why cover winches?
 

I know this isn't the most important issue, but....
Virtually every picture I've seen of 4WDs in Europe with winches has them covered.
Is there a law "to cover one's winch"?
Or does it look nicer?
Or do people do it to keep the machinery clean?

Charlie

I would assume it's to keep all the road crap and salt off. Maybe also to stop people fiddling.

Mine hasn't been covered and after 5 years looks like it was dredged up with the Mary Rose. It still works but I should probably get a new cable; I don't think rust has quite the same tensile strength as steel:nono:

I'm not sure if there is any legislation on the continent about it, but I would guess these guys just want to keep there expensive kit looking nice. Though if these cars got driven off road much, the covers wouldn't do much good.

Having said that, if you have synthetic winch line it is worth covering - exposure to light degrades the fibres. A sleeve over the last few metres of line works quite well.

All the best,
Toby

And certainly here in the UK, the amount of salt that gets spread on the roads, the covers help keep the cable in good condition (and the other exposed metal parts)

Funny you should bring this up - any ideas where i can get a winch cover that doesn't have "Superwinch" or "Warn" plastered all over it?

I like to hide my bling ;-)

dj

You might find that the logo / name is screen-printed in which case you should be able to remove it with a solvent. Other options would be to get one made or use something else as a cover. You can get rucksac covers for a few quid; maybe that would work.

True, but you usually pay twice as much for a 'branded' product in the first place - 50 odd pounds for a superwinch cover, which seems excessive ;-)