How bad is it for our cars to sit in the sun all day? Is it bad for the paint as well as the interior in terms of fading? I'm just curious to what measures people take to minimize these tpyes of issues. I'm not so worried about the paint as I am the black interior cooking in the Chicago Sun.


Any insights???

 

Here in Florida I never have my black on black CLS in the sun for more than 4 hours without its car cover on. With out the car cover the leather dries out a few days after conditioner application. With the car cover I can go almost a month without conditioner.

 

Car covers are actually worse on the paint than being without one. It bakes the car more than anything under that cover and doesn't let the hot air out very well. The best thing to do is find shade, park there, and have a good dark metalized film put on the car, and you won't have a problem.

 

Or apply 10 coats of all finish paint protection! Which i did last night

 

as long as u don't decide to sun yerself on the hood, u'll b ok

waxes/leather conditioners these days have UV protection to keep from discoloration, probably due to the recent depletion of the ozone layer...Zaino is good that way...the "Leather in a Bottle" has SPF40 contained in the mixture, so it'll withstand a lot of sun damage...get like 4 or 5 coats of it on, and u'll b good to go for a while...easy as anything to apply...no buffing off, just let it dry!!

 

 

I don't know what car cover you are talking about, but the Kimberly Clark evolutoin 4 fabric on my car cover does none of that! When I take the cover off after sitting in the Florida sun for 8 hours the cars skin temperature is way less than ambient air temperature. Not to mention perfectly cool inside. The cover repells all but the most heaviest rain. No water spots what so ever! The only down side being that if I need to drive the car immediately after it rains and I didn't get the chance to take the cover off it weighs 50 lbs due to water retention. However, in most cases if I'm able to let the car sit with a totally soaked car cover on it's dry about an hour later.

 

South FL sun, all day in my uncoverd non shade parking lot for 8+ hours a day, No problems. I have 15%tint on all windows. I had another silver/black car before the CLS, & also didn't have any problems. Well... Other then it being really hot inside the car at times. but I also have the remote start. I can set it off from my office out the window, 15 minutes before I leave. Cars cool as can be when I get in. Haveing a ton of Zaino on the cars helps too.

 

I have plenty of Meguiars Gold Class on my car, so I'm not too worried about the paint. It's the interior. And I now park my car at a train station parking lot, and there are ZERO places to park in the shade.

I park the car facing north, so the sun come in mostly through the back. I'm wondering if investing in a sun shade would do me any good?

 

Have you ever thought of getting one of those reflective windshield shade things. I use one when i park in direct sun-light no matter if it's hot or cold outside.

 

Yeah, I've thought about it. I think Shawn S got a real nice one.

Shawn???

 

Mine is a CoverCraft “Heat Shield USV100”.
I bought it from Tim over on the TL site.
It was 44 bucks +shipping.

CLICK ME

It fits PERFECTLY in the car and doesn’t even get in the way of my Valentine One by the rear view mirror.

Shawn S

 

I have the same exact shield. It's fantastic. It puts cheapo ones to shame.

 

is there any pic for any question/problem Shawn does NOT have??

 

So then am I better off parking towards the south to help reduce the sun beating the crapola out of my interior?

The only thing I liked about working out of town was that my car was always garaged; i.e. at the airport or at home.

 

Alrighty... Just ordered the focker. Better be worth the 50 bones!

 

Another easy thing you can do is layer the flat spots with extra coats of wax. Everytime I do a wax session, I tend to do two coats, but three or sometimes four on the roof, trunk and hood of the car, for that's where the sun hits the hardest. I tend to wax my car once a month.

 

One other thing you can do, which I do, is take an old bed-spread sheet (the sheet that goes over the mattress with the elastics) and drape it over the entire interior, hooking the elastic areas over the headrests. This, along with a sun screen visor, leather conditioner, plenty of wax and the sheet, keeps the car very cool.

 

Wax on the car certainly isn't an issue. I tend to wax at least twice a month.

Drape a sheet, eh??? I'm sure this sun shield will help greatly.

I should just go buy a crappy used car to get me to and from the train station and leave my CL at home!

 

I thought I was ANAL.......But bed sheets over the seats to protect Leather ???

I BOW DOWN BEFORE YOU !!!!

Shawn S

 

Heh...the car is prestine.
It looks fine, too...just a plain white spread sheet. My car sits in the sun for about eight hours a day, so I have no choice.

 

Don't you have tint ??????

If not $pring for some!

That will do more to keep UV rays out & temps down
if your car has to be in the sun often.

 

hey scrib- YOU could also park so the back faces the sun (if you didn't by the winshield shade thing. The back window doesn't seem to let too much sun into the car and there is carpet or whatever in the back window area. PLUS, the back of the seats in the rear are made out of something else than leather. So it shouldn't crack as bad when the sun hits it directly, compared to the sun directly on your front seats or dash.