last october i bought a car cover for my 1985 BMW 318i, really nice shape, untill i used a car cover this winter, last week it was a nice warm day so i wanted to give her a bath.
when i started to roll off the cover i noticed a 1' semi circle of paint had peeled right off to the bare metel. AHHHHGH!
first thing that i thought of was sabatage, but the shape of the peeling paint isnt concisistant with someone pouring something on the hood, even smelled the cover where the paint peeled. started to rant and rave to myself and my neighbor came over and he thinks that it had some thing to do with the cover freezing and pulling the paint off.
i never used a car cover before and now with a broken heart ill probably never use one again.
any suggestions on how this my have happen will sooth the hurt some.
thanks guys
chris

That really sucks man, This definatly is possible.. I had a vehicle the same thing happened to when I was stationed in North Carolina!! I had no problems till the winter time and it froze on the front of the vehicle, I also experienced the paint fading from the rest of the body color.. Good luck man, I left my cover on the car and traded it in............

A car cover is not much help in a cold climate areas unless it is used inside a garage, preferably one that is well insulated.

I Did not have a problem with my cover that i used this winter outside put it on december 11th took it off march 15th nothing wrong anywhere. I bought the bavarian autosport Ultimate cover. well worth the price if you ask me. and i am in massachusetts so we did have snow and cold wheather

G'day, sorry to hear of the devastating results you had with your car cover.

Living in Australia means we don't have the cold climate extreme you have there and virtually no-one here uses car covers in open areas or carports for climate protection (even though we can get pretty hot summers). I thought of using a car cover once but not after seeing the damage done to a friend's car.

His experience using a car cover (outside) resulted in the chrome work on his classic car including the door handles, chrome strips etc. pitting badly and also allowed rust to invade many areas, mainly around the windscreens because the car cover held the moisture inside and had no ventilation at all. :banghead:

It was a good quality vinyl coated car cover with a kind of flock (cotton) interior covering and had an elasticised base to keep it in place.

In my humble opinion, car covers should only be used when a car is put in dry storage in a garage or shed (mainly to keep any animals droppings off it).

Also when used outside, the wind can rub the car cover over the paintwork causing scuffing and marking unless it has been firmly tied down. I would never use a car cover for any purpose after seeing first hand, the damage done to my friend's classic car. :nono:

JR