Geo
11-08-2005, 09:48 PM
I am wishing to cover a couple of old Dodges that I have in an uncovered storage yard.
I used to cover them a while ago when they were sitting in a driveway at a house. When I used to cover them I used a breathable car cover (not as nice as those from California covers but nice enough)and then I covered the breathable car cover with a tarp.
Some used to say that covering them was worse than leaving them uncovered. My reasoning was that the tarp would not allow any rain or snow to touch the car (via the breathable car cover) and that breathable car cover would still have breathing properties enough under the tarp. It was great, the car would never get wet and in my opinion it still could breath (even if there was a mound of snow sitting on the tarp pushing on everything else).
I then heard of people's cars rusting if a tarp is ever used (mind you they never had my multi-layer setup explained above) as moisture can rise from below and get trapped above as the tarp has no breathing properties.
I've since lost that driveway area to park the 2 cars and I've towed them (don't ask; that's another story why they no longer start) to a paid uncovered storage area mentioned above and I would think that there is more moisture potential rising from the earth even though the region is quite dry in all seasons except winter where it gets cold (-15 or so) and snows heavily. When I moved them there it was already snowing and decided to not cover wet, iced over cars.
I am wanting to take a trip there again to cover them but the question is do I use the multi-layer concept of a breathable car cover under a non-breathing tarp?
I knew someone who found a wet car when uncovering his tarp and found paint bubbling too! Mind you that was in a city where it rains alot and there is lots of moisture. Still, his example may have been an acccelerated example of what can happen over time where my cars reside.
I was thinking of covering them with just the breathable covers without the tarp this time around. This would allow rain and snow to seep through to the paint and body. I suppose this is how most people cover their cars anyway. Should I skip the tarps? The concept is that witht the breathable covers, at least the water can dry out and never trap anything. I guess I hated the idea of water or snow even touching the car in the first place.
Another thing is should I wash them before I cover them? Someone had the theory that some dirt might protect the metal while they are covered (sort of like a protective film like the type that was on my Impala SS from Arlington when they were delivered before the dealer did their PDI workd and cleaned them up)? I still think I should wash them first.
I used to cover them a while ago when they were sitting in a driveway at a house. When I used to cover them I used a breathable car cover (not as nice as those from California covers but nice enough)and then I covered the breathable car cover with a tarp.
Some used to say that covering them was worse than leaving them uncovered. My reasoning was that the tarp would not allow any rain or snow to touch the car (via the breathable car cover) and that breathable car cover would still have breathing properties enough under the tarp. It was great, the car would never get wet and in my opinion it still could breath (even if there was a mound of snow sitting on the tarp pushing on everything else).
I then heard of people's cars rusting if a tarp is ever used (mind you they never had my multi-layer setup explained above) as moisture can rise from below and get trapped above as the tarp has no breathing properties.
I've since lost that driveway area to park the 2 cars and I've towed them (don't ask; that's another story why they no longer start) to a paid uncovered storage area mentioned above and I would think that there is more moisture potential rising from the earth even though the region is quite dry in all seasons except winter where it gets cold (-15 or so) and snows heavily. When I moved them there it was already snowing and decided to not cover wet, iced over cars.
I am wanting to take a trip there again to cover them but the question is do I use the multi-layer concept of a breathable car cover under a non-breathing tarp?
I knew someone who found a wet car when uncovering his tarp and found paint bubbling too! Mind you that was in a city where it rains alot and there is lots of moisture. Still, his example may have been an acccelerated example of what can happen over time where my cars reside.
I was thinking of covering them with just the breathable covers without the tarp this time around. This would allow rain and snow to seep through to the paint and body. I suppose this is how most people cover their cars anyway. Should I skip the tarps? The concept is that witht the breathable covers, at least the water can dry out and never trap anything. I guess I hated the idea of water or snow even touching the car in the first place.
Another thing is should I wash them before I cover them? Someone had the theory that some dirt might protect the metal while they are covered (sort of like a protective film like the type that was on my Impala SS from Arlington when they were delivered before the dealer did their PDI workd and cleaned them up)? I still think I should wash them first.