Taking proper care of your car’s paintwork is not just a matter of keeping it looking shiny and spotless. It’s also about protecting the auto body from rust spots, preserving its bodywork, and increasing its resale value in case you decide to sell it later on.
Unfortunately, it’s not just malicious acts of vandalism and parking lot dings that can damage your auto body paint. From bird droppings to fingerprints, there are many innocent everyday items that can blemish the exterior of your vehicle.
Here are other examples of things that can damage your car paint:
1. Bugs
Surprisingly, dead bugs are acidic, which makes them very difficult to remove. If not dealt with quickly, bugs can cause lasting damage to your paintwork. It’s obviously impossible to prevent bug splatters while driving, but you can buy chemical removers that don’t harm your auto body paint.
2. Water Spots
Do you live in a rainy part of the country? Or do you park every day near an automated sprinkler? If the answer is yes, your car will soon end up covered in hard-to-remove water spots. Most people don’t realize that even water could cause lasting damage to your vehicle paint. These pesky spots are difficult to get rid of because of the minerals they contain.
3. Tree Sap
Try parking beneath a tree for long enough and you will end up with a car covered in sap. It’s difficult to remove, especially once it dries hard and sticks to your vehicle.
Sap is very sticky and any attempt to wipe it off using the wrong product will only spread the problem to a bigger area. There’s also a risk of damaging the paintwork if you scrub at the tree sap too hard.
4. Ashes
House fires or wildfires in the area pose a threat to your vehicle. Once soot and ashes settle on the exterior of your car and get exposed to moisture (i.e. rain or sprinklers), a chemical reaction is produced. When wet, the calcium and potassium in the ashes can etch the auto body paint and leave a dark grey-colored stain.
5. Fuel Stains
There are certain substances that should never come in contact with your car’s paintwork – and fuel is one of these.
Whether your car has a leak or you’ve had a spillage while getting gas, fluids such as diesel, petrol, brake fluid, and engine oil can damage your auto body. These liquids leave marks and stains that can be almost impossible to remove once you leave them for a long period of time.
Each day, your vehicle is exposed to various elements that can damage its paint. Learning to identify these things and how to deal with them is one way to keep your car looking its best for a longer time.
Of course, there are lots of other items that can damage your auto body paint including pollution, gravel, dust, and so on. But as long as you take proper care of your vehicle by washing and waxing regularly, you can preserve your auto body paint for much longer.