It’s possible you’ve noticed nicks and scrapes on your car whether you’re delicately careful in your driving or not. While many of us are predisposed to finding a solution first, very few actually ask themselves where the scuffs came from. Honestly, car paint can be damaged by so many things. While you might have a number of culprits in mind, here are a number you might want to keep an eye on.
1. Careless car door opening
Whether in a hurry or just careless, most people find others opening their car doors on theirs. In the process the car’s paintwork is scratched, which is only discovered later. We also open the car doors in the same manner damaging the paintwork of others. Sometimes avoiding this is quite hard but doable. Buy some vehicle door protectors to minimise door damage to your car paintwork and try as much as possible to park in less busy parking sections if you can. Do also park in a way that there’s sufficient space between your car and the next.
2. Simple boot use
It might sound rather normal and simple but just opening the car boot to load or unload could be injuring your paintwork. Perhaps you’ve a boot-load of stuff to pick and as you move the bags around they could be scraping against the car leaving some marks. Sometimes, the simple act of being careful in your unloading of heavy stuff from the boot could actually scratch your vehicle as you rub against it. The best way to avoid this is putting your luggage down before you open your car boot. Load every item easily, one at a time, careful not to rub against the paintwork.
3. Placing stuff atop your car
Most of these things happen so fast and often you don’t even think about them. You lay your bags and luggage on the top of your vehicle perhaps to pick a call or find keys. In most cases, no one gives a thought to how we take the items off the car roof. At times we carelessly remove them or drag them all over the roof scratching the paintwork. Do plan before you pick up things to put in your car such as ensuring you’ve the car keys beforehand or just lay the things somewhere else.
4. Ice and snow removal
No one wants to wake up to the car covered by ice or snow. Even removing them is a labour we don’t really like. Since you cannot really avoid it, the way you remove the snow could actually mean scratching your car paintwork or leaving it intact. Don’t rush through the removal process but take some time so that you don’t damage the paint. Something you should never attempt is using normal brushes or brooms in your home to scrape off the ice off the vehicle. Chances are deep nicks will be left on your car.
Always have some foam brushes in your home for such a time. They are quite soft and help peel off the snow without disfiguring your car. Remove snow easily with less pressure to avoid giving dirt already on the vehicle a chance to scratch the paintwork as you do so. In future, find yourself a quality vehicle cover and you won’t have to wake up to snow and ice covering your ride.
5. Loose debris on the road
Paintworks are destroyed over time in most cases by loose dirt, debris and stones spread across most busy roads. As the vehicle tyres come into contact with them they could be flicked right back on the car paintwork in high velocity leaving deep scrapes behind. Keep your car well waxed, especially prior to the onset of winter and you won’t have to think about it ever.
Of course there’re so many reasons why your car paintwork is getting destroyed daily! But sometimes it’s those little things that if done correctly can make all the difference. Try them out and see.
