If you’re a driver who takes pride in your vehicle, you’ll know just how annoying it can be to discover scratches or chips in your car’s paintwork.
At best, these blemishes will diminish the aesthetic value of your vehicle. At worst, they can completely spoil it, making your vehicle look tatty and neglected.
Chances are, you’ll want to avoid them then – especially if you’re driving a high-value motor. In this blog post, we’ll explain how you can do just that, offering tips on how to keep your vehicle looking spick and span.
Clean Regularly
Keeping your vehicle clean is one of the best ways to protect your paintwork. When you drive your vehicle around, naturally it picks up dirt and debris. But what you might not know is this can sometimes contain corrosive materials that can harm your paintwork if not removed in a timely fashion.
So be sure to take your car for a wash regularly. Paying a little extra to have it waxed should also be looked at as an investment, too, as this will provide a protective layer to shield your vehicle from debris.
Paint Protection Film
Paint protection film (PPF) is a transparent layer composed of polyurethane or polymer that’s applied to your vehicle's surface. This durable film serves as a protective shield for your car’s paintwork, protecting it from all of the potential hazards it faces while you’re driving on the roads.
PPF is particularly beneficial in vulnerable areas such as the front bumper, hood or your side mirrors as these are more likely to encounter chips or scratches.
By applying a PPF, this accumulative damage is less of a concern and you can drive your vehicle with peace of mind.
Address Blemishes Promptly
Every vehicle owner wants a car that turns heads and makes people go “wow”. But if your vehicle’s full of scratches and chips, they’ll be doing it for all the wrong reasons!
So if you spot any blemishes in your paint work, you should get them seen to as soon as possible. While you may be able to remove some light scratches yourself, any deep marks should be dealt with by a professional.
Experts like us would typically begin by cleaning the affected area to remove any dirt or debris. Depending on the severity of the damage, we might use polishing compounds or abrasives to gently buff out the imperfections, or for more severe scratches or chips may require the application of touch-up paint.
Many vehicle owners start off by thinking these are jobs they can carry out themselves - only to find out it requires an expert touch to achieve good results.
We use specialist techniques like airbrushing to ensure a seamless blend with the surrounding paintwork, while in cases where the damage is extensive, we use precision spray-painting methods to achieve a factory-like finish.
Garage Parking
Are you one of the 53 per cent of garage owners who have never used it to park their vehicle? If so then it’s time to start pouting your garage to use, not just to keep your vehicle safe but to protect your pantwork too.
Parker outside in the open, our cars are subjected to countless hours of rain and sunshine. Here in the UK it’s more rain than sunshine, but we get the odd hot day too!
Over time this can take the shine out of its paintwork and affect the colour. So to avoid this, park your vehicle in a garage whenever possible to ensure it stays its vibrant best.
If you don’t have a garage, you could park it under a tree or some other cover. Although this won’t be as effective as keeping it indoors, it’ll at least offer some protection.
Buy A Cover
If you don’t own a garage and there’s nowhere to provide cover, you could always invest in something that you can throw over your vehicle.
You don;t have to put a cover on and take it off every day as this would be time-consuming. But during the summer when the weather’s scorching or if the weather forecast says there’s going to be a particularly bad storm, you can throw your cover on and protect your paintwork.
So those are our top tips for stopping your vehicle’s paintwork from becoming damaged. For any of the services we’ve mentioned in this blog, speak to us!
Comments