When you buy a new or new-to-your car, you never think about ways of damaging your paint. It’s simply not an area of concern that you ever talked about with your mechanic, friends, or family.
And I’m sure you never read it on a blog post, magazine, or school class. Yet, once someone buys their car, it isn’t long until they start to have a few remarks about their car’s paint.
Just like everything else with cars, the paint on your car will only look and last as long and as well as you take care of it.
If you don’t care, don’t pay it any mind, and follow the, “out of sight, out of mind” framework, then this blog post won’t be for you. But if you are interested in finding out how you damage your paint, read on 🙂
Taking It To A Local Car Wash
When people want to wash their cars, there fast and cheap opinion is their local car wash that will do a full detail for $10 to $30. This is a death trap for your paint. Perhaps you can’t tell, or maybe you have a light colored car like white or gray that makes it difficult to see, but your paint has thousands of micro-scratches.
Most car washes use the same drying towel and wash mitt on dozens of cars before they change them out. That means the wash mitt that they’re using on your car has been used on a dozen other cars. So the dirt and gunk that was on someone else’s car is now on that wash mitt which is being used on your car.
Washing The Car With The Wrong Tools
So now you’re thinking about simply washing the car on your own? It’ll save you money and perhaps you can get better results.
Well, if you go to the local auto parts store to buy some cheap tools, then you’re back in the same position as if you took your car to the local car wash. For instances, the microfiber wash mitts are made of poor material.
It’s far to rough for the paint which is going to add micro-scratches. And just like so many others do when it comes to drying their vehicle, you’ll grab a bath towel and dry your car like that. Although it’s great to dry us off humans, but for the paint of your car, it’s far to rough.
Leaning On Your Car and Placing Objects On It
Have you ever placed your coffee cup, a box, or plate of food on your car while you were fumbling around with your hands? Well each time you place an object on your car, you have a super high chance of not just adding micro-scratching, but instilling a permanent scratch that can only be fixed by repainting the panel.
For instance, if you place your coffee cup on the roof of your car, and although it’s plastic, you pick it up and the bottom scrapes the paint, you could scratch the roof.
So when you and your friends are talking around your car, when they lean up against the paint, they are wearing belts and other metal type objects. These are sure ways that you’ll mess up your paint with permanent scratches.