E30 Zone

Winters here and im contemplating whether to purchase a car cover for my turd. I had a cover over my convertible for a lil while and moisture got between the cover and paintwork which left water stains. They were a complete and utter nightmare to remove and that was only after a 2 weeks, im planning on leaving my car untouched for around 4months so will the stains not be removable??

please recommend me a good one which i wont have to re-adjust every few days or replace after 2 days due to the wind tearing it to pieces

Or should i leave it and hope for the best

left my is outside without a cover for 2 winters and it was fine, give it a real good thick wax with a solid wax rather than a bottled wax

good advice polsta thanks

wax i used is the simoniz caranuba wax £7.99 in halfords, round gold tin , bit of a ball ache to apply but you can feel the protection qualities as you do it, thicker and long lasting, get a good 3 or 4 months protection from it

as above- no cover and a good wax, would be better than a poor cover that flaps around and traps moisure

or look for a car storage place, 3 months might not cost much

polsta wrote:wax i used is the simoniz caranuba wax £7.99 in halfords, round gold tin , bit of a ball ache to apply but you can feel the protection qualities as you do it, thicker and long lasting, get a good 3 or 4 months protection from it

as above- no cover and a good wax, would be better than a poor cover that flaps around and traps moisure

or look for a car storage place, 3 months might not cost much

how about this, its a sealer/wax and lasts 12months but turtle wax isnt my first choice
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165527

There's often a mentality that car covers will harm your car and cause scratches etc but used correctly they'll do no harm at all!!

I used a generic Halfords breathable cover on my Audi until I had my own garage. I made sure the car was completely clean and dry before fitting it securely.

And you know what? Not a single bit of trouble and no damage to the car whatsoever.

If your car gets shat on by passing bird, you don't notice because you haven't driven the car for a week or two. Nice bit of etching on your paintwork that would be prevented with a cover.

I have a Stormforce cover on my E30, it's garaged so maybe a bit unnecessary but it's a very good quality cover. I just wanted maximum protection whilst it was garaged and I'd say this would keep a car stored outside a lot of protection.

Stormforce car covers are tailor made it's a very secure fit and even in really windy conditions doesn't move.

What would you prefer your car under a foot of snow with a layer of dirt in between or a car cover in between?

im not an expert mate, thats a high gloss paint sealer, more than a protective wax, personly i would do with that, then the simoniz afterwards, think about it- a thin liquid that you rub on and rub off with no effort, or a hard wax that you really work on the panel and break down a thick waxy lump of wax , and is a ball ache to do ! but well well worth it when thiking of protecting a car for winter

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stor ... yId_165527

Since it's a cab I'd definately be using a car cover, Halfords Advanced seems to come most recommended on here.

As already said, bird crap or anything else that might fall on the paint and not get noticed could damage the paint if left for a while. Plus there's the crap that can end up gathering on the fabric roof, I parked my old cab up for a couple of months over winter and it soon got algae growth on the roof.

naa kedge the convertible is tucked away in the garage but the 2dr is sat on the drive

in a drive- could you not knock up a car port type thing ? basic wooden frame that was just a few inches taller than the car with plastic corregated or taupaulin roof slightly pitched ? with sides covered too stapled to the wood, could probably do it for £50 , and would also save anyone scraping/knocking against it aswell

and could even be dissmantled and used next year !

haha my old man hates my e30s, well just the 2dr one. He would lose his marbles if he come home to a small tent built around my car.

polsta wrote:in a drive- could you not knock up a car port type thing ? basic wooden frame that was just a few inches taller than the car with plastic corregated or taupaulin roof slightly pitched ? with sides covered too stapled to the wood, could probably do it for £50 , and would also save anyone scraping/knocking against it aswell

and could even be dissmantled and used next year !

£50 for a bodged up eyesore on the drive and a load of time wasted on something that could fall on the car or a similar amount on a properly designed cover................

Kedge wrote:

polsta wrote:in a drive- could you not knock up a car port type thing ? basic wooden frame that was just a few inches taller than the car with plastic corregated or taupaulin roof slightly pitched ? with sides covered too stapled to the wood, could probably do it for £50 , and would also save anyone scraping/knocking against it aswell

and could even be dissmantled and used next year !

£50 for a bodged up eyesore on the drive and a load of time wasted on something that could fall on the car or a similar amount on a properly designed cover................

LOL strong gust of wind will see it away

£50 wont build a cover strong enough... £150 or so and you'll get something fairly strong. You may aswell get a car cover

why would it have to be bodged or sh*t, a sturdy wooden frame and corregated perspex roof, ok it might cost more than £50 but it wouldnt be hard to do,

To be fair Polsta you have a point though, my last car a 4 door 320iSE was under a car port for 9 years with just the tail visible to the elements and you could tell. The floor pan was mint, even the front jacking points and rot traps were free from rot. It was the ONLY E30 I regret selling/breaking in all honesty I should have kept it. So they do work.... as long as sideways rain and snow can't get to them IMO

A car port would be great, next best thing to a garage really since you can work on the car. But that isn't what Polsta is on about, he's talking about something the car only just fits in to be stored in over the winter..........what's the point when you can just chuck a cover over it. It'd be more of a hinderance.

i said you could build a car port, a half height with plastic corregated roof- that is a car port is it not ?, that if you wanted could be taken down, ie you could easily build a semi permanent one for not a lot of money- sturdy wooden frame, a corregated roof, and keep in place with say big plastic plant pots filled with concrete for each corner, if you did not want to dig posts in to the ground, wouldnt be hard or expensive, you could even just build it from a wall or fence, and on the other side put some wooden fence panels along

kedge, have you got anything better to do than follow me round on here trying to pick at every post i make

polsta wrote:kedge, have you got anything better to do than follow me round on here trying to pick at every post i make

Not really, I find it mildly amusing when I'm bored at work since you talk crap most the time!

One top tip is not to cover your car indoors if it's had paint in the last 3 months or so. My paint shop advised me to avoid covering newish paint for 6 months and there was a case on here about a guy who had paint a couple of months before tucking his E30 up for the winter with a cover. When he removed the cover, the new paint was wrecked.

My bonnet and bootlid was painted in July and my cabby is in the garage with a coating of hard wax and no cover.

You need a breathable cover as well. I had a cheap one chucked over a breaker that had an awful respray, the paint ended up micro blistering due to trapped moisture.

Topblag wrote:One top tip is not to cover your car indoors if it's had paint in the last 3 months or so. My paint shop advised me to avoid covering newish paint for 6 months and there was a case on here about a guy who had paint a couple of months before tucking his E30 up for the winter with a cover. When he removed the cover, the new paint was wrecked.

My bonnet and bootlid was painted in July and my cabby is in the garage with a coating of hard wax and no cover.

been contemplating a car cover to go over mine when its back anytime soon, but i shall leave it , i lined garage roof with breathable membrane and been monitoring inside,its made it lovely, so no real need for a cover now

If you have a car in a garage you don't need a car cover really

Kedge wrote:You need a breathable cover as well. I had a cheap one chucked over a breaker that had an awful respray, the paint ended up micro blistering due to trapped moisture.

The guy who had the major problem with his paint used a breathable cover, one of the more expensive ones. A breathable cover is a given. Another tip from my paint shop is never to cover a car in a tarp, cover needs to be soft lined as a tarp will scratch the paint.

Topblag wrote:One top tip is not to cover your car indoors if it's had paint in the last 3 months or so. My paint shop advised me to avoid covering newish paint for 6 months and there was a case on here about a guy who had paint a couple of months before tucking his E30 up for the winter with a cover. When he removed the cover, the new paint was wrecked.

My bonnet and bootlid was painted in July and my cabby is in the garage with a coating of hard wax and no cover.

Also if you had your car painted you need to allow 30 to 90 days to properly cure and out gas before sealing, you usually don't get a problem, but you can, and you don't want to take that chance.

lion_yo wrote:

Topblag wrote:One top tip is not to cover your car indoors if it's had paint in the last 3 months or so. My paint shop advised me to avoid covering newish paint for 6 months and there was a case on here about a guy who had paint a couple of months before tucking his E30 up for the winter with a cover. When he removed the cover, the new paint was wrecked.

My bonnet and bootlid was painted in July and my cabby is in the garage with a coating of hard wax and no cover.

Also if you had your car painted you need to allow 30 to 90 days to properly cure and out gas before sealing, you usually don't get a problem, but you can, and you don't want to take that chance.

Is that not what I said ? When you say "sealing" do you mean covering ?

I've been a bit confused with this myself.
I have a car cover here (no idea whether it's a cheap one or a decent one)

The chap i bought the car of let me have the cover as well. It's a breathable cover (i'm sure of that). It's quite soft and pretty light. If i cover the car with this cover will it do more harm than good?

Has any one had any bad experiences of covering their car over the winter?

all youd really need to do if using a cover, would be to remove it every couple of weeks and check the car, give it a wipe over if any moisture and let it air and maybe hang the cover to air for a bit if theres any moisture in it

Ok cheers for the advice. I did try to make sure the car cover wasn't on super tightly. It's on fairly loosely, I think this may help with the aeration under the cover.

lion_yo wrote:

Topblag wrote:One top tip is not to cover your car indoors if it's had paint in the last 3 months or so. My paint shop advised me to avoid covering newish paint for 6 months and there was a case on here about a guy who had paint a couple of months before tucking his E30 up for the winter with a cover. When he removed the cover, the new paint was wrecked.

My bonnet and bootlid was painted in July and my cabby is in the garage with a coating of hard wax and no cover.

Also if you had your car painted you need to allow 30 to 90 days to properly cure and out gas before sealing, you usually don't get a problem, but you can, and you don't want to take that chance.

Also on top of that, dont cover your car for 24 weeks as it needs time to set if its just been freshly painted...

Topblag wrote:

lion_yo wrote:

Topblag wrote:One top tip is not to cover your car indoors if it's had paint in the last 3 months or so. My paint shop advised me to avoid covering newish paint for 6 months and there was a case on here about a guy who had paint a couple of months before tucking his E30 up for the winter with a cover. When he removed the cover, the new paint was wrecked.

My bonnet and bootlid was painted in July and my cabby is in the garage with a coating of hard wax and no cover.

Also if you had your car painted you need to allow 30 to 90 days to properly cure and out gas before sealing, you usually don't get a problem, but you can, and you don't want to take that chance.

Is that not what I said ? When you say "sealing" do you mean covering ?

I mean sealing as in waxing the paint.

Have a read of this article on pistonheads http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default ... ryId=12069

What do you chaps think of the halfords advanced car covers?

redcar wrote:What do you chaps think of the halfords advanced car covers?

Got one, will let you know in the spring

Duke137 wrote:

redcar wrote:What do you chaps think of the halfords advanced car covers?

Got one, will let you know in the spring

Haha, but i need to buy one now

I gave the cover i have a go over last night. Just came and inspected it today after a good nights rain, and the car is completely damp underneath. Definitely won't be using that cover again.

How does your halfords one keep the car looking after a good nights rain. Is the car nice and dry underneath?

Not even took it out the packet yet lol, magpie will know, he has one