Does the use of putting on/taking off a car cover induce scratches in the paint?

I've been using a regular (not custom fit) car cover this week, and I noticed on the windshield there are scratches from the car cover.

It only makes me wonder, if that's what my windshield looks like, what must my paint look like?

Is this doing anything permanently harmful to my car?

 

If it's scratching the car, there's something wrong with it.
Stop immediately as you will be doing more harm than good.
Is this a new cover or an old one? Make sure you don't drag it on the ground when you take it off or you'll get crap inside it.

If it's new, take it back and change it. If it's old, get a new one because that's cheaper than getting scratches out of the paint.

 

I don't know how old it is, but I've had it for a while. Few years at least. The material is not that soft-feeling. It's got elastic bands (of course). It's kinda, big, cause it doesn't fit that snugly over the car... I mean it covers everything, just not, fittingly, if you know what I mean?

Now here's a Focus car cover for $200. http://www.fcdealerstore.com/product...ategory=CARCOV It just seems expensive if you ask me? But I don't want to go polishing her, putting on the car cover, then getting MORE unwanted swirls.

The FC only says its for SVT Foci. I wonder if they sell ZX3 car covers. I've seen them online in other places, but then that opens up the story about which car covers are good and which ones aren't worth buying.

 

The cover has to fit well. If it flaps around, it could scratch.
Bite the bullet and get a new one

 

I should; the one I have now is pretty awkward. I had to cut a hole in the top for the antenna to go through. I wonder how they do it on modern specific car covers for the antenna?

 

A car cover?! I gotta ask why... it's a daily driver right?

 

+1.

And besides, you're likely to do more harm than good if the car isn't washed and clean before covering it up.

 

Well excuse me for wanting to keep it debris-free! Not my fault I don't have a garage. It IS brand new, and it IS deserving of some protection.

 

A good detailing will go a lot farther than a car cover will. Wash, clay, wax. If there's any dirt or any like abrasives on the car when you install the cover, you might create scratches. Especially if it's a cover that doesn't quite fit your car properly, to where the wind will buffet it around.

 

I've never been a huge proponent of using covers in lieu of a garage -- it eventually seems to do more harm than good! Its almost impossible to keep grit from getting under the cover and causing damage.

The only place I've had any luck with covers is for keeping dust off a garaged and/or stored vehicle. These applications minimize the "on-off" transition of the cover, and generally allow for covering a clean vehicle with a clean cover, rather than one or the other that is covered with road debris.

And the old adage, "You Get What You Pay For" definitely applies to car covers!

 

Yeah that's true...I just worry about stupid **** getting on my car. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid detailer and dont' think putting a car cover on substitutes for washing and claying, etc. Just around here in the springtime you get so much pollen and the crap that falls off the trees...can make your just-detailed car look like a heap o' green the next day. I want to avoid that the best way I can...

 

If the cover is inducing scratches on glass, you might have sand on the cover somewhere. If it's scratching the glass, I'd bet it scratching the paint as well.

SL

 

Well the marks it made were white and about an inch long maybe, looking like a scratch, but in no way did they penetrate into the glass surface. They smudge off easy.

I kept the cover off lastnight, she got rained on. lol

 

I know all about pollen. Matter of fact, I learned about pollen the hard way with my Focus. On the rear quarter windows, I had a line of pollen that worked in in between the bottom edge of the glass and the body. Caught hell trying to get it out too. Now pollen makes my black truck look kinda yellowish. Mother Nature sucks.

 

How did you get it out??