The paint on your car can be damaged by so many factors, many don’t even realize it. Dead bugs and bird droppings are more commonly known to ruin your paint but tar, tree sap, wildfires, gas from the pump, coffee/soda, dirt or lawn sprinklers can also do a great amount of damage to your vehicle’s paint job. The best way to protect your car from paint damage is to have it waxed at least once every 3 months. It’s not going to keep all of it off but it won’t be as easy for all of it to get stuck to your car, the small percentage of spills or droppings that do mark up your car will be easier to remove if it’s waxed. It is important to follow these steps to clean these markings off before they scratch your paint and eat through the coats:
- The most efficient way to get rid of these markings is to clean it as soon as you see it. If you’re able to attend to it quickly, all you need is a soft towel and a quick detailer and it should come right off. Taking quick action is also ideal because it will clean the mark without removing any existing wax.
- For markings that have had time to settle in, there are three different methods of cleaning:
- If it’s just one spot, you’ll want to consider a Bug remover. After you treat the spot, you should spray some wax over the area you just treated.
- Larger areas should be treated with a safe scrub bug sponge. While the car is soapy and sudsy, you should take this sponge and wipe the bugs off, for tougher areas you can use a boars head hair brush. After you have the whole area clean, you need to reapply wax to the entire area.
- Finally, you can use a detailing clay and a clay lubricant to wipe these marks up. For more than one mark, make sure to remodel the clay to make sure you’re using clean clay. This too will require some waxing afterwards.
Your car’s paint can be seriously damaged with any one of these factors and if left untreated, it can lead to an expensive touch up. Make sure you’re tending to these marks as quickly as you can to avoid a damaged paint job.
