Rainy Season Car Care: Keeping Your Paint Protected Through a San Diego Winter

Tips FOr Maintaining Your Vehicle in The Rainy Season

For Already Ceramic Coated & PPF'd Vehicles

If your vehicle has already been protected, awesome! Keep that protection in good shape so it performs like new year round. This means washing the paint as recommended to keep it from getting heavily contaminated. When vehicles go unwashed (especially in winter months), the surface becomes embedded with all the road grime and environmental fallout that should've been cleaned off weeks ago.

• In rainier seasons, its a good idea to add a mild acid soap to your arsenal. pH neutral soaps are excellent most of the time. But with water spotting and the road grime splashing on your paint, using a more acidic shampoo will break those minerals down so they are not left behind on the surface to cause more damage. We recommend CarPro Descale.
• Always use a prewash. Especially when the paint is more caked up with rain and road grime, its even more important to use a pre-wash to break that down before making contact with your wash mitts and appropriate soaps. Use a foam cannon with your prewash, then pressure wash it off.
• Keep the surface decontaminated: Buildup of the road grime and fallout is inevitable. Keep the surface slick and smooth by decontaminating the surface with iron removing chemicals & synthetic clay methods.
• If you daily drive your ceramic coated vehicle and it lives outside, its probably due for a thorough decontamination. Do this before the rainy season to make your life a ton easier in its wash process. Schedule an appointment with us now!.
• Ceramic Detail Sprays: Final wipe detail sprays are always a good way to enhance the finish and give it that final pop. Don't rely on these as your main form of protection. They're strictly enhancers (or good excuse to wipe the water drops from the mirror)

Always Follow These Tips

• Wash every 1-2 weeks, even if it looks fine. Grime and minerals do damage before they're obvious. especially when its sunny the next day
• Don't let rain dry on the paint. After a storm, if the sun comes out, a quick rinse and dry is better than letting it spot.
• Use the two-bucket method. One bucket for soap, one for rinsing your mitt, so you're not rubbing dirt back into the paint.
• Skip the automatic car wash. The brushes cause swirl marks, and the recycled water is often full of minerals.
• Wash right after mountain trips. Get the sand and de-icing residue off within a day or two, underbody included.
• Check for rock chips. Touch them up early before moisture gets under the paint.
• Park away from sprinklers. Hard water spots on glass and paint are some of the toughest to remove.
• Top up your protection. If your car is coated, use a ceramic-safe shampoo and a booster spray as needed
• Get a decon as needed

Best Forms of Protection FOr Winter Months

This depends the vehicles use, if its garage and how well taken care of the vehicle is. Here are some ideas.

• Paint Sealant: Great for seasonal protection. It's not a super long term form of protection, but by fully detailing and decontaminating the surface of the paint before applying a good quality sealant, you can easily get 9 months out of it. This is a much more cost friendly service that doesn't require the heavy correction & polishing work that a professional grade ceramic coating requires.
• Ceramic Coatings: The best form of protection to promote slickness, easy maintenance that will last for years. This is a service most of our customers opt for. The final product of the service is super high gloss, swirl free finish that is kept that way with good maintenance. It offers longer term resistance to water spotting, fallout, bug guts and makes the vehicle super easy to maintain. Taking care of a ceramic coated vehicle is not only more simple, but it will holds the shine it had and not require any major upkeep like a sealant may.
• Paint Protection Film: Road Trips, travel to the mountains and more loose gravel on the road. If you're concerned about rock chips happening on your paint, this is the service to consider. Ceramic Coatings fall short in the department. PPF is thick, removable, very long term form of protection. Most common areas you'll get rock chips are the front bumper, headlights, Hood, and lower rocker with the wheels kicking up rocks on the side panels.

The Reality of Car Care

Most of us do the best we can. And its nice to have a little help in your corner. If you need some professional maintenance, fresh layer of protection, a look over on the vehicle to keep it fresh all season long, we're here to help! Call my direct number to set up a time on the schedule! We're offering a free windshield polish & (re) Coating to make sure you can see where you're going this season! (With any service)

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