There’s no doubt that our cars are among our most precious belongings. While some of us completely forbid snacks or beverages inside our vehicles, others keep three different kinds of towels in the glove compartment because they cannot stand the tiniest dust.
However, while we go to great lengths to provide the utmost care to our vehicles, they constantly get exposed to many hazards within city traffic and on highways. So scratches are one of these hazards—and perhaps the most frustrating. Scratched and chipped car paint creates an unattractive look, leading to more significant problems like rusting if the scratch is deep enough to expose the metal under the paint.
1.Choose Your Parking Spots Wisely
You may be a master of parallel parking, but not everybody is. When you park your car in an area with high pedestrian traffic or close to other vehicles; an opening door, a scraping handbag, or another driver who’s trying to park in a narrow space can easily scratch your car’s paintwork or cause even deeper damage.
So, in order to protect your car from scratches, you can try leaving it in a garage instead of the sides of the streets, choosing quieter areas in parking lots, and using alternative means of transportation when you’re visiting crowded places like malls.
It’s a known fact that direct exposure to sunlight can harm car paint, but if you’re frequently parking your vehicle under trees to avoid the sun, you may want to rethink your decision. A variety of damaging factors can cause scratches—such as fruits, seeds, and resin dropping onto the surface of your vehicle—and a tree branch that breaks and falls on your car can definitely make for a bad surprise.
2.Practice Defensive Driving Techniques
Defensive driving techniques are composed of a set of tips, some of which are well-known and practiced, while some are widely overlooked. In addition to some golden traffic rules like fastening your seatbelt and abiding by the speed limit, defensive driving also comprises practical skills like predicting any potential mistakes by other drivers.
By adhering to these techniques at all times, you can minimize your car’s risk of sustaining damages. You can prevent scratches that would occur on the road to a great extent by keeping a safe and reasonable distance from other vehicles around you.
3.Clean Your Car Regularly Using the Right Methods
Do you know how frequently you should be washing your car? Frankly, there’s no straight answer to this question, as each vehicle can be a different case. However, cleaning your car too frequently—and incorrectly—can cause as much damage as leaving it covered in dust and dirt.
As a matter of fact, most small scratches that are not direct results of accidents and bumps tend to occur during the washing process. Particularly the abrasive brushes used in automatic car washes can easily scratch the paintwork of your vehicle. This is why another way to prevent scratches on a car is simply to wash your car by hand whenever possible.
Some of the most common mistakes made while washing a vehicle are “dusting” the surface with a dry cloth, or rubbing the car directly with a sponge before first rinsing away the dust and dirt. In order to prevent scratches from ruining your paintwork, you should avoid such practices, and always opt for high-quality, non-abrasive cleaning products.
4.Protect Your Vehicle with Ceramic Coating
If you haven’t yet discovered ceramic coating solutions, you can apply this invisible layer on your vehicle—no matter how old it is—to protect it from scratches, UV rays, and corrosion.
What’s more, you don’t need to receive professional help to benefit from the advantages of ceramic coating; you can easily apply practical car surface protection products such as Nasiol ZR53 Nano Ceramic Coating to the surface of your vehicle, providing it with anti-scratch, high-gloss, water-repellent, and chemical-resistant properties. This incredibly thin transparent layer remains effective for 3+ years, making the cleaning process much easier and prolonging the lifespan of the paintwork.
The durable ceramic coating offers much longer protection than car wax products do, hence providing car enthusiasts with much more than just an aesthetically pleasing, glossy vehicle.
Check our whole ceramic coatings product line now!
5.Make Small Changes to Your Habits
Let’s not forget some small rules that we tend to have a hard time following whenever we come home with our hands full of groceries, or when we’re packing the car before a long road trip. Every object that we place on top of the car’s surface, even for a short time, carries the risk of abrading the paintwork. If you want to avoid car scratches, do not put anything on your car, lean or sit on it, and try not to touch the painted surfaces too much. Yes, it’s rather hard to believe it, but if you’re not using the door handles while opening and closing the doors, even that might lead to scratches!
Another habit that you may want to change to prevent car scratches is the use of car covers. Not only do they offer no protection against the scratches that might occur on the road, but they might actually be doing more harm than good. Any fabric placed over a car—especially if the car hasn’t been washed just recently—increases the risk of scratches due to the friction of the dust, dirt, and other particles on either surface. Aside from potential wind flap damage to the car paint, a similar result can also be expected every time you cover and uncover the vehicle.
Prevention Is Better Than Cure
There are many products out there that claim to remove scratches from the surfaces of a variety of vehicles ranging from cars and motorcycles to minivans, SUVs, RVs, and trucks—all after the damage is done. While some of these products effectively remove scratches and marks, most “quick fixes” do more harm than good.
Unfortunately, many car owners only start wondering how to remove scratches when it’s already too late, whereas preventive measures can actually go a long way. If you pay attention to how to protect your car before it sustains damage, you can effectively help it stand the test of time by resisting scratches and retaining its brand new look for many years.
If you really want to protect your car you should also read our “Maintenance Tips that will Extend the Life of Your Car” blog content!
8 comments
Samara
This article is advantageous and highly useful. Naturally, the majority of people will say that everything you mention in your blog post is good.
Nasiol Expert
Thank you for your comment!
Henry Killingsworth
Thank you for pointing out that an invisible ceramic coating can protect a car from scratches, corrosion, and UV rays. Would it be a good idea to have the ceramic coating replaced at least once a year? Replacing the ceramic coating often seems like the best way to ensure that the exterior of your car is protected. https://colorautodetailing.com/paint-correction/
Jacky
Absolutely, it’s all in the prep. I do worry about all these DIY coatings as if someone not familiar with detailing or general do & donts, buying & applying a coating yourself will not have any benefit no matter how good the product is if the vehicle is not prepared properly . Pre wash, wash, hand wash, rinse, clay bar , wash, rinse & likely the most important step- the iron decontamination- leave this step out & your coating will last bugger all. Then wash again, rinse & then – again- another important & time consuming step is at the very least a one step full paint correction with a proper machine, correct pad & polish. And that’s a breif overview of the preparation needed for your coating to last the 3/5/7/10 years depending on what you use . None will work for one month if all of the steps & in some cases more are not done before laying down your coating. It ain’t a spray & wipe solution. They will not work unless the paintwork is decontaminated & corrected & primed to allow the coatings to adhere to the surface .
Nasiol Expert
Thank you for your comment.
Nasiol Expert
Hello Mr. Amarinder, please send us your contact information on info@nasiol.com , so we can provide all information you need.
Amarinder Singh
I am a detailer in India. Would like to know about your products, price and availability in India.
Doug Rogers
Hi I have made a living polishing and tinting ang striping restoreing paint as far back as the early 80s and ceramic coatings are amazing if peeped correctly but what happened to Teflonsealants lease let me know