Service Protection Advisors Automotive Care Tips

	How to wash your car and clean the paint without causing damage. Cleaning your car does not simply mean removing obvious dirt and debris. To really take care of your car's paint job and make it look its best, you really need to use a conditioning product to help keep your paint in its best condition. There are many cleaning products available that will allow you to remove the effects of paint oxidation, add emollient oils to the paint and actually smooth out your car's surface. When cleaning your car, it is always better to clean by hand than use power tools, as power tools will concentrate their energy when they hit any edges on the car, where the metal bends. Unfortunately, this is where the paint is thinnest, so you are in danger of stripping the paint down to the primer if you use a power tool too aggressively or with abrasive pads. The best pads, if you do use a power tool, are foam pads. When cleaning by hand, use a soft, 100% cotton cloth. First, remove surface contamination and old wax from your car with a good hand wash and high quality car cleaner. Cleaners may be classified as either friction or chemical. Friction cleaners will deeply clean and help smooth out the surface when that is what you want, but chemical cleaners are generally more effective when you need to remove stains such as tar and tree sap. Avoid silicone-based products as these can actually damage paint in the long-term. Chemical cleaners and specific degreasers or tar removers are designed for use directly on remaining stains. They may be citrus based or petroleum based. Citrus based products are less damaging to paint. Next, a good glaze can be used to add shine. Emollients in a glaze add oils to the paint, producing a gloss. Glazes often contain mild cleaning agents as well, to remove any minor stains. Polishes also contain oils, and many contain fillers to help smooth out the car's surface, so these are useful if there are scratches. Products labeled 'compound' or 'clay' are used only in situations where there is either excessive contamination or there is paint overspray. These products should only be used with great care by those with specific training.
	How to protect your car's paint by waxing. Ultraviolet rays, ozone, acid rain, tree sap, road tar and other road hazards such as stones continuously attack a car's paint. Waxing your car on a regular basis provides a protective layer that protects the paint from damage, and can be regularly done over many years, for a far lower cost than a new paint job. Wax also gives paint a gloss and shine that cannot otherwise be achieved. Many car wax products contain carnauba wax, which is the protective coating of the leaves of the tropical carnauba plant. Since it is a solid, it must be mixed with additives such as solvents to produce a commercial car wax product. Advantages of carnauba wax products include a great depth of shine and the fact that you can apply the product numerous times without any unsightly wax build-up. However, strong solutions of car wash products can strip carnauba wax, so it's best to use only diluted solutions when you wash your car after applying carnauba wax. Other car wax products are polymer based. These have the advantage that they are more resistant to washing and last longer, but they can build up with multiple applications, and they do not give as good a shine as the carnauba wax products. Interestingly, they are also well known to be less suitable for the paint of German cars, as on these cars polymer wax can become cloudy. For best results, only apply wax to a clean, dry car. Do not apply the wax just after driving; make sure the paint is cool. When waxing, it is crucial to apply the wax product sparingly. Only a certain amount of wax can be worked into the car's surface; apply too much and the excess will dry into a powder, which you will have to remove by buffing in order to see the shine. Put a little wax on a small piece of 100% cotton, a terry cloth covered sponge, or a foam applicator pad. Alternatively, for greater precision, you can just use your fingers. You will be able to feel when the wax has been worked into the paint, and your body heat will help melt the wax a little. Rub in the wax using an up and down motion, going from the front to the back of the car and vice versa, the same way air flows over your car when you drive. Do not go in circles, as if there is any grit on your cloth or fingers, you will make a circular scratch, which will be much more visible than a linear scratch. Work the wax in until the surface looks slightly hazy, then move on to another section of the car, since most waxes apply better when the haze is allowed to dry. Next, you need to buff out the haze with a soft 100% cotton cloth. Always make sure that there is no grit stuck on your cloth, and change cloths frequently. Once you have gone over the whole car, buff it again for extra shine. If you used a carnauba-based wax and there are cloudy areas, mist with a small amount of water and rebuff. If the humidity is very high, the wax may not dry and so the entire car may appear cloudy. To cure this, simply leave the car in the sun for a few days and then rebuff.
	How to protect your car's exterior and interior rubber and vinyl. The same environmental exposure to sun, heat and dirt that damage your car's paint, can also attack exposed rubber and vinyl, such as bumpers, tires, dashboards and leather. By using protectant products you can minimize this damage, while keeping your car looking its best. If there is painted rubber or vinyl on your car, such as a painted bumper, this can be protected with regular car wax, the same as the rest of your car's paint. For unpainted rubber or vinyl, there are a variety of protectants available to produce either a matt finish or a high gloss, depending on your taste. It is particularly important to protect your car's tires if is not driven, as tires depend on wax squeezed up to the surface as the car is driven to protect them from damage by UV light and ozone, that can cause dry rot. Dashboards are especially vulnerable to becoming dried out and eventually cracking from constant exposure to the sun and heat, so a good moisturizing protectant should be used regularly on your dashboard. The same goes for any leather you have for upholstery or anywhere in your interior. In places where direct sun and heat is a problem, a sun shade in your windshield is highly recommended and can be a lifesaver. This will keep your car's steering wheel from getting burning hot, as well as keeping the entire car a bit cooler and saving your dashboard. Beware of products including raw silicone oil or formaldehyde, as these can dissolve wax and actually accelerate damage to your car's rubber or vinyl. All of these products can be found at your local auto parts store. Just ask which product is best for your particular needs, and they'll be glad to help you pick out what's best for you.
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