Tips to help your car's paint stay as durable as new
Car paint is often exposed to the sun and rain and rolled on dusty roads, so it is easy for the paint to fade if not properly cared for. Therefore, car owners need to have a protective solution early to keep the car shiny and beautiful as new.
During the process of using a car, scratches on the paint due to collisions that reduce the aesthetics of the car are inevitable. However, even without collisions, the car's paint can still peel off due to the impact of many natural environmental factors such as sun, rain, car cleaning chemicals...
Therefore, the most important thing to help keep car paint shiny like new is to take measures to prevent and protect it from harmful effects.
Why is car paint easily degraded?
Sharing with reporters, Mr. Doan Quang Trung - owner of Trung Anh auto garage (Ha Dong district, Hanoi) said that car paint can quickly lose its new appearance after only a short time of use due to two main groups of reasons:
The first is the impact of the environment. In particular, sunlight is one of the main enemies of car paint. UV rays in sunlight will break down the chemical structure of the paint, causing fading and reducing the gloss of the paint. This is even more serious in hot and humid climates like in Vietnam.
Rainwater, dirt containing chemicals and acids can all corrode paint if not treated promptly. In coastal areas, high humidity and salt in the air are also dangerous "enemies" to car paint.
The second factor is chemical impact. Using non-specialized car wash soap or strong detergents at cheap car washes can remove the protective layer of the paint over time. In addition, the paint also ages naturally over the life of the car, even without any collision or strong impact.
How to effectively protect car paint
To keep the paint always shiny and durable, Mr. Trung gives some tips on basic car care. Avoid parking the car under the hot sun or outdoors for long periods of time. If you have to do the car outdoors, the best way to protect the paint is to park the car in a shady place, with a roof or a tarpaulin covering the entire body of the car.
If stains are found on the car surface, users need to treat them as soon as possible. In addition, wash the car regularly at reputable car care centers. Finally, apply a gloss, nano or ceramic coating to create a protective layer for the paint against external factors, helping to prolong the life of the paint and reduce the frequency of repainting.
However, the owner of Trung Anh auto garage also added that ceramic or nano coating is not cheap, ranging from 4 to 7 million VND, but does not guarantee scratches caused by collisions.
When should you repaint your car?
"The decision to repaint a car depends on the level of paint deterioration, the location of scratches and the personal wishes of the car owner," Trung shared.
In case the car body has small cracks or scratches, repair garages can easily handle them with tricks without repainting.
If the scratches are small, users can choose to treat them with touch-up paint at a low cost, from 400,000 - 800,000 VND, with a faster completion time of only 1 - 2 days.
If the car has many scratches but only concentrated on one part of the body, you can choose to repaint each part, which is more cost-effective than painting the whole car. For example, front/rear bumpers cost from 800,000 - 1,500,000 VND, car doors cost from 1 - 2 million VND, hood costs from 1.5 - 2.5 million VND, roof costs from 1.5 - 3 million VND, rims cost from 300,000 - 700,000 VND.
In case of paint fading, paint cracking, or total scratches, Mr. Trung recommends that the car owner should repaint the entire car to restore uniform beauty.
The cost for a regular car ranges from 6 to 12 million VND, depending on the type of paint and the quality of the garage. For luxury cars, the cost can be up to 30 to 60 million VND. The completion time is also longer, usually from 5 to 15 days.
