Car Care Tips: Caring for Your Car's Paint

Hughes Auto Body is a leading body shop in St. Louis offering comprehensive auto body repair services. From auto body repair and repainting to paintless dent removal, we can make your car look like new after any accident or collision. If you are looking for an auto body repair shop in the St. Louis area, contact Hughes Auto Body to learn more about our auto body repair services.

At Hughes Auto Body, it is our goal to help restore our customers' cars to their original beauty following an accident, collision, or other minor damage. In addition, we also want our customers to be able to keep their cars looking new for years to come. Therefore, we have provided the following general car care tips to help keep your car, truck, van, or SUV's original paint in the best condition.

Car Washing Tips

You should wash your car at least once a month to ensure the best paint durability and results. When a car is clean, moisture can dry quickly. However, when the cars' surface is dirty, moisture remains on the car leading to corrosion and rust. In addition, always wash your vehicle in the shade when the surface of the paint is cool to the touch. Finally, use only automotive soap, which is pH balanced specifically to protect a car's paint, when washing your car.

In addition to regular washing, it is important to occasionally pressure wash your vehicle to dislodge dirt from behind moldings, inside wheel arches, and under bumpers. This is especially recommended after the winter in order to remove salt deposits, which can speed corrosion.

Car Waxing Tips

It is recommended that you should wax your car's paint regularly, or every 3-4 months, to protect the paint. Waxing helps protect paint from damaging UV rays and helps keep your car's original paint from fading and deteriorating. In addition, you should use only a high quality automotive wax for best results.

Repair Chips and Scratches

Small chips and scratches can occur as a result of every day driving due to rocks and debris on the road. It is important to repair small chips or scratches as immediately as possible in order to prevent rust and corrosion from forming on your car's metal body. Minor scratch repairs can be done at home using a polishing compound. In addition, you can order matching paint from the dealer and apply it with a toothpick to repair larger chips in your cars paint. If you are uncomfortable making these minor scratch and chip repairs yourself, contact Hughes Auto Body in St. Louis to learn how we can help.

New Paint Care Tips

There are several important things that you should know about caring for new paint surfaces following any auto body repair that requires repainting. Since new paint is not initially as durable as your car's original paint, the following are some important care tips that you should follow after your vehicle has undergone auto body repairs requiring partial or complete body repainting.

• Wait 60 days for the paint to cure before waxing new paint. After the first 60 days, wax new paint every 2 - 6 months.
• Use a high quality carnauba wax on new paint surfaces for the best protection. This wax has a natural base and rock hard finish to protect your paint.
• Avoid extreme heat or cold temperatures when your car has new paint.
• Avoid driving on gravel roads with new paint, as the paint is easier to chip in the first 60 days.
• Do not park under trees that drop sap, as this can spot a new finish.
• Be mindful to avoid bird dropping especially during the first 60 days with new paint as bird droppings are highly acidic and can ruin new paint.
• Do not spill gasoline, oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid, or windshield solvent on your car's new finish. If you do, rinse immediately with water.
• Do not scrape ice or snow from freshly painted car surfaces.