i'm distraught. Last week, we moved to a new office building (my whole office of people, large, very large, not sure how many, a few hundred i guess). At my old office, i parked in a parking structure. Now, i have to park on the roof of a parking structure. Is it true that the sun will damage my car's paint job? Will it damage the leather upholstery? I looked up car covers on the prius chat shop link. They have one for $189. Do i have to spend that much to get a car cover? Are there other brands that would be any less? To add insult to injury, only a few people have to park on the roof. Most people in the office can park inside the structure. In their contract with this building, they were given a certain number of spaces (unreserved) and there weren't enough for everyone. So (i'm told) they flipped a coin and decided that the 8 people whose last names began with W had to park on the roof. I feel devastated really. I love how my car looks and i want to keep it looking nice, and this really hurts. Is this a real concern, can the sun change the way my paint looks? I've always heard this. How long does it take for damage to show? If i get a cover, will that completely protect the car, or will there still be some damage to paint and leather upholstery from heat? I'm in Los Angeles and the sun is really punishing in the summers.
Over time it'll cause fading of the paint, but not severe. Modern paints hold up well. regarding the interior, if you haven't already, have the windows tinted at least as dark as the law allows and use a sun shade to reduce the light entering through the windsheild. The priuschat shop also sells shades that fit the back and side windows if you want to be super compulsive about it. I've never felt the need or would have the patience to install and uninstall all those things every day.
Five years of parking uncovered in the Dallas Sun every workday (and with only one waxing; I'm still waiting for the first one to wear off has had no noticeable effect on the finish on mine. Of course it is silver, which may be the least affected color after white, and I do use a windshield Sunshade. And it doesn't have leather.
The single guy who lives next door has 3 cars and a 2 car garage. His Lexus RX300 has been parked outside since day 1 and still looks new. Just keep it clean and waxed, tint the windows and use a sunshade.
Change your name by deed poll. Problem solved, glad I could help. Best to change your name so it is the same as the CEOs, I would bet his name wouldn't come up in a coin toss for rooftop parking. Yep in time the sun and rain will wreck any paint. It might be many years though.
How about the hybrid battery damage from the heat? It gets terribly hot inside after a few hours in the sun, and, since the vents for the hybrid battery are inside the car, I guess the battery must get quite hot as well. What do you think?
Get the wind deflectors (available through the Prius chat store), so that you can leave the windows rolled down a couple of inches (safely), which will help with the heat buildup problem. Use a windscreen shade (also available through the PC store) to eliminate the BIGGEST source of heat gain. I use Zaino finish on my Prius. I think it holds up to the weather quite well.
thanks for all those suggestions, i will look into the expense and appreciate knowing some ideas that can help preserve the condition of my car in any case, roof parking or not. So, to clarify, no one so far has said that a car cover would be helpful or necessary. Is that right, a car cover wouldn't really protect from sun and heat? It would be a waste of money for me to get one? Another aspect of this is that, in addition to wanting to find out ways of protecting my car, i also am looking for reasons why this is damaging to me, and i was encouraged by the fact that i have always heard that the sun dulls a paint job and is not good for leather, and i was hoping to get more information on this, to help me make my case that it's not fair to subject certain people to worse conditions than what most people have, based on something so arbitrary as the last name. Why not choose skin color? Why the last name? That's not how these things are usually done. There are a lot more fair ways of doing it, like rotating it once a month, or a lottery, or seniority which in most cases is granted privileges. So, i'm trying (in my own mind) to make a case that it's not an insignificant difference, between parking in the structure and parking on the roof. The idea that i can make a case for this makes me feel better. This is my "new" car, even though i bought it used at 2 years old, it looks new and shiny, and the leather is in perfect shape. At my age, 60, and with my finances, i have thought of it pretty much as the last car i will ever get, and i wanted to take good care of it. There is another part of this for me, actually many parts, but a main one, i always eat in my car. My job is really demanding and stressful and people-intensive, child protective services, and at lunch, i eat in my car, in peace, listening to the radio, it's important to me, i love it, i always look forward to it. Now, my car will be too hot, and i have nowhere to eat by myself, i'm in the middle of the city on the main street, i think it's actually called "Mid City." So this is pretty difficult for me. parking inside the structure has been granted to people who don't even drive to work, they take the bus, but because of their last name, they are in the structure, if they should bring their car. I'm required to have my car, for my job, in the field. The structure is not even full, there are lots of available spaces. But my employer didn't contract for enough spaces for everyone. i was somewhat encouraged thinking i could make the case that to impose worse conditions on certain people wasn't justified. From your feedback, it sounds like it's not really a big deal to park in the sun, at least that was my overall impression, that it really won't hurt my car, at least if i spend some money on things that will protect it. I'm glad it's not going to hurt my car, that is good news. I found lots of places on the web where people say sun is very damaging to car paint and leather, but maybe those are older cars that don't have the new better paint jobs. I have to say, i've never seen a Prius that had faded looking paint.
I would say that a car cover will help to keep sun off the finish and keep the interior cooler and in better condition. However, this requires you to keep the car's exterior quite clean at all times because any dirt or dust caught between the cover and the paint will scratch the paint. With the Prius's rooftop antenna, you'll have to figure out how to easily remove the whip when putting the cover on, or else install a sharkfin antenna (which offers lower performance) in its place. If it happens to be windy at the top of the parking structure, then the car cover may blow away if it is not tightly fitting. Also, wind doesn't make it easy for you to remove and put on the cover. Although it is possible to spend less for a car cover, typically this will be a "universal" one that doesn't have side mirror pockets and fits loosely, hence has greater chance of blowing away when it is windy. I used car covers in the past when I was younger and more "anal" about the appearance of my vehicles. Now I find this is too much trouble for me to bother with this ritual.
It does get rather warm, but not close to what cabin temps likely are after an all-day baking by the sun. The battery is a large thermal mass and radiant heating and cooling is rather slow. I've seen battery temp on mine in those conditions only as high as ~100F. That shouldn't cause any physical damage. Of course heat is an enemy of battery life, but the car takes steps during operation to keep the battery from getting too hot, including, when certain battery temperatures are reached, running the battery fan and using the engine preferentially for propulsion when it would normally use the electric motors.
This. Your car's paint is like your clothes. If you don't care for it, it will fade and degrade. I personally try to follow this regime: Wash at least once a month Wax once (two coats) every quarter Remove the wax in the spring (wash with dish soap, it will strip the wax. car wash soaps will not) Clay bar in the spring (removes contaminants) Polish in the spring followed by two coats of wax I also treat my windscreen with RainX in the spring. (Avoid FogX on the inside, used it once and it sucked) Your paint will look fine if you don't treat it like I treat mine.... for a while. Once you start seeing faded areas, usually starting on the roof line just above the windsheild - it's too late. Adding: DO NOT let your sponge fall on the ground. DO NOT use towels if they have fallen to the ground. DO NOT go through automated carwashes with those spinning brushes. All of those things pick up dust and dirt particles... which then get ground against your paint! Make sure your sponge is clean and wrung out before you wash. I personally recommend the Mr Clean Autodry system so that you do not need to use towels or chamois. When waxing or polishing, use clean dry microfiber towels. Target sells packages of 3 towels for cheap, and they work great!
Here's my suggestions for keeping the interior as cool as possible: (put to test in Central Texas summer heat) 1. Tint your windows. Use a nice quality film installed by a professional. 2. Get a front windscreen shade and use it religiously. 3. Keep a window slightly open if possible (vent visors should help keep rain out and allow you to leave a window cracked in all conditions). To cool down when you get in and get going: 1. Roll your windows down! Let all that hot air out. Even if it's 100º outside, your car can get 20-40º hotter sitting in the sun all day! 2. Run the AC on fresh air mode with the windows down. 3. Once the AC is cool (not cold) and the hot cabin air is flushed out, roll up the windows. Leave the AC on fresh air. 4. Once the AC is blowing cold air, switch to recirculate. Recirculate takes air in the cabin and cools it. If you start on recirculate with that HOT HOT air, your AC has to work harder. Conversely when the interior temperature gets lower than the outside temperature, leaving the AC on fresh will work harder to cool that hot air.
