Edward

The "cover scratches your paint" is wildly overblown and repeated often without actual experience ...yes IMO and IME. Want to play Russian roulette with your paint, go ahead and sit your car, any car, out in the sun day in and day out and relish in the fact there is no dirt "scratching" your finish, as the sun fades and beats unrelentingly on your paint, as well as birds and myriad pollutants have their way. Your choice.

FWIW, my 993 has been dailydriven since 2001 and parked in an uncovered lot every work day and I challenge anyone to find those terrible scratches in my paint. Nor am I particularly OCD about my 993 paint; I just do what makes sense. Keep it clean, use a good spray detailer in between washes to lift grime, and cover it (evo outdoor fabric) at work. This is not rocket surgery: this worked for my 77 Alfa Spider with marginal paint for decades; and this still works for my SC that does sit outside under cover 24hrs a day. The cover is, pure and simple, an additional barrier that, along with a good wax and simple protocols, will absolutely make any paint last longer and look better as it ages as opposed to sans cover. Obviously, anyone can always do the right thing incorrectly, but we're not discussing that, are we?

What boggles my mind is how one can recommend no cover for outdoors and simultaneously advocate to cover in a garage? Is your garage that hazardous an environment?...lol! Never mind, maybe it actually is. But I will speculate that for most, this is more a mental machination than anything. Have fun, all

Edward

Washabi

I only use my cover when the car will be sitting for more than a few days AND only if it's clean/dry

YellowDieselGolf

No cover for me. The paint on my car is incredibly soft and I don't even like to use a chamois/towels to dry it after a wash. Instead, I'm looking to seal the base of my shed in order to minimise dust entry.

Mark in Baltimore

Inside the garage, no cover unless doing something, um, dirty. I like looking at the car.

Outside, I'll sometimes use a cover to keep the sun off or the freaking tulip poplar seeds off of it if it has to sit for some reason. However, the 993 spends very little time outside, so it's a rarity to use a cover.

Gbos1

MarinS4

Certainly everyone is entitled to different options on car covers. Mine comes from the perspective of a body man in my youth. I see paint differently than most. Pulling any type of fabric across paint that was not just washed or waxed was always a no no at our shop. Dry wiping anything will leave the faintest marks. Over time those add up. They may not qualify as “scratches” to most but they can certainly be seen to the trained eye. Most will just see it as a dull clear coat over time. Depending on the situation a car cover maybe the lessor of evils but in my situation (clean garage) it does not make sense.

Ask your Detailer or Body Shop what they think. Those guys are the paint experts.