Shipping on open trailer

[rhphotord]

Any one have experience "shrink wrapping" their car for shipping purposes? I have an open trailer and will be traveling in the dead of winter. Planning on an extended winter vacation and want to take my 34 five window. Any and all feedback is appreciated.

[B-O-B]

My trailer has a windscreen from a semi tractor. It is also a good place for the spare as seen in the pic of the 34 5W when I brought it home. The other pic is the next AM & that is why I winter in AZ. Double click on the pics for better viewing.

[Mike B]

How about a waterproof car cover?

[3738]

I restored a 1968 AMX, showed it in the indoor ISCA winter time circuit on the West Coast, won 40 shows undefeated, to and from every show on an open trailer. Had to chain up my truck and trailer to go over the Donner summit in a snow storm that was so bad, the road closed for 8 hours.

This will sound strange, but here is how I did it without any incidents or damage to my show car AMX;

I layed down a sheet of plastic on the deck of the trailer that was large enough to wrap back up over the AMX once on the trailer and drove up onto the plastic and secured the AMX to the trailer with ratchet straps on all 4 corners. I then put a high quality Beverely Hills cotton car cover on my AMX, then wrapped the plastic up over and on top of the front of the AMX over the roof and down over the back bumper. I then put another slightly larger car cover over the plastic and secured the car cover to the AMX with straps running from one side of the the bottom edges of the cover, under the AMX to the other sides of the bottom edge of the car cover.

My AMX never moved around, even though on plastic and I was able to drive inside at the car shows to unload my dry, clean AMX, ready to show with a little detail work.

Some other other key points - I secured a 48" high piece of plywood across the front of the trailer to prevent road salt and sand from being thrown up from my truck's rear tires onto the front of my AMX. I also installed plywood on the inside of my trailer's fenders to again prevent damage from debris thrown up from the trailer tires.

[ken ct]

Originally Posted by Mike B

How about a waterproof car cover?

You will be in dire need of a paint job if you ship that way. ken ct.

[larrys40]

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I agree with Ken, you will definitely need a paint job when you get to where you're going. The abrasion of the plastic, car cover, or whatever with the wind will rub the paint off. I would never take the risk. Clean it up when you get to the other end. It can't be that big a deal and will certainly take less time and money than a paint job!
Larry S.

[rhphotord]

I have over $7K invested in body work and paint so I have to do this right. Had a friend that tried the car cover and tarp idea on his model A. The wind beat the heck out of the tarp and left the paint with rub marks. Thought I could use my heavy car cover under the shrink wrap but installer nixed that idea. Priced enclosed car transport both ways and I can almost buy an 18-0 ft. enclosed trailer for the fees being charged. Any more insight?

[PeteVS]

I've seen new high end Audis being shipped on open transport trailers with what looked to be tailor fitted covers made of a very lightweight fabric.

[jr9162]

Marine shrink wrap, the type used on boats, is not a good idea either. Traps moisture and before you know it, your car starts rusting...

[3738]

I can only tell you from my actual experiences, not what someone "thinks" will happen.

(40) shows, Undefeated, (40) Best of Show, Outstanding Restored, 1st Place trophies, etc.

Featured in (47) pages of National car magazines to include the cover of Cars & Parts, centerfold of Car Craft, etc.

Transported on an open trailer as described above, lacquer paint, no clear coat, NO SCRATCHES.

During the show season, the guys with the big dollar enclosed car haulers did have damage to their cars. One guy had the trunk lid of his car pop open and it rubbed on the overhead rack in his enclosed trailer and ruined the paint on his trunk lid. Another guy blew a tire on his overloaded enclosed trailer and totaled the trailer and his showcar. While in Vegas for the Grand Finale, another guy left his car cover on his 50 Merc while in an enclosed trailer in 105 degree heat and the car cover stuck to his custom paint.

If you look closely at the picture of my tow rig in the snow, you will see boxes in the back of my El Camino wrapped in garbage bags. These contained all the display materials that went in my display at the indoor shows. Since I did not have an enclosed trailer to keep these items from being stolen while over nighting on the way to a show, I had to sleep in the seat of my El Camino to protect these from being stolen.

A low buck, low budget set up, but I won every show, even against entire T-Bird and Corvette Clubs competing against me in Domestic Sports.

The pic is what my Unscratched AMX looked like after (40) shows transported on an open trailer, but "covered" as described previously.

[trulyvintage]

Having hauled hundreds of cars on both my open and enclosed
trailers over the years and across every one of the lower 48 states ...

There is no substitute for an enclosed trailer

Invest in an enclosed trailer .....



Here is a 120K car I dropped off today ......








Jim

[Cool Hand Lurker]

They do this all the time to ship new boats from the factory to the dealer. Go down to the local boat dealer and ask to see some of the used wrapping that they took off a new boat recently. You will see that there is some soft padding in certain sections where they want extra protection. If your installer does not want to put padding under the wrap you can do this yourself. And it will be a lot cheaper.

You can get the shrink wrap from McMaster-Carr. http://www.mcmaster.com/#heat-shrink-film/=pelu3l
It comes in a roll that is 5’ wide but when unfolded it can be various widths. They also sell the rolls of tape used to apply the wrap. A roll of wrap that is 17’ wide by 110’ long, 7 mil thick will be under $200 and will cover about 5 cars. That is 40 bucks a car! Save the extra for the future or sell some to a buddy.

Put your soft car cover on, throw the wrap over the car, tape around the bottom, folding where necessary to tuck it in as tight as you can and then take in the extra that goes over the top in one fold, front to back. Tape along all the folds to get it tight then get out the heat gun to shrink all the loose areas. It is tough and tight. Anything loose, no matter how you cover a car, will wear away the paint. Get it shrunk tight.

[Willit Stop]

Have you ever thought of simply enclosing the trailer?

[dean333]

I moved from San Diego to Atlanta with my Jag XJ6 on a trailer behind the Uhaul. I put on a car cover followed by shrink wrap. No problems, scratches or abrasions.