Good tarp to cover my Prime

EmpireCovers: Car Covers and Covers for Trucks, Boats & More

 

And if you use Ebates, there is a 10% cash back.

 

Make sure you use a car cover and not just a tarp, that will do more harm than good over the long haul.

 

Nothing beats a custom cover http://www.coverking.com although it looks like at the moment they don't have a pattern yet for the Prime, probably because no one has ordered one yet, they have a box where you enter your email and they will notify you when they have a pattern. I purchased a Stormguard cover from them eleven years ago for my 2006 Gen 2 and it fits like a glove, including pockets for the side mirrors. It is lightweight and folds up (better term would be rolls up) into a size that doesn't take up too much trunk space. It cost me $287 back then (going for $352 now according to their website) but it has spent countless days in the sun and is still holding up well, although luckily at my current office there is enough shade that I haven't needed to use it very often lately. Cheaper ones that I purchased in the past barely lasted two years before they started rotting and falling apart.

Like any car cover, it's not designed to be waterproof as it has to be breathable (a tarp will trap moisture which will heat up and ruin your paint). Ironically when it rains you want to remove it otherwise it gets a bit soggy. It's too big for the dryer so the only way to dry it out is to put it back on your car when the weather improves. Many times at our office there would be the sound of thunder from an approaching thunderstorm and people would see me heading out to my car and they would say "Going to put your car cover on?" and I would say "No, I'm going to take it off" which would totally perplex them. That's the other problem with cheaper cloth covers, when they get wet they turn into one giant roll of soggy carpet that you can barely lift.

I would often get comments of "that thing is just going to scratch your paint" well maybe cheaper covers might, but even so the scratches would be microscopic compared to the damage of UV, chemicals and everything else. I am no longer in contact with most of those people or I would send them a photo of my 11 year old car and say "sure looks terrible, huh?)

Besides the paint it also protects the interior. Of course so would tinting but I didn't go down that road, although I might on my next car.

I am not advocating a car cover, it's not for everyone, and I realize some think they are a waste of time. I'm just saying if you are going to get one get a good one, and one that is custom fit.