Why Is My Car Paint Peeling?
Your car’s paint is the most prominent feature of the exterior of the vehicle. If your vehicle is going to look great, you need paint that looks great – and that won’t be the case if it is peeling off the sides. Why does car paint peel? And what can be done about it? Let’s dive into those questions below!
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Understanding Car Paint
It’s no surprise that car paint faces significant threats once it leaves the dealership and heads out into the world. Tough conditions are a foregone conclusion for vehicle paint, from adverse weather to debris on the roads and more. So, with that in mind, car manufacturers take steps to protect the condition of the car’s paint for as long as possible.
This is largely accomplished through the use of a clear coat. A clear coat is a layer of protection over the top of the paint that keeps it safe – at least, for a while – from the harms that await when a vehicle is used day after day. Modern clear coats, when applied properly at the manufacturer or by an experienced automotive paint shop, offer impressive durability and excellent results. This is why so many cars on the roads today continue to look great as they rack up the miles.
Nothing Is Forever
The clear coat system to cover paint on vehicles works great, but it will gradually fade and lose effectiveness over time. There are a couple of specific reasons for this decline in performance –
- Damage from the sun. The sun is extremely powerful – to state the obvious – and the rays that beat down on your car will eat away at the clear coat eventually. This is a slow process and it happens more in some climates than others. If you live in a hot, dry place, you’ll likely see sun damage to your clear coat far quicker than someone who lives in a cooler, cloudier northern climate. Of course, keeping your vehicle out of the sun as much as possible will go a long way toward slowing down these effects. So, parking it under a carport or in a garage is a great way to get a longer life span out of your clear coat and the paint it protects.
- Damage from objects. Another way to experience a decline in your clear coat protection is to have some form of damage impact the vehicle. For instance, if a small rock hits the car and chips away the clear coat, there will be a hole in the coating and that hole can be used by the elements to start chipping away at the coat and peeling the paint. If left alone for very long, this spot will likely expand and get worse as time goes by.
Improve Your Odds
While it is true that nothing lasts forever, there are steps you can take to prevent your paint from peeling, or at least to slow down that process. We already mentioned the fact that parking in a covered area is a good idea, so make that a priority if at all possible. In addition to keeping your car out of the sun while parked, consider these other tips –
- Use wax. Periodically waxing your vehicle is a great way to add another layer of protection and keep damaging elements like the sun from getting to your paint and wreaking havoc. With a little bit of practice, waxing your vehicle becomes a relatively easy task that you may even come to enjoy.
- Don’t go to commercial car washes. The aggressive techniques used in a commercial car wash will likely mean trouble for the outside of your vehicle. Instead, do your best to keep up with regular washings at home, where you can do the job by hand and treat the vehicle with care.
- Repair any damage. If your vehicle is hit with something that chipped away the clear coat, look into having that damage repaired right away so it doesn’t become an issue moving forward.
Protect Your Vehicle at Carport Kingdom
Dealing with peeling car paint is a frustrating issue, but it can be tackled. Once you address the repair work that is needed to make your car look great again, think about adding a carport to help avoid this issue from popping up in the future. Explore our free Build & Price tool today to get started!
