albireo

I have an 06' Vista Blue Mustang that I'm having white shelby type stripes w/pearl painted on my car next week. The whole car will be clear coated for a show car appearance. I'm already super picky about my car; I'm a daily driver and drive about 35 miles round trip to work and end up using a California cloth on it twice a day and use Quik detail every day as a wipe down to make her always shine. I wash her at least twice a week too. I NEVER leave the car looking anything but SPOTLESS.

Now with the stripes getting painted on and the car getting a super extra shine I'm thinking that I should get a car cover and put it on at work (and in the garage at home after I wipe her down at night).
I have a couple of concerns. I work at an elementary school in a "not so hot" area of a big city and wonder if it will increase my chances of someone messing with my car. I know getting these stripes are going to increase my visibility as it is, so I can't imagine that the cover will be worse than leaving it bare.
I'm also concerned that the car cover itself will get dirty and dusty and eventually cause more trouble than it's worth. I'm thinking that the dirt that will accumulate on the outside and eventually work its way on the inside when I put it away and take it out of the trunk each day, eventually scratching it as I put it on and off??

I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts!

Joe

latebreak

In my opinion it may do more harm than good. I would not put a cover on my car unless it was 100% clean and dust free. The process of pulling the cover on/off a few times a day on a car with some dust/road dirt may end up scratching the paint.

Just my thoughts,

Matt

Agent45

I bought a car cover from Costco and it works very well- I too am incredibly picky about my car. The material is very soft- but I also put it on/take it off very carefully to avoid sliding the cover on the painted surface as much as possible. Bottom line, you wont scratch your car with a clean car cover.

Now, as for attracting attention- I work in law enforcement and I can tell you that vandals (mostly teenagers) will be drawn to a covered vehicle vs an uncovered one. Curiosity will at least make them lift up the cover to see what kind of ride you have under there. The devious personality will think "huh, this guy really wants his car to be safe, lets show him thats not the case"

It's called hardening the target. Just like a fence around a business or an alarm on your home- crooks take that as a challenge to overcome it. Plus- it means that there is something worth stealing.

My advice- use the car cover at home in the garage, in a secured parking area or in another garage away from home. If you are parking in public, leave it off. If someone is going to vandalize your car they will do it more often with the car cover on.

Plus. this will give you another reason to wash your car when you get home.