You can prolong the quality of your car’s paint and prevent rust and corrosion with simple maintenance. Keeping your car looking new helps a lot when you go to sell it or trade it in. Here are some tips for maintaining your vehicle:
Keep it Clean
You should wash your car at least once a month to remove dirt, salt, dust, bird droppings and bugs that leave permanent stains and cause rust and corrosion over time. Dirt holds moisture that damages paint; clean moisture dries more quickly. Pressure wash your car to remove the dirt from difficult to reach areas behind moldings, under the bumper and inside the wheel wells. Be careful not to hold the pressure wash jet too close or too long in one area.
Pressure wash the under-body during and after the winter season to remove salt build-up which is very corrosive to your vehicle. Pay extra attention to the windshield to remove debris caught by the wiper blades which can scratch the glass when wipers are operating.
Wax the Car
Wax your car regularly to maintain a shiny look and to shield the paint from the hot sun and harsh environment. A good quality car wax will protect the car for three to four months. Don’t be fooled by products that claim to last longer; a car should be waxed 3 to 4 times a year to protect and maintain the quality of the paint.
Undercoating and Rust Proofing
Undercoating and rust proofing is especially necessary if you live in an area where the climate is very humid or where salt is used on the roads in the wintertime. In addition to protecting the paint, it also protects areas like the brake system and steering parts that we often take for granted. Excessive rust can cause deterioration of brake parts causing brake lines to burst. Undercoating and rust-proofing prolongs the life of steering parts, tie-rods, ball joints, control arm bushings, etc…
Repairing Stone Chips, Small Dents and Scratches
Stone chips and scratches can cause corrosion if they are not repaired quickly. Most dealerships will have touch-up paint that you can order to fill in small scratches and stone chips.
You will need ultra-fine, waterproof sandpaper, polishing compound containing a mild abrasive and a good car wax. Being careful to avoid damage to the clear coat, gently sand the marks with wet sandpaper until they are gone. Use the polishing compound to restore the shine then buff the area with car wax.
Minor scratches can be removed the same way. First, use the polishing compound; be sure to choose the one with the finest abrasive. Using a circular motion, buff the area until the scratch disappears. Now, apply a think coat of liquid wax onto the area; allow it to haze, then buff with a soft towel.
Professional Auto-Paint Restoration
Even if you are not completely satisfied with the results you get when you attempt to repair scratches or abrasion on your vehicle, whatever you do is better than neglecting the damage and allowing it to get worse. Eventually, you will want to drop your vehicle off at the auto body shop for professional paint restoration…or will you?
A Better Option
Imagine having the auto body shop come to you and fix your car right in your driveway or in the parking lot of your work place? How convenient would that be? New trends in the auto body collision repair business include a mobile auto body shop that completes these repairs in just a few hours. Leaving your car at an auto body shop for days at a time when you just need minor paint repair is not necessary when you can call a mobile auto body shop to come to you.
Willie Fisher owns and operates Collision on Wheels, a mobile auto body shop that performs minor collision repairs at your home or workplace. Collision on Wheels provides auto body paint repair, dent repair, scratch repair, bumper repair, doors and fenders for consumers in Clackamas, Columbia, Multnomah, Washington and Yamhill Counties, Portland, Beaverton, Gresham, Hillsboro, Canby, Damascus, Gladstone, King City, Lake Oswego, Lake Grove, Milwaukie, Newberg, Oregon City, Parkrose, Sherwood, Tigard, Troutdale, Tualatin, West Linn, Wilsonville, Aloha, Beavercreek, Clackamas, Dunthorpe, Garden Home, Raleigh Hills, West Slope and neighboring cities and communities
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It is a very nice and good post. Keep up the good work.
ReplyDelete