Well, the birds in my neighborhood are ferocious, and see targets everywhere they look, so I'm looking into an outdoor car cover. Does anyone have experience with the mini diealer cover? Mini covers also seem available online for 50-100 dollars less, custom fit and all. It just needs to guard against bird poop and dust, don't really get snow here in LA. Thanks for your help...

Also, I'm new, and my mini is due in mid-October. Woo-hoo!

 

The purpose of car covers is not to guard against snow, rain, sleet or anything like that. Its more to protect from the sun and pollutants ... something your probably have lots of in LA

Check out http://www.covercraft.com/ pick a level of protection you need. Don't buy directly from them, check the retailers for discounts (google is your friend)

 

Personally, I LOVE The JCW car cover. I just love the tight fitted look.
The one on the left is the indoor, my absolute favorite, then the one on the right is the outdoor.




Heres a better pic of the outdoor JCW one.

 

They are cool looking but they never say what material they use or how effective.

I'm also not sure if its a good thing to advertise whats under the cover

 

In the case of a MINI everybody will know, BUT is better not to yell you have a JCW on the street. Don't you think?

Also it's expensive, $300? yeah right. No thank you. Thankfully Our NAM vendors have covers from $60

 

I bought an Ultralon cover from Moss Mini because of the same problem. Pigeons.......HATE THEM! Also got the locking cable to go with it.

Great cover!

I avoided any fancy looking covers, why tempt vandals.

 

Ah, see, I did not know about the NAM vendors. Love these message boards. Thanks for your help, guys. Also, I know it's posted somewhere here, but I can't find the post - where do you get those signature badges that say which color your car is?

 

Right here.

 

Question though....when you have an outdoor car cover on, you're always taking it on and off. So when you drive your car, you accumulate dust and whatnot all over it throughout the day. Won't it be bad to put a cover on over a dirty or dusty car over and over? Won't it put a bunch of tiny scratches in the paint???

 

If you are constantly taking it on/off then yes, you could do some harm but doubtful for anything to actually see. Nothing claybar can't handle

Car covers are better for when you leave the car for a weekend or while on vacation. ... not if its your only car.

This is where it DOES matter ... you get what you pay for. Buy a $60 cover and you get a $60 cover. The better covers have different layers with the innermost a soft felt to exactly NOT do what your describing. The cheap ones are a single layer.

With the better covers, the "only" caveat I have read is that if you have an ice storm, be sure until all the ice melts before trying to take it off. Snow is OK.

Most hi-tech covers also need to be washed in a commercial washer without a central agigator using something like simple green (not normal household detergent). Also, never dried in a dryer

For example, if it were raining, I would simply dump our cover into the bathtub to drain/dry.

 

What kind of cover do you recommend for leaving the car 1 or 2 weeks always garaged BUT with lots of pollution (mostly smog)? I contradict myself but I don't mind the expense for the OEM one.

 

I have the NOAH cover from Covercraft and absolutely love it. The material is fairly thick and soft. It's highly breathable and has an spf of around 200. I got it an anythingauto.com

 

I have also read good things about NOAH multi-layer, all weather outdoor covers from Covercraft. I got the custom fit cover for $157 + state tax, ordered online from ajusa.com, they're California based therefore got charged state tax since I live in California. I got it in the mail yesterday, and material is really soft and breathable, like they say.

 

Yup, I JUST got a Noah. Very light Soft interior.

Go to http://www.covercraft.com and choose the type of cover suitiable for your question. As I said before, dont buy it from them. Buy from Autobarn or something like that.

 

chows4us, thanks for the tip about the "claybar".

I foresee myself using the car cover a lot, I mean frequently putting it on and off.

 

 

Here is the Moss Ultralon cover:

 

There is still one thing that I don't undersand yet.

What happens if the MINI has the stock antenna? fits any cover?

 

Our car in the photos has the stock antenna. It's hard to see, but most of the anternna sticks out through a plastic grommet in the antenna part of the cover. Look closely, and you can see it in the rear view.

 

Hehe ... looks like almost obscene

 

Gromit excites easily!

 

Gromit801's cover cost $199.95



[FONT=Arial]Indoor Flight Satin Car Cover[/FONT] $225.95



[FONT=Arial]Outdoor Car Cover $198.95[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]


[FONT=Arial]Indoor Zipper Car Cover $299.95[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial][/FONT]


[FONT=Arial]JCW Car Cover[/FONT] $299.95

OutMotoring has the OEM covers.

Mi conclusion is:

A good cover is between $150 and $300 . Get the one you like because $150 less in the wallet doesn't matter.

Unless of course if your out of beer.

 

You're mostly paying for a fancy design. I wanted to avoid that. Same people that key our Mini's would think nothing of slicing a fancy looking cover. Do what feels right of course.

 

Exactly. But if it's garaged this is not a concern. First your needs then look how fat is the wallet.

Did you noticed that one of the OEM covers is $1 cheaper than the Moss Ultralon?

 

Dealer price. From what I've seen of the dealer cover, I wouldn't buy it.