Outdoor cover for my new Bolt

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Hi all. It may seem like a minor issue raised by an uptight new owner, but I am wondering if anybody can help me find an outdoor custom-fit cover for my new Bolt. I don't have a garage, and my car park (and EVSE) is directly beneath a fruit-bearing tree that is very attractive to birds. Certain times of the year it gets pretty messy. Didn't bother me with my 20-year-old Volvo (I'd just wash it off) but I am sure it will drive me crazy with a new car. I have had no luck finding a company that is making covers for Bolts. Anybody know of one? Spring will be here soon!
 
BoltEVan said:
Hi all. It may seem like a minor issue raised by an uptight new owner, but I am wondering if anybody can help me find an outdoor custom-fit cover for my new Bolt. I don't have a garage, and my car park (and EVSE) is directly beneath a fruit-bearing tree that is very attractive to birds. Certain times of the year it gets pretty messy. Didn't bother me with my 20-year-old Volvo (I'd just wash it off) but I am sure it will drive me crazy with a new car. I have had no luck finding a company that is making covers for Bolts. Anybody know of one? Spring will be here soon!

WeatherTech gave me a 3- 5 month wait time until they come out w/their laser fit mats for the Bolt.

So, you may have to wait even longer before custom fit car covers are available for the Bolt, since the market for covers is generally smaller and the cost much higher than it is for mats.

Your only recourse in the meantime would be to buy a cheap generic cover and use tape (or whatever) to customize it to fit the Bolt, until something better becomes available.
 
edwald2 said:
Try to check out covercraft. They offer custom covers.

No cover for a Bolt yet shown on the CoverCraft site. Not sure it would be worth ordering a "custom" cover from them when a commercially available one should be forthcoming shortly. See: https://www.covercraft.com/us/en/

That said, I bought a WeatherShield CoverCraft cover for my MR2 over 10 years ago. The MR2 has been stored outdoors off and on during this time period. It's currently outdoors in my side yard and will be for the future indefinitely.

The cover has been subjected to some very extreme conditions -- hot, dry, wet & cold -- and has held up well over all these years.

Bought a cheap cover for indoor use on my BMW to prevent the collection of dust on it but it pales in comparison in the quality of construction with the WeatherShield.

The only thing I had to add to the MR2 cover were grommets front and back so that I could "tie" down the cover w/bungee cords to avoid it blowing off during high winds BUT this would be needed for any cover where high winds are an issue.
 
I'm also looking for a Bolt cover to bridge over until I can get garage space sorted out. I talked to Covercraft about when they might be offering a Bolt cover and got a less encouraging answer of, "...when we see enough demand." (so start calling them!) The person I talked to wasn''t even sure if any of their generic covers would fit. After that I started looking at covers for other cars that might give an acceptable fit and found this interesting comparison:

http://evobsession.com/chevy-bolt-dimension-comparison-popular-models/

Most of the comparisons are of smaller or wrong shape cars and don't think any would yield a fit. So I started looking for other cars that have similar or slightly larger overall dimensions and a similar silhouette. So far I found that the discontinued Mazda 5 (last year 2015) is almost identical in height and width, with a similar silhouette but is 17" longer (I think mostly in the back). Better too big than too small. I started carrying a cloth measuring tape in my car to take some key measurements from the next Mazda 5 I see in a parking lot. If the measurements look good, the extra length might be handled with some creative grommeting and elastic cinch straps, or if not too severe, maybe an upholstrey shop could cut and re-seam to tucks done from a fit on the Bolt. I'm also still looking for generic covers that might fit. I'll post updates of any progress.
 
I tried the car cover thing in years past and found it more trouble than helpful.

Plus they are highly likely to damage your paint, not protect it.

Put a cover on even a slightly dusty car and now you have sand paper with every gust of wind, plus during the install and removal.

Car covers, in my opinion, should only be used JUST after a wash, and only for when the car will be parked for long periods (like weeks at a time).

Otherwise, save your money from the car cover and invest in Car Washes to get the bird poop off. Automated car washes can be had for $6 each (when you pre-pay for a multiple punch card) and usually take the same amount of time as you would spend dicking around with the car cover.
 
gpsman said:
I tried the car cover thing in years past and found it more trouble than helpful.

I've used a car cover for years without any problems whatsoever.

I store my MR2 outdoors w/a cover always on and I cover my BMW in the garage because it's black and, if I don't, dust visibly collects on it. So, these covers are more helpful to me than troublesome.
 
Cringe. :?

Dirt + car cover = paint damage.
Risky cost to benefit ratio.
Risk is relative to how often you take it on and off.
If you put it on your "spare" car that is in long term storage, that is not too risky. I'd NEVER do it daily.

Unless saving the paint is NOT you primary objective.
Maybe you want to keep heat and sun off the interior? Keep the battery cooler?
 
Just got off the phone with Covercraft. The salesperson I talked to a coupe weeks ago followed up with their design department and got a part number for a custom fit cover for a "2017 Chevy Bolt EV 5-door hatchback w/antenna pocket". It brand new and hasn't been added to their website yet but you can phone in and order one with the part number C18246_ _, where the last two characters denote your fabric choice and color. For example, the cover I just ordered is the Weathershield HP in gray, so that part number is C1846PG. I have a cover for my other car in the Evolution fabric but picked the Weathershield for the Bolt because it folds up smaller and won't take up as much room in the back. They make them to order, so it takes a couple weeks for delivery.

Regarding the possibility of the cover damaging your car's finish, I agree that you shouldn't cover a really dirty car but disagree strongly that covers aren't good for daily use. I've been covering my daily driver, an outdoor parked Mazda CX-5 for four years and haven't seen any paint damage from the cover. Furthermore, I believe that it's helped a lot to prevent etching of the finish from fallout from our giant parkway tree and bird droppings. It sounds like your situation with birds and fruit trees could be a bad one - some birds pooped on a previous car of mine after they ate grapes and it etched all the way through to bare metal. Here's what I do when using the cover... though some may think it's too much hassle, I've found it to be a minimal time investment overall. I live in So Cal so don't need to deal with rain too much, so your case may be different.

- Start with a clean, detailed car. Wash, clay bar, wax. I also sometimes use a finishing polish before the wax, which adds a bit more protection. I use Meguiar's products but others pretty much have the same things.
- Get a car duster and use it to remove any dry dust/dirt on the car before putting on the cover. This happens a lot in So Cal - it works really well for me with no damage to the paint so far. Just dusted the Bolt yesterday after the gardeners blew dust and yard clippings everywhere.
- Get the cover on your car before the dew falls in the evenings. The wetness will bind the dirt to your car increasing the odds that covering could damage your paint. If the car's clean and it's a light dew, like fog on a mirror, I go ahead and cover it anyway since the little bit of moisture will evaporate out through the cover.
- Get a product like Meguiar's Fast Finish and use it to wet, soften and remove any bird poop, squished bugs or anything else that gets on the car between washings. Wipe gently and don't scrub. Having a clean waxed car helps a lot with this.
- Wash your cover per the mfg.'s instructions whenever it starts to leave residue on your windshield. This is a sign that it's gotten dirty. Washing at proper intervals will also help it last longer.
- Don't sweat it if you can't cover your car every day. I cover mine as much as I can but it still sits out uncovered for a good part of the day and, if it gets too dirty, is sometimes uncovered for a few days before I get around to washing it.

Doing these things usually lets me go 2-3 weeks between washings (the water still beads up, so I know it's not too long) and I think I spend less total time than the time I'd spend going to the carwash once a week. Good luck with the cover.
 
Carcovers.com advertises a cover for Bolts. I have it. I'd be happy to post a picture if someone can direct me to instructions on how to do that. I looked at the relevant "images" question on the FAQs and I didn't find it helpful. I need "Picture Posting for Dummies."
 
Airbesar said:
Carcovers.com advertises a cover for Bolts. I have it. I'd be happy to post a picture if someone can direct me to instructions on how to do that. I looked at the relevant "images" question on the FAQs and I didn't find it helpful. I need "Picture Posting for Dummies."

The carcovers.com cover certainly has an attractive price but looks like it could be a little baggy. I've had good experience with the Covercraft covers in the past and they are a custom tailored fit but more expensive depending on the fabric. Post some pictures and let us know how it works out in the long term. I'll post some pics after we get our cover.

Regarding posting pictures. When you're replying there's a tab below the input box titled "Attachments". Click on that and you can either then click on the "Add files" button and navigate to you picture or just drag the picture into the message input box. If you do the former, you'll need to put your cursor where you want the picture to appear, then click on the "Place Inline" button for the attached file. The file size needs to be really small - 86 kB worked for this one but larger file sizes didn't, so I think there must be a 100kB limit. Here's our shiny new Arctic Blue LT with options!
IMG_2584x.jpg
 
View attachment bolt cover (280x210).jpg

Thanks for the picture posting advice. It looks small to me, but I think I have it in the message.

I agree, the look is baggy for my taste. The manufacturer suggests that pockets for the exterior mirrors wear out quickly so it doesn't have them but that adds to the baggy look. I also wish the cover hung down a little lower so that it completely covered the sides of the car.

The length gives a nice tight fit over the car so I think it would hold on in some wind.

There are four versions of the cover available. This one is the Deluxe Shield. Note, the manufacturer is carcovers.com, not carcover.com. The latter doesn't yet have a Bolt cover listed.

I also found it hard to put on. With a tall short car, when you put one end of the cover on, the tendency is for the rest of the cover to slide off the car towards you. The current answer is to slip the back end of the cover over the radio antenna fin to hold it in place, then put the front end of the cover over the front bumper, and then go back and pull the back end off the fin and over the rear bumper.

Thanks again for the picture posting tips.
 
It looks like folding in the mirrors would help with the bagginess and let the cover hang lower on the sides. An even bigger pain, I know...
 
Folding in the mirrors - great idea.

We're in an ag area so the cover is to keep some of the dust off. The carport is under the house, we're on pilings because we're next to the Sacramento River, and removed from the front door so the cover appearance isn't a big deal.
 
I bought a cheaper cover w/o mirror pockets for indoor use with my BMW that looks like that. Folding the mirrors helps it to look nicer but mirror pockets are best.

I've got mirror pockets on the much more expensive Covercraft WeatherShield cover for outdoor use on my MR2 which I have been using for over 10 years and I've NEVER had a wear issue relating to the pockets or any other aspect of the cover.

The only thing I had to do on the MR2 cover was add grommets front and rear and fab up a long bungee cord to keep the cover from blowing off in strong winds, but this is a weakness of all car covers.
 
Airbesar said:
Thanks again for the picture posting tips.

No problem, you're welcome.

The cover looks pretty good, not as baggy as I thought it might be. I second sgt1372's experience with mirror pockets - never a problem for me over the years on five covers on three different cars. I think they make it easier to get the cover on and off without it sliding off the car as you mention and also help keep them on in a wind or keep them from blowing away completely...but more expensive.
 
I finally am getting around to posting pictures of our CoverCraft custom fitted (WeatherShield HP fabric) cover for the Bolt. We're really happy with it - fits well and rolls up small enough to go under the cargo floor. It has a cool charging hatch you can see just in front and below the driver side mirror and in the third picture. I had to do some charging in the rain and the big flap acted as sort of a rain fly over the port & plug. The fabric repels water amazingly well. One correction to my earlier post - I use Meguiar's Quick Detailer for the spot cleanups between washings, not Fast Finish.

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One thing I would be curious about is if a car cover like these would negatively affect the cooling system for the battery/charger. I have noticed when it comes on the fan seems to exhaust out around the front left wheel. If the car cover is over that would it blow it up like a ballon? Make it move around? Or just stay in place and keep the heat in reducing the efficiency/capabilities of the cooling system?
 
JBBolt said:
I finally am getting around to posting pictures of our CoverCraft custom fitted (WeatherShield HP fabric) cover for the Bolt. We're really happy with it - fits well and rolls up small enough to go under the cargo floor.

Thanks for the pics. The charging port flap is cool. What did the cover cost?
 
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