Outdoor Cover

[davery]

I know there has been a few threads on car covers, but wanted to get opinions. I will need to store my Fiat outside for most of the winter (when it is not in the garage getting worked on). What is the best way to cover it? The car will be right up next to the house on concrete. I see the portable storage garages at Harbor Freight, but I am worried about falling in on the car with high winds or a lot of snow. Some one on here recommended the Budge cover and at $60 the price is right. Any other ideas?

[supplyguy]

Bought the Budge and not thrilled with it. Antenna poked a hole in it early on (shame on me - should have padded it) and seems like real thin protection. But for $60 maybe that's okay. Starting to think I should have bit the bullet and spent much more for better protection.

[RRoller123]

One important issue is to keep the cover from abrading the car in a high wind. Any constant flapping will wear the paint badly. In that sense, those portable tarp garages that have a frame look really good. No contact with the surface of the car. I use the NOAH cover and am happy with it, but it is only used from March - November; the car goes into storage for the Winter.

[81SPIDERMATT]

never thought about a tarp tent for the car before.... did some research on the harbour freight one you spoke of..... found this.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kzbmpn5CWmA ..also there is a part 2 ... on the video he talks about heavy snow.... also his is on grass ... so drilling into the concrete would be needed .... but it looks like it would work well.... thanks for the idea... curious what you will decide in the end... keep us posted

[bran100]

My first year in Utah I had one of those cheap blue covers that was very kind to the paint but disintigrated by year 2 in the snow. So year 3 I bought a silver custom cover from Costco and it sanded my paint by spring. I had the paint cleaned up this year and found another soft blue cover at Kmart on clearance for 8 bucks. I think I'll double up this year with blue on the bottom and silver on top of that.

[Fi8spider]

About 5 years ago I discovered a car cover that absolutely blew everything else away when it came to quality and durability. Fully waterproof and fleece lined with breather pockets.

The cover is distributed by Autotechnica - Model is the Storm Guard (scroll down to the one in the red box).
Here is the site from our local Importer though i'd say the brand would be avaliable in the U.S.
http://www.autotecnica.com.au/covers_carcovers.html

I use a medium on my spider as I have it stored under a carport and I have a small for my Millecento which is also under a carport and another for my 128 which is stored outside.
They are not cheap, starting at about $150 each but I tell you what they are a brilliant investment!
I highly recommend them.