Summer storms, sun, and heat can take a toll on your car’s glass, body, and paint, and these aren’t the only hazards your vehicle will face. The spring bloom also produces heavy pollen that will coat your car, while flowering trees drip sap onto the unfortunate vehicles parked beneath them.
Finally, throughout the warm weather months bug spatters and bird droppings can mar your car’s finish while debris from road work dings and dents the body and chips your windshield. Combined with hot sun fading the paint and the risk of hail damage, keeping your vehicle looking its best can be a challenge.
If you have a car or truck, you know that chips and dents happen, and you can’t avoid every potential hazard. There are several things you can do, however, to minimize the worst that nature and roadwork have to offer.
Wash your car
The quicker you remove dirt, pollen, bug spatters, bird droppings, and tree sap, the less damage it can do. Washing by hand is best and take special care you remove tree sap, road tar, and bugs. Ask your auto body specialist about cleaners you can use to remove these before they can damage your paint. Make time for drying with a lint free cloth to remove water spots and minerals that may get left behind if you let your car air dry.
Wax your car after every wash
A good coat of wax provides more than a smooth, shiny finish. Wax is designed to protect your paint from damaging UV rays that will cause fading over time, especially with extreme summer heat. A quality wax regularly applied also helps protect your paint job by repelling dirt and pollen, while providing a barrier so bird droppings and bug spatter are more easily removed and less likely to mar the paint.
Watch where you park
Parking in an unfamiliar place means you may not be able to avoid your vehicle being a target, but if you know a particular tree drips sap or a cable line is favored by birds, don’t park under it. That being said, sometimes the shade protection you can get parking under a tree is more important, as hot sun will take a toll on your car inside and out. If you have access to parking garages or car ports, use them to avoid sun damage as well as the risk of a hailstorm.
Take care of chips and dents right away
When damage does happen, take care of repairs right away. A chip in your windshield can spread and become an expensive replacement instead of a minor chip repair. Any dent or scratch that damages your paint will rust if it is not repaired and ultimately become a bigger problem.
If you need auto body or auto glass repairs in the Akron and Hudson areas, contact Hudson Collision. The auto body experts at Hudson Collision repair or replace auto glass, offer paintless dent repair, and can offer solutions for faded paint on your vehicle. Click here for more details on all Hudson Collision’s auto body services.