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5 Mistakes New Car Owners Make With Their Paint

You’ve just purchased a new vehicle! Congratulations! You’ve been saving up for months and finally made the investment to get a brand new car. Here are 5 mistakes new car owners make with their paint.

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Automatic Car Washes

You just brought this brand new shiny car home from the dealership, and you want to keep it looking that way, so you buy a wash pass to the automatic car wash up the street from work. It even has those scrubby brushes inside to really get all the stuck on grime off the vehicle!

Don’t do this! Think about all of the dirt those scrubby brushes have taken off other vehicles and are now scrubbing into your brand new paint. Think of it as effectively using wet sandpaper on your vehicle. This will leave thousands of micro scratches on the surface of your paint which will remove the surface debris, but also leave your paint looking swirled and dull and allow more dirt, grime, and debris to settle into those micro scratches in your paint.

A person standing on a stool washes a foamy silver Rivian R1T pickup truck.
A dark gray Tesla Model S parked on asphalt in front of a white picket fence and a business sign.

Sun Exposure

The summer is winding down and your vehicle has seen a lot of time outside. Just like that old flag that’s hanging in your neighbor’s backyard, the UV exposure from the sun is slowly starting to fade your vehicle’s new paint. While it’s not easy to see immediately, after months or years of constant sun exposure, your vehicle definitely won’t be anywhere near the same color as it was when it left the factory. Keeping it inside a garage will help to protect it more, but not many workplaces offer fully-covered garage parking during the day, and they certainly aren’t going to let you park your car in your cubicle.

A man in a garage washes a blue sports car covered in white soap suds, with an orange car in the background.

Bugs and Bird Droppings

Another part of daily driving any vehicle, especially in the summer time or if you park under any trees or power lines, is the inevitability of the vehicle being a target for bird droppings or bug splatters. These can be highly acidic and can very easily etch marks into your vehicle’s paint within hours. Not removing them soon can result in needing to paint correct or even fully repaint panels on the vehicle like the hood, bumper, trunk, or roof that are common targets of this environmental detritus.

Close-up of a dark SUV's rear covered in white soap suds, with a person washing it in the background.

Not Washing the Vehicle

This one seems like a no-brainer, why would you not wash the vehicle? Don’t you want to keep it looking good? It seems to be way more common than you’d think, however. Leaving months of grime, brake dust, iron, and other environmental pollutants that kick up off the roads or fall from trees, overpasses, or seemingly from the sky can do a world of hurt to your paint and to the rest of your vehicle as well. Plus, it leaves you at risk of having “Wash Me!” written on the back side of your car, and nobody wants to be the punchline of that joke.

A man in headphones and a cap applies a clear protective film to the hood of a white vehicle.

Not Getting PPF

Able to protect your vehicle from all of the above while giving it a glossy finish that will rival the way it looked coming off the production line, XPEL Paint Protection Film is designed to keep all of that environmental debris off your paint while also protecting it from rock chips, scratches, swirls, and UV damage. Getting it done as soon as possible after taking delivery of the vehicle will help to protect it from any scratches or chips it may get on the roads within the first few weeks of driving. Once in our facility, the vehicle is thoroughly cleaned and prepped before film installation, so none of those pesky bugs or dirt will be visible under the PPF.

Paint Protection Film for Your New Car

Here at Automotive Elegance, we are able to tailor PPF packages to your budget and your specific vehicle, creating the ultimate protection package to keep your vehicle looking fantastic. Awarded XPEL’s prestigious US Dealer of the Year award for 5 years running, our team works hard from sales to design center, detailing and installers, to ensure your vehicle leaves our lot looking better than when it did rolling off the production line.

Call us! Here at Automotive Elegance, we specialize in Paint Protection Film , Ceramic Coatings , and Window Tints using products from XPEL. Recipients of the XPEL US Dealer of the Year Award in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, we’ve protected it all! Visit us a https://ae-ppf.com/ to schedule a booking .