A Carpro Day Yesterday.

[Mark]

Yesterday was the swapping of car covers on my '97 Tahoe, the Covercraft NOAH was essentially toast, well past it's prime, and last week then got a brand new Covercraft Weathershield HD TOTL Cover. Not as soft as the NOAH, but appears to be more durable.

Truck was looking pretty dusty, so off to the high pressure wash first, then came home, did a hand wash with CP Reset, and dry. I note for the second time using Reset that it is a little "filmy" after a rinse. Perhaps I'm using just a little too much? Anyway, it's pretty much gone after the wipedown with a Guzzler Towel.

Once all was totally dry, out came my trusty old 400ml bottle of Reload 2014, and did the entire truck, including all glass. Really loved this version, was so easy to work with, spray it on anyway you like, as easy as any good detailer spray. Sadly, I'm getting real low on it, maybe only 1-1/2 ounces left! :(

Seems as if the CQ UK Coat I applied way back is just like the day I applied it after this latest Reload application, paint feels as hard as nails, slick, smooth as glass. And looks just as swirl-sleek free as the day I corrected the paint, and UK'd it. A testament just how well CQ UK protects the paint against such from happening.

The only places I used a non CP product, was Wolfgang Exterior Trim Sealant on side moldings, step bumper pad, and front lower air dam to touch up, and make glow. These were all previously coated with CQ DLX.

Probably could've used Reload, or PERL there had I chosen on those parts as well.

Used CP Spotless on the chrome wheels with some clear water, and an MF Towel, then those got a coat of Reload as well. (Were originally coated with CQ UK) The Chrome Wheels always water spot, and the CP Spotless, lightly sprayed on, just a little bit to "cut" the hard water here really aids in easy "spotless" clean-up.

Truck looked magnificent after, amazing for a 19 year old vehicle.

Tires were treated to CP PERL, two coats.

Then on went the Covercraft Weathershield HD Cover.

Here's a few pics.621622623

[Merlin]

Very Nice work!

The white paint is bright and the wheels sparkle!
I have recently become a big fan of using Reload on wheels.

BTW - I've had a Covercraft Weathershield HD cover for over 6 years.
HD is excellent material for an outside cover in my hot/rainy climate.

[Mark]

Very Nice work!

The white paint is bright and the wheels sparkle!
I have recently become a big fan of using Reload on wheels.

BTW - I've had a Covercraft Weathershield HD cover for over 6 years.
HD is excellent material for an outside cover in my hot/rainy climate.

It's really hard to properly showcase white paint, you need to have perfect lighting, the just right angles, and probably also be almost a pro with a camera.

I think one grave mistake I made with my Covercraft NOAH Cover, was after about 1-1/2 years, it was starting to lose water repellency. So what did I do? I sprayed down the entire cover with Aerospace 303 Fabric Guard.

This stuff almost smells like Kerosene, and I'm thinking this product, no doubt some sort of petrol based formula severly weakened and broke down the material. I know some months after, you swore the cover had "Dandruff"! The cover was then leaving tons of little white flaky dust all over the truck.

At the end, and over these past couple months, you could literally poke a hole through it as easily as poking a hole through a sheet of a Bounty Paper Towel.

I won't be as foolish with the new cover for sure!

The WeatherShield HP, and HD Materials appear totally different than the NOAH was. The NOAH almost had the consistency and feel of thick fuzzy Paper.

[Merlin]

The WeatherShield HP, and HD Materials appear totally different than the NOAH was. The NOAH almost had the consistency and feel of thick fuzzy Paper.

About once a year (or a little more if needed) I put the Weathershield HD in the washer and lightly dry.
This cleans it, gets rid of the "dusting" and seems to recharge the water repellant abilities of the cover.

[Mark]

About once a year (or a little more if needed) I put the Weathershield HD in the washer and lightly dry.
This cleans it, gets rid of the "dusting" and seems to recharge the water repellant abilities of the cover.

I found out with the Covercraft NOAH, that for my 4dr Tahoe, these are some pretty large, and heavy covers, and so is the Weathershield HD.

Now the Weathershield HP material that I can compare with all the samples Covercraft sent me, is a little lighter in weight, and probably could be termed a more compact cover.

But the HD model like my NOAH will surely prove too large for any Home Washing Machine and Dryer, and as for any commercial larger washing machines, what we have available in this town (either front or top loading) is really no larger in capacity than my home washing machine.

At the laundermats, yes larger dryers can effectively dry the Weathershield HD. For the NOAH, and it's type of material, Covercraft only recommended air drying, and that's what I had to do a couple times, hanging it during warm sunny weather, then letting it finish dry right on the vehicle.

What I did because of the NOAH's huge size, was I found a 55gal plastic drum from a Local Car Wash for $20 that was for commercial Car Soaps used at the car wash. I cut the Lid off with a Saber Saw, bought a 3/4" threaded fitting from a local Truck&Tractor Supply, fitted a 3/4" Ball Cock Drain on the bottom of the drum, and thus made my own large manual washing machine.

I simply would 1/2 to 2/3rd fill it the day before, let sit in the sun covered with a black garbage bag, the water would warm up some fairly good. Then the following morning add detergent, gently hand wash, drain, 1/2 refill with clean water, drain, repeat.

Of course not feasible during winter months, as we can get cold weather here during winter.

[Merlin]

I have a F150 4 door Supercrew and I'm able to wash/dry the HD cover in my washing machine.
It looks like the HP is more compact the the HD. Covercraft Fabric Comparison Chart (http://www.covercraft.com/cartlink/index.php?cust_id=covercraft&prod_id=cchp#cl-tab-comparison).

[Mark]

I have a F150 4 door Supercrew and I'm able to wash/dry the HD cover in my washing machine.
It looks like the HP is more compact the the HD. Covercraft Fabric Comparison Chart (http://www.covercraft.com/cartlink/index.php?cust_id=covercraft&prod_id=cchp#cl-tab-comparison).

Wow, that's amazing that you can, because I'd guess your cover is even a good bit quite larger yet than a cover for my Tahoe!

As you'd probably agree, that the reason for washing is to remove dirts, and dusts which can then more easily cause marring to the paint. That eventually such will find its way "under" the cover no matter what.

I think just even a pure water rinse would go far to help rid such covers of harmful dusts-dirts. And that I'm going to try to keep in mind not to go too overboard with high concentrations of soaps-detergents when it will need cleaning.

Too much detergent I figure might be more detrimental than beneficial, and too, it then becomes even harder to rinse to get all cleaning soaps out of the cover.

I'll probably stick with my method, we'll see. The downside of my method is of course the manual work to slosh the cover around in the Barrel, and the other, is that after rinsing and draining, these covers once wetted of course can become heavier. With no spin dry, you can imagine that it's a bit more of a struggle to then hang to somewhat drip dry before heat drying.