Winter covers?

[Steve Calvin]

Anyone have any experience with these in an area that potentially gets some serious snow?
http://www.carcapsules.com/

 

[Bioscache2]

Hey I'm going to be heading back into Colorado and would really appreciate recommendations on good covers that will stand up to Rocky Mountain Winters.

 

[cruzer99]

Keep going past Colorado (use to live in Loveland, CO.), and don't stop until you hit Califorina where we drive year round and use covers just to keep the dust off..

:cool

 

[Bioscache2]

Keep going past Colorado (use to live in Loveland, CO.), and don't stop until you hit Califorina where we drive year round and use covers just to keep the dust off..

:cool

I'd stay in NY if I could but the military said CO so CO it is, any foul weather cover advice?

 

[Ed02]

I don't know about the Carcapsule but if your interested in a regular cover, I just replaced my NOAH cover recently with one from Mid America (www.mamotorworks.com) called Coverbond 4. P/N 622-403. It's a new product for them. It's a 4 layer cover and has a lifetime warranty!! The NOAH cover didn't stand up to the sun around here. This one fits much better. Has heavy elastic around the bottom and is long enough where it almost covers the whole wheel. It was $149.99. My major problem with the fit of the NOAH was it wouldn't stay on the car in the wind. It seemed to short and didn't get far enough under the nose and rear end. Even with the cable under the middle the wind would lift up the front and back end and lift it off. I haven't had the problem with the Coverbond. I'm much more impressed. We get more ice than snow around here but since this is an all weather cover it should be fine. My .02 worth.

Ed

 

[cruzer99]

Things to consider: 1. I hope you will store your Vette inside, there is NO cover that will survive a Colorado winter outside even more-so in Colorado Springs. A standard good quality cover will do just fine inside. 2. The good news is because of the altitude the air is very dry (humidity ~10-20%), even during a snow storm. 3. After a storm (temp is typ 30-35 deg. during a storm), is over is when the temp will drop to below zero for a few days or so. 4. Make sure the antifreeze is fresh. 5. Get the tires off the ground. 6. Put in for a xfer to Calif.

 

[Bioscache2]

Things to consider: 1. I hope you will store your Vette inside, there is NO cover that will survive a Colorado winter outside even more-so in Colorado Springs. A standard good quality cover will do just fine inside. 2. The good news is because of the altitude the air is very dry (humidity ~10-20%), even during a snow storm. 3. After a storm (temp is typ 30-35 deg. during a storm), is over is when the temp will drop to below zero for a few days or so. 4. Make sure the antifreeze is fresh. 5. Get the tires off the ground. 6. Put in for a xfer to Calif.

Thanks for the advice, but heres the deal. The Vette is gonna be outside for the rest of my 18 months there starting with Jan :cry So number 1 and 5 are out of the question for me. All I get is a parking space soooo any and all tips to help preserve the vette would be very helpful and that starts with the best cover. I was thinking of the using the stormproof. Any comments?

 

[JJS]

I too am wondering which car cover to use while my car is in storage over the winter months here in MA. The car will be stored indoors, and I have a choice of two car covers. One is a flannel (preferred), the other is an indoor/outdoor cover that has a rougher fabric. Any advice is very much appreciated.

 

[cruzer99]

Consider renting a garage, covered storage, see you can contact a local club (in Colorado), to see if they have suggestions. Lastly, leave it home and pick up a beater in Colorado to drive for a year.

 

[Grizzly]

Winter Covers

If you are going to drive it, I don't know how you will use a cover. It must be clean to put it on. It could very well freeze fast and then what would you do? I was raised in an area that averaged 150" of snow a year and you can't keep a car clean as most of try to with out a garage.

I would concentrate on keeping it clean as you can for your stay there. Just driving it will be a problem.

 

[Steve Calvin]

Thanks for all of the replies. Storing it inside isn't an option. I stored my '84 outside in the NY winters with no ill effects at all.

No, I don't drive it in the winter. Once it's put away, it's away until spring.

I'm not going to get the car cap. I just don't trust it with the major snows (and heavy) that we tend to get in this area.

I've lived in the NE all of my life and am very well versed on how to properly get a vehicle ready for 3-4 months of storage. I just thought the C.C. would be alot easier but as I said, I just don't trust it.

 

[cruzer99]

You will find the snow in Colorado is typically not a heavy or wet snow. There are years where they might get 2 feet overnight and years where they don't get 2 feet all winter. The hardest thing on cars is the dry 20 degrees below zero that usually only last 3-4 days after a storm. It mostly hurts the leather seats, dash, and hoses as you may know.

Good luck

 

[Patrick]

Consider renting a garage, covered storage, see you can contact a local club (in Colorado), to see if they have suggestions. Lastly, leave it home and pick up a beater in Colorado to drive for a year.

Coming to Ryan's (Bioscache2's) defense a bit-
He's a Cadet at the Air Force Academy. Any garage where he could find to store it for the winter would almost certainly be off the USAFA grounds, meaning he would not have immediate access to it for those days when he did want to drive it. (And believe me- there's no storage units anywhere close to the Academy grounds.) What's more, going to retrieve it would probably involve having to work his schedule around someone else who could give him a lift to get it.

Storing it wouldn't be a problem if he could get a winter beater vehicle, but I would have to guess that on the stipend Cadets receive, that's probably not a financially realistic option.

I will say this: our Colorado winters (if you go by the strict December to March definition of winter) are actually pretty mild, snow-wise. It's the late February to April period of time when we can get our bad snows.

Ryan, I think a carcover is an excellent idea. Another member of the CAC, Geof180, graduated from the Academy in 2003, and kept his '96 black Coupe in the Cadet parking lot, with (I believe) no car cover at all, and didn't suffer any ill effects. He did indicate that he tended to park further away, generally under a light, and frequently checked the car after snows to brush the snow off. That, and some regular trips to get it washed, worked fairly well. Add a car cover, and I think you should be okay.

Just don't go speeding around on the USAFA grounds- the LEO's on base REALLY don't like it, and with the highest posted speed on base of 25 MPH, you'll find it a real test of your patience to observe that ridiculously small speed limit, particularly on those well manicured four lane arterial roads.


-Patrick

 

[Bioscache2]

Coming to Ryan's (Bioscache2's) defense a bit-
He's a Cadet at the Air Force Academy. Any garage where he could find to store it for the winter would almost certainly be off the USAFA grounds, meaning he would not have immediate access to it for those days when he did want to drive it. (And believe me- there's no storage units anywhere close to the Academy grounds.) What's more, going to retrieve it would probably involve having to work his schedule around someone else who could give him a lift to get it.

Storing it wouldn't be a problem if he could get a winter beater vehicle, but I would have to guess that on the stipend Cadets receive, that's probably not a financially realistic option.

I will say this: our Colorado winters (if you go by the strict December to March definition of winter) are actually pretty mild, snow-wise. It's the late February to April period of time when we can get our bad snows.

Ryan, I think a carcover is an excellent idea. Another member of the CAC, Geof180, graduated from the Academy in 2003, and kept his '96 black Coupe in the Cadet parking lot, with (I believe) no car cover at all, and didn't suffer any ill effects. He did indicate that he tended to park further away, generally under a light, and frequently checked the car after snows to brush the snow off. That, and some regular trips to get it washed, worked fairly well. Add a car cover, and I think you should be okay.

Just don't go speeding around on the USAFA grounds- the LEO's on base REALLY don't like it, and with the highest posted speed on base of 25 MPH, you'll find it a real test of your patience to observe that ridiculously small speed limit, particularly on those well manicured four lane arterial roads.


-Patrick

Thanks for the bit. I've seen the vetts go uncovered so I know it can be done I was jsut looking for the best cover for the job but I think I'm going to go with the storm-shield (or was it stormproof). Also you were right on with the reasons posted above. As for the speed limit it can get tough but thankfully the pipeline from the cadet parking lot is 30, then 40 and then 45. So usually we can manage to get out before our driver's instinct wants to nail it but absolutely the LEO's have no understanding for a speedin ticket and whats worse, 1st speeding ticket is tough, the second and you lose driving privlieges

 

[Patrick]

Ryan,
I think with an effective car cover, your Vette will be fine. Cruzer82 is correct, though: being stored outside, you will probably have to clean and condition the leather a bit more. Ace Hardware sells Lexol cleaner and conditioner, and I've been very satisfied using Lexol.

You'll also want to make sure you keep the Vette well waxed, to make cleaning it a bit easier. It isn't being outside with a car cover that's the problem, is the mag-chloride they put on the roads. It won't create rust- it's specifically chemically engineered not to do that- but it does break up the ice/snow on the road surface, and your tires will pick these up and kick them back at you. I discovered that this past winter.

-Patrick

 

[Bioscache2]

I recently recieved my cover, the stormshield, and I have to say I couldn't be happier, it looks nice, fits tightly, goes all the way down to protect the wheels as much as possible, is literally waterproof, the water beads off the cover and I put the cover on when there was dew on the car (on purpose to test) and then it rained that night. The next day in the afternoonI found some water left in small pools (shows the car is water proof) and as soon as I shifted the cover the pools beaded off and the best part underneath was bone dry (so the cover breathes just fine), so much so that there was a very fine and small layer of dust that blew off (proof of dryness). The cover was $200 but worth every penny, plus it comes with a 3 year guarantee, can't beat it.