Performance Criteria to Consider When Choosing a Car Cover

Car covers, or indeed any protective cover you are looking to buy for your SUV, truck, boat or even an airplane, all have one thing in common - their goal is to protect your vehicle and the investment you have made.

Depending on where you are storing the car will have a bearing on the type of cover you are going to be looking at; the reason is because different types of cover are better at performing certain protective functions than others, so it will help you in your decision if you understand what is happening with the elements and environment which is attacking your vehicle.

The major elemental factors which cause damage to your vehicle are rain, sun and heat but there are others such as dirt and physical knocks, bird droppings and tree sap which need to be considered too.

When choosing a cover you need a material which will allow the air to circulate underneath the cover; this will allow moisture to be taken away from the vehicle and will prevent the growth of mildew and mold. If you have a cover which is completely waterproof then it will trap the moisture in with obvious, bad results. The flip side of this is that water will be able to penetrate on to the vehicle through the cover; you need to source a cover which is only water permeable to a low degree so rain and snow have plenty of time to drop off or evaporate before it reaches the car underneath.

Sun is a serious cause of damage to paint work - we have all seen the effects of sun causing faded paint work with unsightly lines where shadows have protected the vehicle leaving the exposed portions seriously faded and dull. Just as with humans, the sun's rays harm paint work and fade colors, especially in the interior so you need to source a cover which has a high UV rating to protect your vehicle.

Heat is an underrated contributor of degradation to vehicles because it doesn't make its effects immediately felt. Excessive heat accelerates corrosion, encourages the growth of mildew, impairs engine performance and can seriously affect electrical systems. It is wise to do whatever you can to minimize the heat around the vehicle and unfortunately, many car covers will simply trap the heat under them. A thick car cover will minimize heat build-up because it is insulating the vehicles compared to a light-weight version - it is important that it will allow air to circulate too.

Another factor is permeability which measures how well material such as water but also dirt and dust, can pass through the cover. A low permeability rating is what you are looking for so that air will still circulate, water can still exit from under the cover and it is not going to allow much dirt to come into contact with the vehicle underneath.

The car cover has also got to provide a "soft touch" inner surface where it comes into contact with the bodywork. You do not want a coarse material brushing across a fine paint job creating scratches on it when you are trying to protect it. You also need the cover to provide robust protection so physical knocks, such as the kids playing ball or a falling tree branch do not create a ding in the body work.