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Tips For Every Adventure: Parking Perils
We’ve all been there. You come out of the store to find that your once pristine paint job has been sullied by a mysterious vandal! Be it a passing bird or a vengeful ex who recognized your vehicle while they had a key in their hand, lot of things can befall a vehicle in a parking lot. Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered. Today, we’re running down all of the parking perils that can befall your beloved vehicle and the steps you can take to repair the damage to your paint job.
Human Error (or Vandalism!)
A huge part of the parking lot danger comes from the fact that your vehicle is parked alongside a number of other cars. Being parked too close to a car or truck can end up with some noticeable marks on your car paint. Sometimes you forget to check how close you’re parking and accidentally ding the car next to you when you get out. It happens! But this minor thing can leave your car in need of repair. Getting out of your car when you’re packed in like sardines is difficult, what happens when you have to pull out of that space? You could accidentally scratch multiple cars trying to maneuver out of a tight spot. What if you drive over the parking barrier because you forgot that it was there? No? That’s just us?
It’s perhaps the smallest things that can leave you hanging out to dry. Maybe someone has left a rogue shopping cart wandering the parking lot and it targets your car for collision. Or simply a vandal you know takes it upon themselves to absolutely go to town on the finish of your car. Be it runaway shopping carts or little parking lot bumper taps, it’s likely that you’ll only face small scratches and paint chips (unless that mysterious vandal we keep bringing up really hates you. They might do a little more damage to your car). If the damage on your car is on the small size, spray paint probably isn’t the way to go here. You’re going to want either the Brush, the Pen, or the Combo (which has both the Brush and the Pen). Applying these touch up paint applicators to the coat of your car helps to ensure professional results.
Environmental Hazards (Watch Out For That Bird)
Of course it’s not always the human error causing those dings. Parking out in the sun will always cause some UV damage to your paint. Prolonged exposure to sunlight can cause your car’s paint to fade and lose its luster over time. If you can’t park in a covered area, we would suggest getting a car cover. Covers also help avoid damage caused by bird droppings. Along with tree sap, this type of damage could hurt your paint if left unattended for too long, causing etching and stains. Take care to clean it off with water and soap before it has the chance to do long term harm to your car. If it rained while the car was sitting out in the parking lot, you may also want to take a look at your car. Sometimes the rain leaves water spots on your car. They look like little white marks and can damage the surrounding paint if left to dry. Be vigilant and wiped down your vehicle if you see these marks on a car that’s been in the rain.
Now that we’ve taken care the issues coming from the sky, let’s move the parking lot itself. Parking lots can be exposed to various chemicals, pollutants, and industrial fallout, which can gradually deteriorate your paint’s protective layer if not cleaned off regularly. Parking lots are often littered with small stones, gravel, and debris that can get kicked up by passing vehicles or wind, resulting in scratches or stone chips on your paint. How do you remove these paint problems? For stone chip repair, we would suggest using the Pen to apply touch up paint to your car. Its small chiseled nip tip is perfect for fixing small chips. Light paint scratches often do not require Primer because the damage isn’t so deep and the existing Primer is still intact. But if you can see metal or bare substrate in the damaged area, we would highly recommend you purchase a kit that contains Primer.
TouchUpDirect is here to help you take care of your car. In addition to our excellent paint and applicators, we also sell a number of cost effective accessories. Need some sandpaper to sand off that rust? We’ve got the grit you’ll need to sand the rust off that metal and create a smooth surface! Want a special shine for your car’s paint job? Meet our Polishing Compound Kit. From microfiber cloths you can use to rub your car clean to wax and grease remover wipes to Scratch & Chip Putty that will fill those deep gouges, TouchUpDirect has the accessories needed to make your car shine.
Still a little confused on how to apply paint for that stone chip repair? Don’t worry about it! We’ve got step by step instructions that will help you get the best coat possible fr your car. Between our blog posts and the giant library of instructions we’ve created, we’ve got touch up paint walkthroughs for everyone. And if you don’t want to read, check out the many instructional videos on our YouTube page.
