How To Protect Your Car Exterior
Your vehicle is often your pride and joy, so the care you take for it definitely extends to the car exterior. From protecting the paint to defending your glass, the worries never end. It’s a cruel world out there, so just what can you do to keep your car exterior shiny and new? From best practices to easy and effective fixes, here’s what you can do to keep your car’s aesthetic safe.
Preventative Protection: The Best Offense is a Good Defense
It’s a tried and true classic for a reason: garage kept is best kept. Sheltering your vehicle from the harsh physical assaults of the open air does an incredible amount of legwork in protecting the car exterior. Garages shield your paint from the fading effects of the sun’s rays. It reduces the risks of scrapes and dents from branches falling, kids biking, hail raining, animals adventuring, gravel flying, etc.
Just like any good hair care routine, washing your car actually includes a wash and a rinse step. The difference here? First, you should always rinse your car exterior off. By rinsing it, you get grit and grime sprayed away. That is important, because then, once you start scrubbing while washing, you aren’t rubbing and grinding those impurities into the car exterior.
After the wash, you should also actively dry your car. Instead of letting the sun and dry air do the work for you, use a detailing cloth to wipe off the water. This will prevent those pesky water spots from forming. Washing your car also may conjure up ideas of summer afternoons, but it’s actually the winter that is the most important time to keep up on cleaning. Because of winter road treatments (salting), ice , dirty snow and more, the winter months are rough on the car exterior. You should wash your car most frequently then.
When you are away from home, park away from high traffic areas. That may mean a longer walk into the store, but also increased protection from dents and scratches. Plus, you’ll get in some exercise, too!
Pushing the Reset on your Car Exterior State
Despite all the precautions you can take, there is always the risk of something happening to your vehicle. In these times, though, you can easily fight back against damage.
For example, if you get a scratch or chip in your paint, it is best to get those repaired as quickly as possible. Long story short: scraped paint is like an open wound on your car exterior and can lead to body rusting and more severe problems.
Even with garage keeping and regular washes, too, there are some places on your car exterior that are just going to get dirty. For example, your wheels and rims can only get so clean at your hand. A auto body repair and power washing is the only way to ensure they stay “new car” shiny.
