Most of the new cars sold today, come with multiple coats of paint that are designed to dazzle their owners for years to come. Sadly, with the harsh environmental conditions being what they are and the fact that our driving conditions too leave much to improve, battle scars and paint damage is inevitable.
To help reduce the damage, and possibly keep things from deteriorating further, here’s a few tips to protect car paint that might be handy:
-
The first thing to remember is to wash the vehicle regularly. The key is to be gentle however & to use soft water only. Harsh chemical additives & hard water tend to have an abrasive effect on the paint, taking off the topmost protective layer, and exacerbating the damage to the underlying layers of paint.
-
A car must be waxed as per the prescribed intervals and by a trained hand only. Most owners make the mistake of striking up the cheapest deal, not caring about the damage it is causing to both, new cars, as well as those that are a few years old.
-
There are plenty of services that offer paint-protection treatment. These range from specially designed film that is stuck on top of the painted areas to coatings that make them impervious to the onslaught from the environment.
- One of the golden tips to protect car paint is that any scratches, no matter how superficial and minor they may appear to be, must be attended to immediately. Delays usually lead to the scratches deepening further, thereby causing damage to underlying layers of paint, making the restoration process a time consuming and costly affair.
While factory paint finishes are the best on account of multiple factors ranging from a controlled environment to the spraying, curing & sheet metal protection treatments, a respray becomes inevitable. This is due to scratches worsening over time, or too many nicks and dents being left unattended, and so on. It isn’t uncommon to see even the relatively new cars showing signs of abuse neglect within three years of their purchase. In such instances, a consultation with a trained and experienced car detailer might be your best resort. While the unscrupulous ones will try and fleece you out of your money by hard-selling their products, it is the genuine ones who’ll advice you in the most honest manner. Based on their assessment, a call can then be taken whether to try and restore the original factory paint, or to redo the top coat, or indeed, the entire car has to be repainted. At the end of the day, having a car is a matter of pride, so choose well.
