Car cover suggestions

PostPost by: Alex » Tue Oct 21, 2008 12:56 pm

Hi,

Can anyone out there recommend a good make of outdoor car cover for a +2?

Regards,

Alex
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PostPost by: peterako » Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:56 pm

My recommendation is.....don't get one.

Had mine outdoors with a cover for a year. (Not continiously covered! It was/is my daily driver)

Paint is now destroyed by both wind and condensation/moisture. :(

Take care,
Peter
I is an Inginear....please excuse my speeling!
'73 +2S 130/5
Scimitar GTE for the lazy days, 3008, Some bicycles, Wife, Kids, Cats, Dogs....chickens....cluck cluck...one duck...the others flew away!
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PostPost by: terryp » Tue Oct 21, 2008 4:23 pm

Hello
I bought one through Club Lotus and it seems OK. After the last reply I emailed the company as I was worried and I got this response : -
My Question -
Hello
I bought one of your external car covers a while back via Club Lotus for my Lotus Elan +2S 130
I have become very worried as I have heard that car covers can cause micro blistering of the paint on the fiberglass as it holds moisture against the body for longer
Have you any data or tests or information that can put my mind at rest
Best Regards

Their Response : -
Hi
With reference to your email we advise that we have covered any thousands of vehicles and have never had a problem with paint blistering, if this was to happen it would be because of the method of spraying and not the cover. Our cover is designed to protect the car and providing Is put on a clean car there wouldn?t be a problem.
Our outdoor covers are fully waterproof and breathable, therefore would not hold moisture.
Regards
Helen

I'm happy with the cover but I would recommend two people to put it on to prevent rubbing the cover over the car http://www.carcoversuk.com/

Terry
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PostPost by: peterako » Tue Oct 21, 2008 5:14 pm

Hi Guys,

On the rubbing.......

It gets VERY windy here! So it is inevitible that the cover moves over the bodywork to some degree.

I have paint rubbed off the extreme edges of the car on the front of the roof and the end of the boot/tail.

This has/is also happening to a friend's E-Type.

My cover was not a fitted one, but my friend's E-Type one is.

I would guess that England gets less wind, or at least less strong winds, so you may not have the same experience.

Club Lotus have a discount offer on nice looking fitted covers.

Either way, whether you get a cover, get two people to put it on or not etc. Probably the best place for the car is in a nice dry garage...I know, not practical/possible for all....

Best of luck which ever way you go! (I'm building a nice dry garage :))

Take care,
Peter
I is an Inginear....please excuse my speeling!
'73 +2S 130/5
Scimitar GTE for the lazy days, 3008, Some bicycles, Wife, Kids, Cats, Dogs....chickens....cluck cluck...one duck...the others flew away!
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PostPost by: Elanintheforest » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:12 pm

Alex, a non-touching cover is the best bet...see the pair in the For Sale section. I used a cover for a Plus 2 for a winter...the paint was poor anyway so additional micro-blistering or rubbing wasn't a problem. Even though it was an outdoor, waterproof and breathable cover, after some damp November / December days and nights, the car was soaking wet under the cover, and I have no doubt the paint would have suffered.

Mark
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PostPost by: alexblack13 » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:39 pm

Hi Guys,
I bought quite an expensive one. The plan was to keep my elan on the driveway and my other soft top ( BM Z4) in the nice dry garage.
I tried the cover over the Z4 on the drive for a couple of wet nights over one weekend. I was horrified when I took it off for my Mrs to use the car on the Monday morning. It was a real mess.The car was soaking wet with condensation, (I think) had a grayish sort of tinge to it and took some effort to come up clean.

Cover never used again. Z4 is on the driveway getting soaked every night 'cause it has not stopped raining since I put the Lotus in the (single) Garage.

My plan A is to put in a 4 post lift(Currently of offer for around 1.6 k delivered,from Holland!) as I have loads of height. And... A new roller type door with motor lifting.

Happy days. One car on top of the other.Both dry. And.... easy peasy working on either...

Result!!

Alex B.... 8)
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Now Sprintless!!
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PostPost by: terryp » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:02 pm

Hold my previous post!
I thought I'd better check my cover and to my horror although the car seems OK the cover itself is disintegrating. the cover was a very expensive fully breathable external cover from Specialised Car Covers from Bradford via Club Lotus. You would not expect it to do this.
I've written an email with pictures but their technical people are not back until Tuesday when I will get a reply. Watch this space !

Terry
(Thinking about a garage)
Attachments
Cover 3.jpg and
Cover 2.jpg and
Cover 1.jpg and
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PostPost by: theelanman » Thu Oct 23, 2008 5:44 pm

I bought 2 covers....1 for an MGB roadster and one for my +2 project...
the +2 I wasnt bothered about at the time but I used the same cover (just a different size) for the MGB and after 1 week under cover the paint had been destroyed.....it had turned the paint milky.....
I checked the +2 and this too had gone the same way....as I say at the time I wasnt bothered about the +2 as I know it was going to be stripped anyway.......
after 3 months under the cover the +2 paint was toast....completely stuffed....peeling off in huge chunks.......
I also have one for my m100 but I doubt I'll ever use it.....after having nothing but trouble with the last 2 I have no faith in them
I have a double garage and the +2 and m100 are covered with winciette sheets (2 sewn together per car).....
the only way Id go if I were planning on leaving it outside would be the bubble/tent kind of drive in and zip it up kinda thing.....
just my thoughts
cheers
G
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PostPost by: gerrym » Thu Oct 23, 2008 7:27 pm

Terry, I've had similar issues with an expensive breathable cover disintegrating and completely letting the water in.

My solution/suggestion is to get your cover dry and use this as a soft undercover. Overtop use a polythene membrane (thick decent quality as sold by builders merchants or screwfix to stop radon gas). Tape the corners of the membrane and mid way along the side to give the cover a proper shape to fit the car. This will give complete protection from the weather. Ideally get the car (supported on on chassis) a foot or so up in the air. This will allow proper air circulation underneath and stop any water puddling.

By the way, this is more or less what Miles recommends in his book.

If the aesthetics of the polythene offends, cover the whole thing with a cheap car cover together with straps etc.

Regards
Gerry
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PostPost by: Iyarno » Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:19 pm

I found this post as I'm looking to cover my new +2 arriving soon. As the original post is quite old I thought I see if any opinions have changed or if there are any new covers out there to recommend.
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PostPost by: bcmc33 » Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:40 pm

Most of us seem to have had assorted problems with covers for our car. I've seen Carcoon (http://www.carcoon.co.uk/carcoons/products.asp) at shows and they look like the best answer to address a lot of concerns, but may not be that convenient.
Brian Clarke
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PostPost by: elansprint71 » Tue Jan 11, 2011 12:01 am

Car-port; either temporary or permanent. Anything which touches is trouble. Better to leave the car in the open and wash/polish regularly, if you cannot build something.
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PostPost by: elansprint » Tue Jan 11, 2011 3:50 pm

Under no circumstances would i consider using a car cover due to micro blistering & mould
Ian
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PostPost by: terryp » Tue Jan 11, 2011 3:59 pm

Hello
I thought I'd better post in a semi support of covers. Specialised Covers mentioned by me above actually replaced the cover FOC.
I would use a cover (I do on my Caterham) but (!!!) it has to be taken off regularly and I mean weekly if not more often , and also the car has to be perfectly clean to put the cover on.

Having said that I built a wooden garage with a de-humidifier for the Elan! :wink:

Terry
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PostPost by: alaric » Tue Jan 11, 2011 10:46 pm

Hi. You can get car tents that'll keep the water off - I'm sure I've seen one advertised that is held in place by cross bars on the floor that the car wheels sit on - or maybe I just invented it. Covers'll rub against the paintwork when it's windy, and as stated above will get moisture underneath. One of my old neighbours had one of the car tents that was left up permanently in his driveway. Is it carcacoon that make an outdoor blow up effort?

Regards.

Sean.
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