I use a combination of old tennis balls, wiffle balls and those bright colored water float sticks the kids have. I also use some of the foam insulation wraps for water pipes, in different diameters. Its already pre-split to fit over items. Fits over the sharp edges. I also have seperate covers for both AC units. I store my cover during the summer months in a 90 gallon garbage toter from Lowes. As I remove the cover I just shove it down inside, when its time in the fall I just pull it out and up over the 5vr. I store all the protection gizmos in the toter also and the tire & AC covers. Make sure the cover is completely dry before storing.