Car covers

[bpk]

Hi All,

I have a 944S2 but unfortunately no garage. As a result the car has to endure the Irish winter (lots of rain, occassional high winds, and freezing temps the odd time, but mainly just wet!).

I used a cover from Halfords last year but it was not waterproof and the wind destroyed it. So I want to get a proper one and was hoping for advice. I have copied below some links to the ones I am looking at and was wondering if anyone has used covers from them and would you recommend them?

Porsche 944 Heavy duty Waterproof Cover
Monsoon Waterproof Outdoor Car Cover to fit Porsche 944, 944 S2, 944 Turbo
Premium Car Covers - Porsche Car Covers - Porsche 944 Waterproof Breathable Premium CAR COVER - Waterproof Car Covers | Caravan Covers | Motorcycle Covers | Keep it Dry - Porsche 944 Waterproof Breathable Premium CAR COVER

These are all UK sites as it is easier to get stuff from there rather than the US (postage and taxes!)

Thanks for your help

[petrolhead611]

Hello,
We make tailored outdoor car covers from special car covering fabric,in Leeds UK, and won Practical Classics Best Buy award when they properly laboratory tested covers for their aDecember 2003 issue. We have the pattern for the 944S2 and will grant a 10% discount to a fellow Pelican member. We ship to Ireland using Parcel Post for £20.
When considering an outdoor cover a tailored fit is important rather than a general cover flapping about everywhere. The fabric choice is vital; it must breathe properly-beware of false claims from firms that cannot quote the breathability figures-should have a non-scratch inner layer but not fleece which will stick to your car in frosty weather-,be waterproof-beware of nonsense sayings such as 95% waterproof-that is not a measure, and have a high level of UV protection as cheaper fabrics lose their "waterproofness" surprisingly quickly from exposure to UV. There should be figures available for all these parameters-if not, you are dealing with amateurs.
Our web-site is Thoroughbred Covers Ltd

[flash968]

i have a question related to car covers, and this is in no way a criticism of any manufacturer

how can a cover be both breathable and waterproof?

this seems at odds with itself - does the water not also pass through where the air does in order to "breathe"? is this a selectively permeable membrane? is it like canvas, which sheds water until you touch it?

while i have a garage, and the cars sit in there, there is the odd overnight fun run that dictates the need for a cover - i have a couple of covers, both of which are premium covers (one from porsche), but neither of which seem to be both breathable and water proof - i certainly have no problem buying another one, but would like not to repeat the same mistake

[petrolhead611]

The fabric has a microporous membrane that permits the passage of water vapour molecules, ie from the water under a cover that will naturally risen up from underneath (adiabatic lapse rate diffential al all that) but the holes are too small to allow ingress of water molecules.
Car cover fabric has to have a much higher moisture vapour transfer rate( "breathability") than garment fabric because a car body isn't at the temperature of a human body so the relative humidity differential is quite different.

[flash968]

ok - i get the concept, though any fabric that passes vapor one way is likely to pass it the other

is there a cover that will prevent 100% of the water from entering yet not leave a mist on the car when i remove it after the precipitation has stopped?

i'm not so much worried about rain, as i NEVER drive the car in the rain, but there are instances where a cover would come in handy to protect against moisture

here's the deal - we go on a weekend jaunt - we park at our favorite bed and breakfast - it's on the coast so we get a LOT of fog - i put the cover on to prevent the fog from getting on the car - when i pull it off, there is moisture on the car that i then have to spend 15 minutes wiping off - i don't want to do that - i might as well leave the cover in the boot

i spent the money on what i thought was the "bang zoom" cover, but it's not much better than the parachute material one i already had

if i can find such a cover, i can leave the top down, use the tonneau cover, and just cover the car with the car cover, thereby shortening the morning routine before i can get back out there and start driving again - but, if it passes any moisture, the interior of the car would be a mess

[petrolhead611]

Hi again;
It takes time for moisture on the car to pass out through a breathable cover.It is not instant.And, it depends on the relative humidity differential, so until the air outside the cover is drier than under the cover, it won't happen. In other words, lift a cover the instant it stops raining, you'll see moisture on the car, and obviously whilst its raining or misty, moisture is constantly rising up onto the car.What is damaging via sweating corrosion is when th moisture remains trapped under a poorly breathable cover once the outside air somewhat dries out and somewhat warms up. . (A good breathability rate is roughly a litre per square metre per 24 hours by the way which is a heck of a lot of moisture.).
Can't answer more questions until Monday as I'm off on a trip right now.

[flash968]

so, is there a cover that will leave my car dry in the morning after a foggy night or not?

[petrolhead611]

Please read my previous answer carefully. It obviously depends on whether it is still foggy or not in the morning and the elapsed time since the fog lifted as to whether or not your car will be dry..

[flash968]

as my post above said, "after the precipitation has stopped"

[petrolhead611]

You can put our covers on a wet( but free of grit etc to avoid scratching), car, and after it has stopped raining a while, the paintwork will be dry. Time from cessation of precipitation is the key.

[petrolhead611]

You can put our covers on a wet( but free of grit etc to avoid scratching), car, and after it has stopped raining a while, the paintwork will be dry. Time from cessation of precipitation is the key.
Now I really must get on the road!
Have a good weekend

[flash968]

wow - rather hard to get a straight answer - typical california coastal fog - car would be dry when i put it on at 9pm - fog rolls in at night and lifts in the morning - no fog when i pull it off at 8am - will the car be wet or dry under the cover?

[strath44]

I'm having some car cover issues myself. I went for one just under £100 a few months back. Very good quality 100% waterproof with a soft inner surface and a driver door zipper. The annoying thing is it has blown off a few times, total pita! Solved this by putting in some tent circular studs and running bunges under the car. Strangely it looks a good fit and at first I thought someone had pulled it off the car but they hadn't!

[flash968]

yeah - a good stiff wind can do that - that's why it's so important that the inner surface be a scuff free one, and that you never put the cover on a dirty car

[petrolhead611]

Hi guys,
Back from my business trip.850 miles in just over 2 days.
Anyway, back to your questions:
1. if fog has been lifted some hours when you pull the PROPERLY BREATHABLE cover then for sure the car paintwork should be dry.
You cannot argue with physics; no car cover will prevent moisture rising up and settling on a metal car in damp conditions, and any cover supplier claiming otherwise is not to be trusted.
2. a £100 cover in the UK is a low end cover and good performance is not likely to be expected. Refer to Practical Clasics December 2003 issue to see verification of this.
A good cover will have retention straps provided to supplement the elastic in windy weather. On ours, you have a choice of 4 wheel straps that double back around the wheel spokes, or a pair of straps that pass under the sills(rockers) from side to side. A properly tailored cover will not mopve around too much even in gusty weather and will not marr the paintwork.
Hope this answers both enquirers.

[flash968]

well, i guess that answers it - with all due respect to the car cover companies out there, covers seem to be pretty much a waste of time for outdoors

clearly i cannot use a cover if i want to be able to pull it off in the morning and not have to wipe down the car - the good news is that means that any cover will do just about the same thing, and i don't have to go hunting for the "magic cover" - if water is getting under the cover by whatever means, it really doesn't matter which cover i choose - the end result is the same - the car is wet - bummer

i already know that i cannot use a cover if the car has dirt on it - i might as well just cover it in sandpaper at that point

that doesn't mean that a cover won't protect it from sun and dirt and such, but it just won't be useful in the fog or rain

thanks for the response though - that helps at least to prevent me from wasting my time and money - i'll leave the covers at home on the next road trip

i can still use them in the garage though, and put them on after the car is cleaned, but that seems to be the only situation where i can pull it off and have the car the same as when i put it on

[petrolhead611]

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Properly made Outdoor covers certainly are useful; its just that you seem to deliberately ignore the simple fact that there is a time factor involved between the cessation of precipitation and the drying of the paintwork through moisture vapour transfer. Outdoor covers also protect against bird poop which can seriously marr paintwork unless washed off quickly, tree sap,(ditto), keep car windows free of snow, reduce likelihood of vandalism, protect against UV degradation, reduce cockpit heat in hot weather.

[petrolhead611]

We sell a significant quantity of outdoor covers in the very damp and rainy UK and receive plenty of positive testimonials from our customers concerning the utility of their car being dry with unspotted paintwork once the rain has stoppped a little while.They don't seem to have a problem interpreting the limitations imposed by quite basic physics, or maybe they aren't unrealistically impatient..

[flash968]

i didn't say they didn't protect against things like the sun - in fact i listed that as a plus - bird poop and tree sap are also issues to be sure, but not at the risk of other issues presented by the cover - i don't park under trees, and birds don't generally fly at night, so these issues are usually mitigated by a bit of common sense when choosing a parking place

clearly using one on a clean car in good weather makes sense if you have to leave your car outside

also, obviously if you have a car that leaks, a water proof one will help prevent the car from filling up with water - been there done that

relative to rain and fog though, if you have to wait for hours for the water to evaporate, you might as well leave the cover off - who has time for that? it needs to be clear of moisture by the time one needs to pull the cover off and go to work - that is not unrealistic or impatient - unfortunately it seems all too clear that the result in the morning is the same - the car is wet and needs to be wiped down - so i don't get the point - also, since you can't safely put the cover on a dirty car, you run the risk of damage if you put it on without first cleaning the car, and certainly can't put it on a wet car without further risk - it seems clear that there would be more harm than good in these instances

we all know that water sitting there under the cover is as damaging as letting rain get on it, and perhaps worse - mildew is the worst enemy of fabric - i have 3 cabriolets - moisture left on the top is a VERY BAD THING, and far worse than just letting the water hit it and evaporate quickly, and have the sun kill the mildew

further, one of the cars is a show car and another is black - it takes very little to make the paint look bad, and require a wipe-down - a cover is always a complication, even inside the garage, though better than letting the dust accumulate

i'm not suggesting that there are no uses for covers, and only that using one outdoors seems extremely limited in its ability - i have covers for all of my cars, and will continue to use them - i merely will not use them where it seems painfully obvious that they will suffer more harm from use than not

in thinking about this, i think i need to write an article about this subject for the magazine - this seems to be an area where the realities differ from the marketing - we have a number of different covers available, and some simple testing and photos would point out clearly the advantages and disadvantages of each type

if any car cover company would like to participate in this article, please feel free to contact me

[petrolhead611]

Yeah right,

Do a test at a minimum to the standard of rigor performed by the Practical Classics one of December 2003 and we'll take part. A leaflet regurgitating excercise isn' t worth our time- so many magazines do that lazy method.
So,full lab tests to determine UV resistance, moisture vapour transfer rate, hydrostatic head( both methods), tear,tensile, dust penetration, rub;and to demonstrate some improvement over the aforementioned definitive testing already done, how about some full-scale wind-tunnel time.
Warning, this is a multi-thousand dollar excercise done properly; leave out any of these elements and the report will be invalid.