Tips for Winter Car Protection - Outdoor Car Covers

With winter just a stone's throw away and fall in full season, we're looking at what could be some very harsh weather conditions in the end of 2008 and into 2009. I'm not a weather man like Bill Murray was in Groundhog Day.... However, whether you're in the mid-west where leaf foliage is at high levels, or in the west or east coast areas where rainfall may reach extreme levels, I'm going to go over one of the easiest ways to protect the exterior of your vehicle. It's as simple as one two three with a car cover. You'll stay protected at a very reasonable price, keeping your precious ride in tip top shape.

For me, the issue became apparent that I need something to protect my ride when I had bird droppings and tree droppings on my windshield on a weekly basis. The cost to get my 350z detailed is near 50 bucks. I would get it washed at least twice a month to keep it nice and shining so these costs were really adding up. It looked great, but I still had to deal with the bird spots on my windshield in between details. Let me just say, I pretty much despise seagulls now :)

So what I wanted to find was a better long-term solution. A car cover seemed like it would require a lot of hands on work and I didn't really want to deal with that on a daily basis. What I ended up finding out was that it took about 1 minute to put it on when I got to work, and even less time to take it off. And I was able to cut down my detailing costs to once/month. I could cut that back even more now but I like to to have the interior shined up... the Z looks great that way.

So this leads to my overall recommendation. Since I have a feeling this will be a harsh winter, I really think those that spend a lot of time and money keeping their car nice should get an outdoor car cover. It also helps protect your vehicle from those little knicks and dents that can happen in parking lots.

What I found in most retail stores like Walmart were pretty cheap covers, but I didn't just want to wrap my car in a towel. I have read that on windy days, cheap car covers have the potential to actually scratch your paint when they flap in the wind. So what I looked for was an outdoor cover that was made of high quality material. That's all I want to place on my car, otherwise it wouldn't be worth the investment.

I went with a fabric with several durable qualities, here's what it offers:

The high-strength, polyester base fabric is naturally UV-resistant. To make the car cover more resistant to the rigors of sun exposure, UV inhibitors have been added to the polymers to help slow-down naturally-occurring degradation.

* Weatherproof
Fabric sheds water as soon as it hits the car cover, leaving your vehicle dry.
* Superior Dry Time
Because the car cover fabric sheds moisture, it has an absorption factor of only 2%, compared with up to 40% for standard woven and non-woven fabrics. That means, if the car cover has been sitting out in the rain, just shake it out and it's practically dry.
* Breathable
The car cover fabric allows any heat or condensation that builds up under the cover to easily escape.
* UV-resistant
Special additives in the fabric prevent UV degradation while protecting your vehicle's paint and interior.
* Dust-proof
The car cover fabric's patented fiber encapsulation process prevents dust from filtering through the fabric.
* Scratch-less
Polymers provide a silky smooth finish to the fabric and provide superior paint protection. The fabric has been tested at 1,000 cycles on abrasion wheels without scratching (surface must be clean and waxed).
* Durable
The encapsulation process is not affected by heat or cold and the process won't degrade over the life of the car cover fabric.
* Easy Care
Unlike non-woven fabrics, you can clean most car-size car covers in your home washer and dryer.
* Packs small and Light
The car cover packs into 1/4 to 1/2 the volume of standard multi-layer, non-woven fabrics.