked up. I grabbed one for $95 on a whim, mostly because I was tired of scrubbing sap off the hood. Six weeks later I pulled it off before a road trip and the paint looked brand new, like the bird poop and tree junk just bounced off. Meanwhile the guy two spots down who never covered his car has permanent stains baked into his clear coat, and the body shop told him $1,400 to respray the roof and hood. Here's the catch though, you have to make sure the car is spotless before you put it on or you're just grinding dirt into the paint with the wind, and it has to be tight or it flaps and scratches. Ray learned that one the hard way on his old Civic, cost him more than the cover did. So yeah, $95 for a cover versus a four figure paint job, that math isn't close. Anyone else use one of these fabric covers for long stretches or do you just give up and let the tree win?

2 comments

2 Comments

hernandez.ben7d ago

Did you learn the moisture lesson the hard way too, or did somebody warn you first? Mold spots eating clear coat is scary stuff and I bet a lot of people don't find that out until it's already done. Sorry you had to deal with that, but at least you're passing it along so the rest of us don't cook our paint under a soggy cover.

miles_grant357d ago

Ran a cover on my truck for two winters straight, same deal. Biggest thing nobody mentions is moisture. If you throw it on a wet car you get mold spots and that can eat the clear coat too. Let it breathe. I leave mine loose at the bottom so air moves through. Also wash the cover itself every couple months, hose it down and hang it, because it collects grit and then it's sandpaper on your roof. And yeah you nailed it on the tight fit, bungee the corners or it's game over in the wind. Ray's Civic story is the classic mistake, put it on dirty once and you're buffing swirls for a year. That said for a hundred bucks it's still the best money I've spent on car care.