s3 aerial removal.

[jamin]

hello,
I am thinking of getting a car cover to protect my lovely car through the winter months.
but i dont know if it will fit over the roof aeriel.
i know it is quite flexable so will bend a bit when the cover is on.
i dont have the cover yet so i cant try it on.
i was wondering if the aeriel will unscrew from the ouside,just the top part of it or is the only way to remove it from the inside,under the roof.
i did think that if i put somthing over the aeriel to protect it from hitting the car it should bend down and be ok.
any one got a car cover for their s3 that can offer some advise?
any help is very welcome.
i would consider changing it fro a stubby aeriel but i have heard these do not give very good reception.
really hope i dont need to remove it to put the cover on,that would be a pain.
also if i do bend the aeriel to put the cover on does any one think it could damage or snap the aeriel off?
thanks a lot s3 fans.

 

[Reesy]

hello, yes the aerial does unscrew from the outside,
secondly, I wouldn't cover my car with a cover and thirdly:
not sure if this bit is necessary, but perhaps cover the hole with something just incase the cover leaks.

 

[jamin]

hello,
cool,
cheers buddy,
i will try to unscrew it later.
should be able to get somthing to fit over the top,just in case.
thanks for your help.

 

[Reesy]

no problem, it should unscrew pretty easily. Mine did. You're right about the stubby aerials as well, i had one on my car for a bit, but the radio signal was awful.

 

[Inertiauk]

A honda Civic Ariel works quite well.

 

[A3 T]

hello,
cool,
cheers buddy,
i will try to unscrew it later.
should be able to get somthing to fit over the top,just in case.
thanks for your help.

You could always buy a stubby aerial , I'm sure someone made a thread showing one not too long ago

 

[a3tdi2001]

I'd plump for a good coat of wax instead of a cover.

 

[Kave]

I would never use a cover on any car ever again after my old mk2 golf got its beautiful schwartz black paint savaged by one. The problem is unless your car is absolutely spotless, as in freshly washed and possibly even clayed, the cover moving slightly in the wind, will move any tiny particles of dust and dirt around on top of your paint, causing minor scratching. Even the cover itself having tiny bits of crap on the fabric on the inside will do this. Over time it adds up to FAIL.

Stay away from car covers, more harm than good.

 

[jamin]

h'mm.
i really wanted the car cover to protect my car from minor knocks and scratches caused by my clumsy neighbours.
problem is we have to park close to each other as we have a shared carport and their kids always seem to hit my car when they are getting bags and other things out of their car,i have asked them to be carefull near my car but that does not seem to have made much difference.
its really winding me up.
did think of putting up a fence beetween the cars but i think tey would protest against it.
i really dont want to cause any ugly disputes.
really dont know what i'm going to do now.

 

[jamin]

yeh, ithink i saw that a while ago.
i will keep the standard one if i can,really dont mind the original look at all.

 

[jamin]

thats bad news,
i did think it would be ok if the car was clean but did not consider the movement caused by the wind.
damn it! thought that would have been a good idea.i will have to think again.
cheers man.
it was going to be a really good qualit car cover with a soft lining,im going to contact the supplier of the cover to see what he says.i know what he will say but i wonder if there is any guarantee that it wont scratch your car or somthing.
did the cover that you had the problem with have a soft linning?

 

[Smokey_clark]

Get one of those alarms with a proximity sensor, might scare the kids away a bit?

 

[jamin]

yeh thats not a bad idea.
need to talk to a alarm fitter near me to see if i can adjust the sensitivity of it.
as i say my neighbours park pretty close to me so i would not want it going off all the time and causing a nuisance.
i am now thinking of trying to get somthing to protect just 1 side of the car.some kind of fence or barrier that i can put up take down easily.
not sure how im going to do it but i will update when i have any solid ideas.
what a pain in the bum this is turning into.
i guess thats what you go through if you want a nice car.

 

[SiGainey]

If you have a proximity sensin alarm, won't this draw the kids near your car to they and see how close they have to get to set it off?

 

[jamin]

i dont think im going to get the proximity alarm.
it will be way too annoying.

 

[jamin]

I would never use a cover on any car ever again after my old mk2 golf got its beautiful schwartz black paint savaged by one. The problem is unless your car is absolutely spotless, as in freshly washed and possibly even clayed, the cover moving slightly in the wind, will move any tiny particles of dust and dirt around on top of your paint, causing minor scratching. Even the cover itself having tiny bits of crap on the fabric on the inside will do this. Over time it adds up to FAIL.

Stay away from car covers, more harm than good.

what type of cover where you using?
did it have a soft inner linnig?
i assume it was an outdoor all weather cover is the only one suitavle for car protection outdoors.
and was your cover in good condition?
so can you give me a bit more info on how the cover damaged your paint,was it just that there was some dirt inside that caused the damage?
just want to get to the bottom of this.
if car covers are no good i ithink everyone should know about it.
cheers.

 

[Kave]

If I were you I would look at getting one of those silver foil windscreen protectors which you stick on with the suction cups, but stick it on the side which is prone to your neighbours kids knocking with the doors, that should provide enough of a cushion to stop paint removal chips and bumps. Also you can remove it in 2seconds and don't have the pain of wrapping her up every night and unwrapping in the morning like this: BRAND NEW CAR WINDSCREEN SILVER REFLECTIVE SUN SHADE SC | eBay

The cover I was using was not soft lined, it was just a cheap weather proof car cover. However, dirt is dirt, and abrasion is abrasion. Whether you rub sand/dirt against paint with a soft chamois / sponge or with hard plastic, its still going to do the same damage.

 

[jamin]

ahh,thanks mate.
i really think im going to stay clear off car covers.pain to put on/take off and as you say unless you are very carefull with it ie keep the cover and your car spottless then it will probably scratch your car.
honestly thanks for pointing that out.
the winscreen cover is not a bad idea but i think i have a better one.
im going to 3 fence posts with some steel to bolt them to the ground then i will have some tarpauline attatched to make a fence.
i should be able to put it up in a couple minutes because the fence posts will just pull out of the mounting which is fixed to the ground.
so with the posts out i have a normal carport with no restricted space and with them up i should have a fence which no matter what my neighbours hit it with it will not touch my car.
just got to visit b and q and drill 12 holes into concrete.pretty simple and will only cost about £80.
SORTED.