Vehicle cover for 03 4Runner

[Goose]

Has anyone ever seen a cover for an '03 4Runner? I have to keep my baby outside because of my college living situation. I don't mind exposing the truck to the elements as long as I do it and not some hail storm while I'm gone.

Does anyone know of a custom cover company? Are there any covers on the market already? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Iman74]

Seriously dude, this is an SUV where people take on trails and bad weither. It's going to get dinged up: but all the marks like my wife says are signs of love. You drive it because you love it. So sitting in a hail storm I think will have little effect unless the hail is as size of baseballs, and if that is the case I doubt the cover will have much protection from dents.

 

[jharris2]

Cover won't protect in a hailstorm.

By the way, about 2 months after I got mine we were in Dallas at a friend's house. That night, we had 3 hailstorms, 30 minutes apart.

First storm had golf ball-sized hail, 80-mph winds. Second storm had bigger hail. In the midst of the second storm, the friend had me park in his garage, while he left his brand-new F250 outside. (By the way, I got hit in the head with that hail, and it hurt.)

There were cars that had windshields broken out by these storms -- lots of damage. The 4Runner, if you look carefully in the right light, has some small dimples on the roof -- very hard to see and impossible to take out. No glass damage.

If we had driven the Camry on that trip instead, it would have been beaten to a bloody pulp.

The 4Runner proved its toughness that night.

 

[Goose]

Seriously dude, this is an SUV where people take on trails and bad weither. It's going to get dinged up: but all the marks like my wife says are signs of love. You drive it because you love it. So sitting in a hail storm I think will have little effect unless the hail is as size of baseballs, and if that is the case I doubt the cover will have much protection from dents.

Yeah I'd say I understand that line of reasoning...but at the same time a beautiful car deserves to be kept that way. I question the sanity of anyone willing to take that gelcoat off-roading so quickly.

As for hail, I have the fortune of living in MD for most of the year where baseball-sized hail is less of a problem. I'm more worried about small potmarks from standard issue hail. Besides, I doubt anyone would buy a cover if it didn't serve some purpose. I'm willing to spend a bit of money to help protect the investment when I'm not around. Take it out and go nuts...but I don't want some jerk's belt scracting the paint or some other crazy coincidence when I'm not there to do it myself, ya know? It's my 35-40 grand so I'll do what I want to...not some other shmoe (and don't tell me it can't happen...try living in Annapolis, MD and NOT have some tourist do something stupid!! )