A Nakabayashi Kogyo Car Cover

The other day, Nakabayashi Kogyo, a car-cover maker, made a custom cover for our Panamera. About a week later, it arrived at our home. When I opened the box, I found the cover neatly packed like this. (This is actually a photo of the cover for our 911. I forgot to take a picture when the Panamera cover arrived.)

Before putting the cover on the car, there’s a little preparation to do. The instructions inside explain the process. First, clear enough space to spread out the cover, then lay it flat with the outside facing up. (It takes considerably more space than I expected.) It’s best to clean the floor first so dust and debris don’t get on the cover.

Fold both sides in toward the center,

then fold it over once or twice more until it forms a long, narrow strip like this.

At this point, it might seem difficult to tell which end goes toward the front of the car. But Nakabayashi Kogyo’s covers have a yellow marker at the front,

so you shouldn’t get mixed up. Finally, roll it up from the rear, and the cover is ready to go.

Place it on the hood, then unroll it from side to side as if spreading a soft, fluffy omelet over a bed of rice (as illustrated below),

*Image source: blog-imgs-11.fc2.com

and the cover should be on. But can one woman really put on and take off a cover for the enormous Panamera, which is about 2 meters wide and over 5 meters long? Nakagawa, president of Nakabayashi Kogyo, told us, “Once you get the hang of it, I think one woman can do it in about three minutes.” We decided to find out for ourselves. Here are the instructions for putting on and removing the cover.

Let’s Put It On!

Before covering the car, carefully dust off any dirt with a car duster. If you put the cover on without doing this, grit and dust on the car can rub against the cover and scratch the paint. Be sure to take this step.

Next, place the rolled-up cover on the hood and unroll it toward the rear of the car.

The Panamera is big, but I managed to roll the cover out by stretching up as far as I could.

Heave-ho, heave-ho.

It ends up looking like this.

Now spread it out to both sides, just as you would spread a fluffy omelet.

Adjust the cover to make sure it reaches the mirrors and hangs properly around the lower edges.

Finally, pull the strap at the right rear tight and tie it off (this is an optional extra),

and the cover fits snugly over the car.

Since it was my first time and I was stopping to take photos, chatting through each step, it took about four or five minutes. But I could see how, with practice, it might take less than two.

Now Let’s Take It Off!

Next up: removing the cover. This looks like it might be trickier—but really, it’s just the same process in reverse! First, loosen all the straps,

then lift the cover away from the lower edges of the car.

Next, fold both sides in toward the center of the car. At first, bring each side roughly to the middle.

Fold it over once or twice more.

Once one side is folded, do the same on the other side…

Heave-ho, heave-ho.

Keep folding until it looks like this.

Then roll it up…

And you’re done! Folding the cover this way keeps dust and dirt off it, so it’ll be clean and ready to use the next time you put it on the car. Store it in the matching bag, made from the same material as the cover, and it packs away neatly.

It took about five minutes to remove the cover this time, too. But once you get the hang of it, one woman should be able to do it in under three minutes. And with the cover on, the Panamera stays gleaming. In fact, it almost feels as though the cover has cleaned the car—the car looked even shinier than before!

Nakabayashi Kogyo car covers are easy for one person to put on and remove, and they help keep your Porsche looking its best. Highly recommended for anyone considering Porsche ownership.