Are you protecting your car’s paintwork?

Your car’s paintwork is something that you are unlikely to be thinking about regularly. Routine washing, waxing, buffing, polishing, and ceramic coating can all be required to keep your vehicle shining, but where to start? No need to stress, the Jim’s Car Detailing specialists are equipped with a range of options to ensure your vehicles paint is protected and cared for.

Ignoring your Paint

Not all blessings come from above. Bird droppings and other kinds of animal excrement are corrosive. And the longer corrosive substances are allowed to work on the car paint, the greater the damage can become.

Such damage is irreversible and has to be repaired professionally. Our tip, therefore, is to wash bird droppings off as soon as possible.

The same goes for insects. A specialised insect remover will stop the insect remains sticking to the automotive paint and they can then simply be wiped away when the vehicle is washed.

Neglecting your Paint

Those who love their cars wash them at least weekly. Failure to provide regular care is the commonest error that car owners make.

If the car paint is looked after properly, it will also be more resistant generally to external influences. This means expensive repairs with car spray paint or touch up paint can be reduced significantly.

How often you should wash your car depends on the type of car and how you use it, however frequent washing does no harm.

Loving your paint: the perfect car wash

Some automatic car washes have brushes and some have cloths. One type is not inherently better than the other, But have the brushes or cloths been made dirty with sand, so that they act like sandpaper and damage the paint surface?

For this reason, a two step hand wash will always the best option. The important thing here is to use mild cleaning agents with a low pH value, as well as soft, clean sponges, brushes and cloths.

And should you follow the wash with a wax? Definitely!  The wax seals the top coat of the car paint and thus protects it against external influences.

And at what intervals should wax treatment be applied?

The expert’s rule of thumb is that as long as rainwater drips off the car paint normally, there is no need for any fresh waxing.

However, the weather is also a big factor. If you keep your car in a garage, you protect the wax coat for longer than you would under a carport or in the open. If you want to be on the safe side, the expert recommends the two-times interval: have your car waxed once in the spring and again just before winter.

Back on the road, shining brightly

Is your car’s paint no longer as shiny as it was on the first day? Or can you see slight scratches? If so, it is time for a polish.

Car polish contains micro-fine abrasives. They gently clean the paint surface without damaging it. The polish simultaneously preserves the freshened paint and protects it against the weather.

Matt paint is a special case

Matt paints need to be cared for in a totally different way.

For example, polishing is a no-no and this is because the abrasives in polishes remove a matt paint’s distinctive rough surface. Over the long term, the brushes of car washes also have a smoothing effect on matt paint, and wax sealants damage matt paint, too.

For these reasons, we emphatically recommend washing by hand or pressure washer, with specialised cleaning and care products.

Where to start?

Call the Jim’s Car Detailing specialists on 131 546 to discuss which option best suits your vehicle.