Lesson: Car Paint Protection 101
Lesson: How to protect your car's original paint 101
Before learning about how to protect the car paint, let’s discuss why preserving the original car paint is crucial.
The original car paint is being sprayed and baked under 130-degree celsius while repainted cars can only be baked under 80-degree celsius to prevent the cushions and the engine from being damaged.
The primer of the original paint cannot be restored elsewhere besides its own car factory. Hence, if you have decided to repaint your car, you must be prepared to lose the original paint.
Thirdly, the refinish paint used in touch-up paint itself has a significant quality gap. The paint film thickness, brightness, corrosion resistance, and uniformity of fading are all inferior to the original car paint. Even if the 4S workshop tells you that they offer the original paint, it would not achieve the same result because of the baking process.
After acknowledging the value of the car’s original paint, let’s find out the steps to be taken for maximum protection.
- Wax/Polish – A cheaper option for keeping the paint glossy and giving out a hydrophobic effect BUT it only provides a thin layer of protection against the car paint, it only provides a short-term effect and needs to be re-applied from time to time.
- Coating – The coating acts as a layer of sunscreen for the car to protect against harmful UV rays, insect acids, and dust. It offers a significant level of protection against car paint as compared to waxing or polishing with a relatively permanent effect of 2-5 years with proper care and maintenance. HOWEVER, although it provides protection against heat, dust, and insect acids, it does not provide stone-chips protection.
- PAINT PROTECTION FILM – also known as ‘ppf’ provides the best car protection against stone chips and minor scratches with its self-healing technology, it provides an extra layer of protection against any form of stains that might be absorbed into the original car paint. BUT, a good quality ppf would essentially mean that it is much more expensive than the first two options. The paint might be damaged if the film is left for too long (more than 4 years) and the film is permanently stuck to the car body.
With that said, the ideal option is to combine ppf and coating together. They work hand-in-hand to give the most optimum protection to the car paint which provides a long-term shine, and hydrophobic effect to the car while protecting it from UV rays, dust, insect acids, stone chips, and minor scratches. As such, the all precious original car paint can be preserved without any damage.
Are you interested to find out more about car protection and how to work with your budget? Here at GLS Auto, we provide all three services. Contact us here!
