At the beginning of December last year, we decided it would be a good idea to test one of our Ultimate Outdoor covers on our own car here in the Shropshire hills. The car had its two rear wings resprayed too, so it was a great test to see how the cover performed and how the car coped being stored all winter. The car was used once or twice in the space of 5 months, and the cover had performed perfectly and as expected – we couldn’t have asked for anything more from an outdoor car cover. The car is now being used again as summer is approaching, so we have decided to put this winter test on hold until autumn, where we will continue to test the same cover later in the year.
You can read the winter test on our website here: https://www.classicadditions.com/en-GB/ultimate-outdoor-winter-test/news_10126
Our warehouse manager, Jan, has had her beloved Land Rover Discovery for 14 years. You may know that Jan keeps and breeds sheep just over the hill from the office here in Shropshire. Jan bought the car 14 years ago, as Jan needed a car that was reliable and could handle the steep muddy track up to the farm. Jan’s Discovery is called Dougie and is the best vehicle she has ever bought. The commercial bed in the back means it can be loaded up with anything Jan needs. Dougie has been extremely reliable and not let Jan down for all these years, however, unfortunately recently it turns out that Dougie needs a little TLC. Upon inspection, the chassis needs some work to get him back up and running properly again. The work required is quite extensive and costly, but Jan doesn’t want to replace Dougie as they’ve been through so much together over the years. While Jan puts the money together to get him fixed, she has decided to store him over the winter. Naturally that means that Dougie needs an outdoor car cover, so of course we could help with one of the Ultimate Outdoor covers. This should keep Dougie clean and safe over the summer until he is back on the road.
Day 1 – 29th April
We took the car cover down to the farm, and helped Jan fit the cover. We have a range of 14 different sized Ultimate Outdoor covers, so our 4x4 size would be the best fit on the Discovery. We took the cover out the bag, found the front label and pulled it down the front then the sides of the vehicle. We then tucked the elasticated front and back under the bumpers. After a few adjustments to get it sitting square and then we put the three sets of straps on to ensure the cover didn’t move around at all in the poor weather. The cover was a great fit on the Discovery, despite a few creases from where it has been kept folded in a bag.
Day 11 – 9th May
We went down to Jan’s farm just to check the cover was still doing alright after a couple of weeks in the rain and sun. The weather has yet again been mixed, so a few light showers, and some intermittent sun. The cover is performing as expected, staying 100% waterproof and letting the water bead off the surface. You will see also that after a couple of weeks in the sun and rain, the creases have dropped out of the fabric.
1st October
Since our last post, we decided to move the car and cover back up to the offices, as it made it a little more difficult to check on the car and cover. We have actually put it where we tested the E30 - so in the corner of a gravelled courtyard.
We have left the cover on the car since May, so 5 months, meaning this has been a really long term test for the cover to see how it performs. The cover has been through the summer months here in Shropshire. We have had a great summer, although there has been some rain. More recently however, the weather has turned and Autumn is certainly upon us. The weather in the last few days has been torrential rain and flash floods. We decided to check the cover today due to so much rain. We went out and unbuckled the straps from the cover, and lifted it carefully off the bonnet. The cover did look quite wet on the outside where the waterproof coating hasn't been able to shed all the rain quickly enough, making it soak into the top layer of the fabric. As expected, this wasn't an issue, as the fully waterproof membrane in the centre of the fabric has kept the water from soaking through. The car was completely bone dry, even on the seams. The only change to the car was the addition of a few cobwebs! You will see from the photos below, there is water on the bonnet, however this was literally just the rain landing on it as soon as the cover came off!
