Moving to Florida and UV damage

Joined
Apr 7, 2010
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Location
Miami
Florida is too expensive to afford a house with a garage or even a carport for my income. So I’m moving to a condominium with no covered parking.

I am considering a car cover for my seldom used weekend car. I’ve heard horror stories of swirls and scratches inflicted on paint due to car covers. I am weighing the pros and cons. Should I accept sun damage but avoid swirls and scratches or get a high quality car cover and accept swirls and scratches? Just how bad are these swirls anyways?

I don’t know what’s the best protection for a car out in the sun. Anyone have experience with this?
 
Depends on year/make/model/paint code

Florida is a big state. Condos in some areas are more expensive than acreage and homes in another.

What city is your condo in?

I would never consider a condo in Florida, regardless of how fancy it is. Don't care for the concrete jungle.
 
Would you be able to apply a paint sealant every month or two? Also what color is the car?

A cover would make me really nervous outside in the wind.
 
If its seldom used I would do the cover. I would rather have to polish paint than replace interiors.

As an aside - if your buying a condo make sure you look into the current recertification costs for condo's since that one collapsed near Miami a year ago or so. I have read of people getting $100K+ assessments for structural repairs on condo's - and not fancy condo's.
 
Florida is too expensive to afford a house with a garage or even a carport for my income. So I’m moving to a condominium with no covered parking.

I am considering a car cover for my seldom used weekend car. I’ve heard horror stories of swirls and scratches inflicted on paint due to car covers. I am weighing the pros and cons. Should I accept sun damage but avoid swirls and scratches or get a high quality car cover and accept swirls and scratches? Just how bad are these swirls anyways?

I don’t know what’s the best protection for a car out in the sun. Anyone have experience with this?

I would go for a car cover on a weekend car but only if you wash it before putting the car cover on.

In addition to UV there's going to be a plethora of water spotting from cyclical drying of rain water and and early morning dew.
 
Forget the cover, they can only be put on a perfectly clean, just washed and dried car. They are ok for long term storage but not any kind of short or day to day use. Can you wash the car at the Condo? Washing somewhere and then driving to the Condo with put micro abrasives on the finish that the cover will grind into the paint.
 
The condo has a car wash station in it.

What about clay barring the thing before covering it? I can be diligent about it. I don’t drive the car very often. It’s my hobby car.
 
Is the condo a lot cheaper than a house without a garage or carport? If it isn’t then I’m not sure how getting a condo is better. With a house you have more options, like building a carport in the future, or erecting a tent.
Plus you can always use a car cover, like you would in a condo.
 
I live in Florida and my cars all live outside, and a good car cover does help. In particular with protecting the interior. But good luck keeping one on! Get a good heavy one from a good quality US company and it needs to be tied underneath the car in the front, center and the rear, and end to end if you can manage it. You will get some scratching of the paint but no worse than if the car was left uncovered. And a cover will prevent the sun damage to the paint and to the dash board and the rest of the interior. A lot of condos are now providing awnings over the parking spots, try to find one of those. Even that bit of protection from the sun makes a huge difference. An awning or a car cover will also significantly slow down rusting, particulary around the windshield and the front fender cavities and will also help prevent leaves and pine needles from collecting in the air intake in the cowling below the windshield.
 
I am looking at a high end cover from covercraft, a tight fitting one. I guess I can run an experiment and take pics of the paint before and after and see what kind of scratches I’ll get.
 
The condo has a car wash station in it.

What about clay barring the thing before covering it? I can be diligent about it. I don’t drive the car very often. It’s my hobby car.
In that case I'd just buy a cover and give it a go. Even the cheaper covers I've seen have a soft lining. My Miata sits in one 6 months out of the years and comes out in the spring without any of the damage you hear about.
 
Would you be able to apply a paint sealant every month or two? Also what color is the car?

A cover would make me really nervous outside in the wind.

Sealants and Waxes offer poor UV resistance, the sun is intense here so they wont really do much in that regard.


For example Of 41 Ceramic Sealants tested here the highest was a 4.3% reduction of UV and a majority <2%. The best defense with UV is not to be exposed to it.
 
What kind of car is this? I don’t think @gregk24 keeps his Accord covered.

Not sure Florida is much worse than anywhere else, they’re humid but not insanely hot or sunny.
 
Short term, I'd try to wash it every 2 weeks & leave it uncovered.

303 Aerospace dressing on the interior once a month. Its water based, not glossy/natural looking and works.

Florida... sand everywhere even inland it's around. I wouldn't advise a cover for a lot of reasons. Long term, try to find you a covered parking area like a storage unit or covered awning RV parking etc. it'll be worth it long term.
 
I am looking at a high end cover from covercraft, a tight fitting one. I guess I can run an experiment and take pics of the paint before and after and see what kind of scratches I’ll get.
Good luck with getting a cover that fits.

Bought my SIL one for his VW Camper Van. The first one was 8 - 10" too short. And the replacement has way too much material. You install it like wrapping a Xmas parcel. "It fits where it touches" you could say.
 
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