20 Ways in 4 Installments to Help Destroy Your Audi’s Finish

[source: Zymol]

Despite the renewed driving excitement of good Spring and Summer weather and having the best of intentions, many owners actually damage their vehicles with every cleaning. 

Over time, armed with just an old bucket, a bottle of dish detergent, a towel and a can of randomly selected car something, owners who really care can achieve results that would make a group of vandals gasp with envy !! 

In most cases, we manage to do more damage in Spring and Summer using our old cleaning techniques that we sort-of taught to us.

In an effort to help car owners protect, preserve or even restore their vehicles’ finishes Chuck Bennett of Zymöl offers a list of 20 satirical common tactics that many people use to destroy their car’s finish.

The first 5 tactics are available from the Zymöl and the Audi Club who wants to point out avoiding these tactical pitfalls can actually keep your car protected and beautiful. Proper care of your car’s finish has never made more sense.

Here are the first 5 errors of commission and omission:

1. Do nothing, the rain will wash the car.
For any number of reasons, this has become an increasingly popular option. Many owners think that the presence of a clear coat finish on their car means that they do not have to do anything more than give the vehicle an occasional wash, if that. Actually, the clear coat process does not protect the paint. It is used to add depth and brilliance to the finish. “A clear coat is nothing but paint without pigment,” said Bennett. That means it not only should be treated with the same care you would give a color coat of paint, it actually must be treated more carefully as residual salt, salt acids from the road and sand scratches on its surface will dull the apparent brilliance and depth of the color coat underneath. So even with a clear coat finish, a caring car owner should frequently wash his or her car and properly care for the finish with quality non-abrasive cleaners and natural waxes.

2. Use a one-step Polish or Spray that claims to eliminate the need to wash the car first.
Failure to wash the car first means that all the salt, surface dirt, salt acid deposits, road tar, mud and silt on the car will be ground right into the paint. That will have a devastating effect on your finish.

3. Bake the car in the Summer sun before washing and waxing it.
By doing this the car owner will not only guarantee having to cope with hard-to-remove water spots, but the hot surface will also give the solvents used in many commercial waxes an opportunity to attack and dissolve your top layer of paint.

4. Let the wax harden onto the paint before removing it.
Some owners actually drive around waiting for the wax to become really dry (they think hard) before removing it. This delayed removal only gives products that rely on solvents more time to etch the paint. In addition, driving the car before removing the wax means that road grit will be present to scratch the surface when the owner finally does get around to buffing the job.

5. Compound the paint before you apply wax, Dad did!
Using any abrasive compounding paste or wax on today’s paints will result in costly damage. The compounding material can quickly remove not only oxidized paint, but also enough good paint to expose the primer. At this point, the only solution is to repaint. Clear coats should never be compounded at all with any old-style abrasives. If you see a stain or blemish you feel you cannot remove, take your car to a professional who can.

Join us next time when we talk about the Chrome, Rubber and Vinyl surfaces you can destroy!

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