Car covers help keep your car relatively clean and looking great. Covers are essential if you have cars in storage, if you regularly park outdoors, or if you're a stickler for glossy paint and want to keep it that way. High-end car covers aren't cheap (although Costco might save you a few bucks on Coverking car covers), but no cover is foolproof. They all get dirty from repeated sun, wind, rain, and dust exposure, and layers upon layers of contaminants. At that point, dirty covers are no different from sandpaper touching your precious vehicle's paint. Meanwhile, excessive grime can significantly degrade the car cover's breathability and water-repelling capabilities, creating the perfect breeding ground for mold, mildew, and rust.
Unless you like mold, you should clean your car covers every one to three months. Most indoor and outdoor covers are machine washable, but make sure you double-check the tag before throwing it in the washer. On the other hand, covers should ideally be washed in a commercial laundromat using a front-loading machine, since domestic top-loading machines might spin too harshly and tear the material.
Other important things to remember are to use warm or cold water (never hot) and to use mild detergent (avoid harsh laundry soaps with bleach, for instance). Choose a delicate wash cycle, rinse multiple times if you need to, and air dry the cover only. Under no circumstances should you machine-dry any car cover unless the care label says so, because heat can damage or shrink the material.
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We're not the biggest fans of manual labor unless it's about washing or detailing our rides, but some car covers (particularly the thicker, outdoor types) can only be washed by hand. You've probably heard that the easiest way to wash or rinse a car cover is while it's draped over your vehicle, but take this advice with a grain of salt. You might push the dirt deeper into the cover and create abrasive spots that scratch the paint as you remove it. Of course, it would be sacrilege not to clean the entire vehicle afterwards (which can be done with a waterless car wash). If the cover is dirty, it has no business getting wet and getting washed while it's fitted on your car.
If it's not machine-washable, remove it gently from your car, shake off all excess dirt, leaves, and debris, and lay it flat on a clean surface. You can also hang it on a clothesline. Rinse the cover with clean water using a hose and remove dirt using a soft sponge dipped in a bucket of soapy mild detergent. Wipe or scrub off the dirt gently and rinse well with clean water. Repeat the process on the other side of the cover before hanging to dry. Avoid storing a wet cover to prevent mold and mildew, and do not place a wet cover over a wet vehicle unless you want to deal with fungus growth or rust issues later on.
