Damp coupe - prevention

For 2 years I drove my Coupe everyday, averaging about 1000 miles a month. The result of this meant the car was regularly visiting the specialist for improvements, maintenance, and preventative maintenance. I daredn't even look at my credit card bills for this period, but needless to say I decided to park her up and use something more appropriate for commuting. So, I now have a 6 month old Passat estate TDi which I am very happy with and it means the coupe can (hopefully) still be kept as a weekend toy.

The issue is, after 2 months of it being parked up on the drive in the open air, a lot of moisture is collecting inside the windows, the headlights, side lights, also in the boot. The central brake light is particularly bad. I have driven it twice in this time, running it to temperature, using the aircon, using the lights etc, but within a day the moisture returns.

Is this normal? I've had other (older) cars do this a bit on the windscreen - even forming as ice - but this seems a bit worse.

I don't have undercover storage for the car at this stage. Is there anything that can be bought to absorb moisture? Would a car cover really help?

A car cover will probably help so long as it is one that breathes to allow moisture to evaporate.

I have both my coupe and X1/9 under them, although mainly to protect them from tree sap and bird crap. Both stay pretty clear of condensation.

If you have a weatherproof socket outside, a small portable dehumidifier will keep it nicely dry, you do need to empty the condensate tank when full or it will switch off.

Failing that, silica gel crystals are an effective way of absorbing moisture. When they stop working dry them out in the oven and reuse them.

Some cat litter has a silica gel basis, fill up an old sock with the stuff and leave it in the car, I use that in a modern car with a glass roof which is a pita for condensation.

sounds like great advice.

you DEFINITELY need a car cover if you really value the car- totally aside from the breathability (which the good ones have) and water/frost protection, you are also escaping the UV.

Ok- not much at this time of year; but the rubber seals, general paint colour, leather seats, all suffer from sunlight.

Plus, it will just totally remove water getting in through a small leak in a window seal or something like that. And then the car will do nothing except get drier and drier.

its important!

It is also suggested that a sock full of cat litter can be effective to dry the car, but here is a salutatory warning: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/01/09/...itter_for_meth/

Cheers guys.

Just been looking at covers on ebay. There's a dartmoor one for £65, but it won't be tailored.

Another Devon car covers for £82

Then a Richbrook one for £109

But are these going to scratch the car?

The Stormforce one looks good but £150 is a bit painful.

I''m sure this has been 'covered' before 🙂, but can anyone advise?

40 years ago I was a buyer for a pharmaceutical company.

One of our products' active ingredient was amphetamine sulphate( speed).

The tablets were produced for us by a company just outside Glasgow and the most effective way to get them down to us near Guildford was by train, usually one that got into Euston about midnight.

I used to pick it up from the Red Star office in either a spare company car or my own Spitfire.

Inevitably, one morning on the way back from London in the Spitfire I got picked up for a "Just a routine enquiry Sir" "where have you been and what have you got in the car"

There were actually 30000 amphetamine sulphate tablets in the boot.

It took a lot of talking and showing documentation before I was able to convince these 2 cops on the side of the A3, that they hadn't actually got themselves the drugs bust of the year.

As an aside, Begbie's present house is actually built on the site of my former office at that company.

The Coupe does seem to be particularly prone to ventilation issues and misting as per many a thread on here.....
After several years of trying to eliminate mine I finally found it was the Heater matrix leaking slightly that was my cause...... Check that thoroughly as that exacerbates the problem massively.....

As far as covers go - I'm sure I read on here somewhere of a Halfords one that fits the car well and covers very nicely.

Ive had the Halfords one on for nearly 2 years now. Its great for the price in my opinion.

I've got the Stormforce myself, which proclaims to be four layer.

Despite being breathable, it is ridiculous just how waterproof it actually is.

It will 'scratch' the car if you put it on badly and the car is dirty. Depends what you call 'scratching'
If you are into claying and rubbing compounds (like me) then technically something is going on, yes.

If however you wash your car with Tesco's finest and a sponge- then don't worry about it. You'll never notice it.

Minor paintwork swirls are worth the protection.

Personally, I try never to put the cover on, until I have washed the car. And then I put it, folded up, onto the windscreen, and then unfold I down the bonnet and roof from there.

No tugging or sliding. Don't let it touch the ground.

I often even let the car dry, through the cover.

I have a Stormforce for the Coupe and a Halfords breathable one for the X1/9. Both work fine. The Halfords medium one also fits the coupe.

The down side is one of the cats is hell bent on shredding them.

Yes Pete - I have a Specialised one for my Lotus and my old cat loved the material!

I bought two halfords condensation eaters for my daughters car and the wifes. She constantly leaves her windows open a little (very annoying) meaning a damp car. These seem to have solved the problem. Not completely, but 90% anyway.

I'd go for two in one car, one placed in the boot and one under the drivers seat...

I kept my Coupe outside and not driven for 18 months, the damp inside caused corrosion to my ECU. I would advise/echo the suggestion of some sort of dehumidifier inside the car (plus another in the boot as Patch has said) in addition to a car cover.

It would have been cheaper for me to rent a garage for a year as I have had to get the car towed, resolve the ECU issue and get the roof resprayed

gosh-

that sounds very unlucky, X19...

It was my own fault really for not using it. I only had one garage until recently and I would rather have had the Coupe outside than sweep up what would have been left of the X19 if that had been left to the elements

Think I'll be paying a visit to Halfords this weekend then...

Just make sure you give the car a good wash before you cover it. Car covers make for scratches and swirl marks if you put them on dirty paint.

What about one of those rigid tent covers with a steel tube frame.

Check this out....

YouTube vid on inside fogging glass

Doesn't actually stop the damp getting in though Phil.

Yes the old remedies do work though. I learnt some of them from my old grandma when I was a kid.

So between Shaving Foam and a sock of cat litter we should all be pretty sorted for the rest of the winter lol...

I've already been out for cat litter if anyone local wants any as the bag I could get was huge and would fill most the socks in my draw :-)

I would suggest silica bags dotted around in the Coop including boot. Always works.