By now, you hopefully know how damaging the sun can be to your skin. But did you know that it can damage other materials too? The sun’s UV rays can cause fabrics, furniture, leather, and many other objects to fade and become damaged over time. Your car’s paint job is no exception. As the summer sun starts shining, you must take steps to protect your car from serious sun damage. Keep reading to get tips on how to do this.
Know What Makes It Worse
Certain things can cause the sun to fade and damage your car’s paint job even faster than normal. It’s essential to be aware of these things so you can avoid them if possible and give your car the extra attention it needs if it’s prone to faster fading. The good news is that most of these “risk factors” are avoidable. They include the following:
- Dirt and grime – Dirt is full of contaminants that can eat away at the clear coat of your paint job. Over time, this weakens the protection of your paint job and allows the UV light to penetrate and fade your paint color much more quickly. Simply washing your car more often can make a big difference.
- Bird poop and bug guts – It’s more than dirt that can fade your paint faster. If your car gets covered in bird droppings and bug splatters, it’s exposed to high levels of acidity that accelerate UV radiation damage. Bird poop is especially high in uric acid, which can break down the clear coat on your paint job in just a few hours. If you have a lot of bird poop or dead bugs on your car, wash them off quickly.
- Road salt – If you live in an area where the roads are often salted, washing is even more important. Road salt is very harmful to your paint job and can even lead to rusting of other metal components.
The bottom line here is that washing every two weeks (or more, if needed) can make a huge difference in protecting your car from sun damage. Additionally, it’s worth noting that certain colors fade faster; red, for example, is prone to this, so if you have a red car, take extra steps to protect your vehicle.
Use a Ceramic Coating
Apply a ceramic coating to give your car extra protection from sun damage. This type of protective coat helps fill those tiny imperfections in your paint’s clear coat and will deflect UV rays to help reduce any fading. The good news is these coatings last 2 to 5 years, depending on the product you use, so you don’t have to worry about applying them every summer.
Park Under Cover
Finally, do your best to park undercover, especially when parking for an extended period of time. This protects your paint, but it’ll help you avoid climbing into a car that feels like an oven from sitting in the sun all day.
If your car’s paint job is damaged, take it to the best body shops in Houston to see if the paint can be polished up and restored or if a new paint job is the better option.
Summary
Did you know that the sun can damage your car’s paint job? Read this article to get some tips on how you can protect your car’s paint from sun damage.
