Re: car covers

[<BHIGGINS2@xxxxxxx>]

I was wondering if anyone out there has had similar experiences with Evolution
car covers - I used to love them - now I hate them.

I own three Evolution car covers and have had some bad luck:

1.  1976 Spider, kept outdoors, always covered, Evolution 4 cover, purchased
from International Autoparts.  After about six months I started noticing a
fine tan dust all over the car when the cover was removed.  It got worse and
worse.  I hand washed the cover following the manufacturers instructions - it
helped for about two days.  Instructions that came with the cover said to use
Fantastik brand cleaner only with water for washing the cover - Washing the
cover on the car seemed to make sense but I wasn't about to put Fantastik
cleaner (diluted or not) on my paint job.  By the way the cover was not easy
to wash in a big plastic tub and weighed a ton when wet and was difficult to
get to the clothes line to dry.  I would rather pull an engine than wash a
cover again this way. I noticed that the cover was taking longer and longer to
dry on the car after a hard rain (it rains really hard in Galveston).  The
cover when wet and on the car looked "blotchy".  There were spots the size of
a quarter to half-dollar where the fabric appeared to be "thinner".  The tan
dust was actually one of the 4 layers disintegrating and the result was the
car stayed cleaner without the cover.  After several days of continuous rain I
went out removed the cover and to my horror - about 50% of the car was covered
with blisters about 1/16 to 1/8" in diameter (the blisters looked like gel-
coat blisters for anyone experienced with fiberglass sailboat repair).  I left
the car uncovered in the hot Texas sun after that and most of the blistering
has gone away.  This cover is boxed up for return to the maunfacturer - it has
a 4 year warranty - it lasted less than 6 months.

2. 1976 Spider, kept outdoors, always covered, Evolution 4 cover, purchased
from J.C. Whitney.  I broke down and bought another cover to go on the car
while the manufacturer decided what to do with the cover above.  The first
evening the cover was on the car - one of the local stray cats decided to
baptize the cover and urinated  on the roof and down the windshield - no
damage to the cover but the canvas top below was soaked.  Once again I had to
wash the cover - same as above.  I needed to do some engine work on the spider
so I put it in the garage and moved the GTV outside (bought cover for it too
see #3).  I rolled the perfectly dry, basically brand new cover up (just like
it came in the box) and put it out of the way on a shelf for about 2 months.
When I put the cover back on the car there was a 2 square foot patch on the
trunk where the top layer of the cover had "disappeared" - looks like hell!  I
can't even start to explain what happened to the cover.  This cover is now on
my 75 Spider stored inside - no more problems but the cover looks crappy.
 
3. 1969 GTV, kept indoors, always covered, Evolution 4 cover, purchased from
International Autoparts.  For 5 years I used a cotton cover for the GTV.  When
I first moved to Texas I had a one car garage and two Alfas (now have 4 car
garage + carport).  One car was always outside - GTV was always inside unless
repairs were being made to the other car - so I bought an Evolution 4 cover
for the GTV in the event it had to be spend a day or two outside.  I think it
got rained on maybe 4 or 5 times since I've had the car cover.  Anyway, I use
the Evolution 4 cover inside now as well as it is custom fit and provideds
some "ding" protection.  The car has been under the cover indoors in a dry
garage for 3 years now - about a month ago I took the cover off to show the
car to a friend and to my horror found 60% of the car covered in blisters like
those described above but some were 1/4 to 1/2" in diameter.  By the way it
had perfect paint when the cover was first put on.  I put the cotton cover
back on and the Evolution 4 cover has been off the car now for a month and
about 75% of the blisters have gone away - I want to cry everytime I look at
the car now.

Am I a big fan of Evolution 4 covers?  No way! Any comments?

Ben Higgins
Galveston, Texas
'69 GTV Euro
'79 GTV Euro
'75&'76 Spiders
'76 GTV
3 parts cars

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