Rejuvenate a car cover?

I've got a decent enough car cover for one of my cars that sits outside mostly out of the sun and wind. It's the soft breathable water repellent type. But after 2 years and two washings with simple green it's lost most of it's water repellent capacity. It's been great until this last washing but it had to be done. Two winters and it did beautifully in the snow. The car doesn't move in the winter.

So I'm thinking about trying to stretch one more year out of it by throwing a 1-2 mil over sized plastic cover over my car, fitting the cover and spraying it with a 3M water repellent product for fabrics.

Think it will work?

Which 3M product or other brand?

 

Well the plastic wouldn't be on there for very long and it wouldn't be in the sun. Body shops cover car with plastic all the time.

The nature of the weave makes it breath I don't think the new #m or whatever would seal it just make it much more likely to bead up and roll off.

Brand new some water always got through but it evaporates very quickly.

Right now way too much water is getting through.

 

The simple green does get it clean in the largest commercial machines. No drier. The first year of ownership was the best. But you do have to clean them if they're outdoors all the time. After the first cleaning @ the 1 year mark it was still decent but not nearly as good. When I first used this cover I also had just detailed this car and used a good paint sealer on it which lasted a year and was fantastic combination. A cover like this does no damage to your car if you're sensible about how you use it. You cannot just leave it on there in the outdoors during the non winter months and allow dirt to get underneath, it does over time.

But after the second wash the cover is still in good physical condition but the water repellency is gone.

Where I live the dust and dirt from Manhattan is a big issue. This year though it's mostly about water as we're in the monsoon season.

So I've found this. https://www.westmarine.com/buy/star-brite--waterproofing-fabric-treatment-with-ptef-gallon--146599?cm_sp=Onsite-Recs-_-DY-_-Search-Results-Test
I'm going to put two 1 mil plastic tarps on the car and tape them in place then put the cover on inside out, spray and then reverse it and spray. Then I'll take it off and let it dry for a couple of days off of the car.
For about $40.00 total I think it's worth a try.

I'll report back. This week we're due for dry weather so it should work out.

 

I never heard of that one. The one I picked is one of the top three reviewed, the other being 303 Fabric Protector. I couldn't find 3M stuff except in small spray cans. It's probably out there just not easy to find.

Anyway I have everything on hand now so it's all up to the weather as to when I can do this. Not today though ... argh

My thinking is that every time you wash a car cover this needs to be done. So maybe the limit for a car cover if it's outside all the time is two or three years? I guess I'm about to find out!

 

I understand the theoretical benefits Peter. I'm not sure the laudramat would care for me putting that stuff in thoug ... they've already banned anything that large from the dryers which is not an issue for THIS cover.

But no one I could find is using that for this. The cover material comes pre-treated with this protection and I beleive it's simply sprayed on at the point of manufacture. This shouldn't really be that big a deal, famous last words ... LOL as long as it's not windy out. I'll use a brand new garden sprayer and the liquid. The cover will actually hold everything place pretty well.

 

So I put on two 10x20 1 mil covers and taped them on in a few spots. Then I put the cover on inside out and sprayed it.

After 6 hours I reversed it and sprayed it again.

It took about 7/8ths of a gallon and that sprayer isn't the best applicator. A wider more uniform spray pattern would help but it got done.

It poured like hell that night and the cover is much better now.

I took the cover off the next morning, removed the plastic tarps and done!

I'll find out how well this worked over the rest of the year. But I'll need a new cover next spring as this one is staring to pill, I suspect from the tumbling in the washing machine.