Cover fun

M

MAS646

Member
Hi everyone,

I use my Z as a daily drive and work nights for half the week, with winter coming up I was wondering about protection for the cloth top. Does frost affect badly? I saw a boxster with a plastic cover in the car park the other day. Recon it's a good idea and any ideas on where to obtain a decent one?

Cheers
 
Get an official outdoor BMW cover, fits like a glove and protects the convertible and bodywork. It's machine washable aswell. It's about £100 from BMW. Well worth the money compared to cheaper covers off eBay for example. I hope that helps...
 
the only problem I can think of is,in the official paperwork it states you shouldn't put the cover on while it is wet (I mean the convertible top)!

so what are you supposed to do?dry it first then put it on?I do get the point that if it is wet,it will stick and can do more damage,but what are you supposed to do?
 
Do you really need to "protect the cloth top"?

I was rather hoping it might be designed to cope with stuff like frost, and had been planning on treating mine no differently to a hard top car :(
 
I just bung the cover on even when its wet - it soon dries and its fine.... its been designed to get wet. What might help aswell is the Autoglym Convertible Wash thingy, it makes any water touching the roof go into little pelets that run off the roof...
 
Exactmax said:
Get an official outdoor BMW cover, fits like a glove and protects the convertible and bodywork. It's machine washable aswell. It's about £100 from BMW. Well worth the money compared to cheaper covers off eBay for example. I hope that helps...
Click to expand...

I bought one of these some time back off ebay. If it's the one I think it is it has got the logo on the bonnet and ties and clip on the back? The thing is I didn't realise it was machine washable. Have you actually washed yours yet and with what results cos mine is getting marked on the inside where it comes into contact with the tyres.
 
Yeh mine has the BMW logo on the bonnect and the strap to go in the boot when its shut. Just wash the cover on 30 degree and then hang out to dry (bosh some fabric softner in there) and it came out lovely and soft and clean lol... I wouldn't wash it warmer than 30 otherwise it might shrink. It says on the label on the cover that you can machine wash at 30c.

It didn't get all the black marks off but it certainly made the rest of it cleaner and more fresh - I hope that helps :D
 
It's each to their own with this type of thing but I've seen some horrendous damage done to car paointwork by these covers, if the wind blows it about too much on top of a dusty car then you are effectively rubbing cloth across a dirty paint surface, this causes scratches. I've also seen one thread on Detailing World where a black Z4 had terrible dull patches where the seam of the fabric had rubbed on the paint for too long.

Good luck to those that have no problem with them, but my preference is to treat the hood properly with a waterproofing agent (like Auto Glym) and make sure the paint is waxed before the winter. To back up my theory, my dad's Z4 is one of the earliest production models and has lived outside since new with no cover, the paint and the hood are fine.

Get one if you like but I think it's likely to do more harm than good and it certainly won't do anything to significantly extend hood life etc. :poke:
 
Blue said:
Good luck to those that have no problem with them, but my preference is to treat the hood properly with a waterproofing agent (like Auto Glym) and make sure the paint is waxed before the winter. To back up my theory, my dad's Z4 is one of the earliest production models and has lived outside since new with no cover, the paint and the hood are fine
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What about all this talk of water getting into your roof motor :?
 
If the drains are kept clear then surely the water won't cause a problem though?

Besides, I can't afford to worry about it getting wet overnight when I drive it in the rain all day anyway, it's a car, it's designed to get wet!

Like I say, it's personal opinion, but I guarantee that for the cost of a cover you could get a fine range of Detailing products that would make a much bigger improvement to the look of the car and would continue to protect the paintwork and hood whilst you're using it! :roll:
 
http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=189652

EDIT - A picture is worth a thousand words as they say, that car has sub 10K on the clock and is rarely used, the owner used a car cover at all times...

There was another thread where the cover was applied onto a wet car, the sun then came out and the heat caused the water to damage the lacquer, requiring full correction but I can't find it :(
 
You win some and you loose some! I think when it is a black car, everything shows up. I've had no problems with my cover and mine is a bright red model. Time will tell I suppose!
 
After two winters with mine left out in the snow and frost, it's been totally fine.

It's had snow sat on it for days on end, no problems.

Basically, it's designed to be fine in all weathers, ergo just let it do what it does.

Dave
 
hmmm..I just went to the trouble of getting the full outdoor cover from my local dealer as my Z is black and I was fed up with the constant merry-go-round of washing it Sunday afternoon, and then rain on Tuesday resulting in a spotted car resulting from a combination of the dust and rainwater drying. Is very frustrating to have the car sit there looking so dirty even after not having driven it.

So now after reading this and the thread on detailing world I'm scared to put the cover on as I've just had the more noticable marks buffed out. Funny thing is that how many people are always after getting the cover and then as soon as I get it, all I hear is about how terrible it is to have one...
 
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