Hi All,
I just joined this forum and have really enjoyed reading several of the posts. I recently purchased a 2015 Jaguar F Type Coupe S (Dark Sapphire) and I love it! I have a dillema though in that I have no garage. The car is kept at my house in a relatively narrow driveway and exposed to the elements a majority of the day. I'm not planning on moving anytime soon ie garage is not an option. There are a few options which I've found but I'd really like to see what others in the same situation have done with their car.

1) Full front FPP and ceramic coating ~$3000
2) Retractable carport (this one looks interesting --> www.ikuby.com) ~$800
3) Montly car storage unit ~$150-$200/month

I'm leaning towards option 1+2 although not sure how the wife will feel about a retractable carport in our driveway. We don't have enough space to do anything else plus there are likely permit implications. Any and all thoughts welcome. Thanks you!

George

 

Similar situation although a garage may be an option for me.

1) In my understanding the PPF wont do much to protect you from the sun. It's designed to let UV through so in the case of non-complete application your panels will discolour evenly. The ceramic coat should take care of the UV/environmental badness though.

Although that's not say that the PPF isn't the best solution for stopping/mitigating rock chips Which I'm guessing you want anyway. Jealous, as evidently PPF+ceramic is much cheaper over the pond.

2) Looks solid. I've a similar solution for my motorbike, although bear in mind that the cover becomes grubby and an eye sore pretty quick. Had neighbours complain about mine. It does look pretty gross now.

Not sure how permits and the like work where you are, but would building a cheap and cheerful wooden car port be an option? Four posts and a corrugated plastic roof over the top. I've been considering this, but with the price of timber in the UK, i'm better off just putting up a breeze block garage.

 

Thanks! Yeah I guess it will get dirty quickly but will research further to see if I can just power wash it on a recurring basis to keep clean. Wooden car port will not be possible as I think it will actually be more of an eye sore and the footprint on my driveway is not wide so four post approach will be a challenge.

 

Haha so again, similar situation. Never really put the care deserving into my last car, but since getting the f-type i've turned over a bit of a new leaf.

Gotten a power washer and a foam lance. Tried two different brands of snow foam so far, pro-valet and pro-clean. While they've both proven great for getting off the more coarse particulate matter, after finishing the snow foam cycle i've always found that a fine coating of dust like matter has remained. To the point that post snow foam, if I drag a finger-tip across a panel you can see clearly that there's still been a layer of fine dust left behind.

A 'two-bucket method' hand wash with a MF noodle mitt has gotten this remaining dust off perfectly. These experiences basically ended my fantasies of being able to do no-touch maintenance washes.

When I eventually get around to a partial PPF and ceramic coating I'm curious to see if this changes at all.

Another thing I've found is that post snow-foam and hand wash, there's still sticky tar and insect residues left behind. There's a place near-by which sells Auto-finesse Obliterate Tar removal, planning on getting that this weekend and seeing if that gets everthing good enough to finally apply a layer of wax.

Being in the same boat, and trying to keep her in good shape, despite her current outdoor lifestyle, if you come across any major breakthroughs give me a heads up.

Are you concerned at all about her underside?

 

Mine lives outside. I've applied CQuartz and otherwise just wash and drive it. I just posted some pictures (see the "picture post thread") because I had to polish it up (see the "Turkey Attack!" thread) so you can see how it's holding up.

We get fairly severe sun in the summer but winters give us only trace snow every few years and some rare sleet (we call it hail, but the "stones" are usually 2-3mm at most).

 

The ceramic coating, or even a polymer sealant (I've been happy with Menzerna Powerlock, but have moved to CQuartz) will help. After application the surface even feels slick.

 

Eventually, the coating will last only a couple years before yellowing. I would go with a really good carport. Especially with wind rating. I know in Florida between the wind and sun, without protection any car will melt.

 

I'm in Atlanta as well and I had posted here when I first arrived in March (I'm sure to y'all if feels like I've been here so much longer already) about a car cover. I never did get a cover because expensive, potential for scratches, pain to get on and off, what to do when it's wet, etc. For now just parked in driveway and wash every week. Our plan is to pour another slab at the end of the existing driveway and put up something like a pergola with a solid roof as cover since that won't need permitting like a carport would (it's decorative and wouldn't trigger the need for permits). If you're actually in the city limits be warned - building a garage is time consuming and expensive and painful. Took us 2 years to get ours built between all the permit issues, variances, arborist approvals, etc. It was never supposed to be a place for me to park since it is for my husband's business (storage, office and work van), but now houses all of the vintage motorcycles he's been collecting. If you are in the city proper, I'd advise finding something you can do without having to permit. Otherwise, depending on where you are located, most other cities and the counties are more lenient and unless you have some of "those" neighbors, you can pretty much do whatever you like.

 

Thanks all for the great responses and I apologize in advance as I realize I have a duplicate thread on this topic and unsure about how to delete it. I like the idea of the ceramic coating and then regular wash (I've used Chemical Guys waterless wash with microfiber towels and works great btw) however will likely do PPF first as I don't want to do just ceramic coat and then regret not having done the PPF. I would love to have a carport but to the points raised above, I'm sure there are permit implications, neighbor complaints, unsightly etc. A previous poster recommended using a friend's garage which would solve a lot of problems but also require a lot of coordination and a very patient friend. My biggest concern is when those major storms hit and we get a bunch of falling debris, hail etc.

Net is I have a lot more questions than answers but will do the PPF + ceramic coating, wash regularly and go from there. Thanks again!