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Winterizing cars and SUVs

Protecting your pride and joy and one of your biggest investments this winter. The car has become an extension of the personality of its owners, as well as representing a large part of our hard-earned income. Let’s face it, as Americans we love our cars. We want them to look good, navigate smoothly, and last a long time. Then, of course, there is the weather. Man constantly adapts to his environment and adapts to its climate. We put things on the roads so that we can drive in any weather without fear of becoming the next human-powered hockey puck.

During the winter months, different agencies apply different things to the roads to keep them manageable, like salt, sand, and chemicals like de-icing chemicals, which are environmentally friendly but can destroy a regular wax job. Magnesium sulfate works great to keep cars from sliding into railings and ditches, but it plays hell on car finishing. With rust and corrosion threatening to destroy your investment and reduce the value of your car by thousands of dollars, the stakes get high. We may not yet be able to control the weather, but we can bring you the advice of years of experience and industry knowledge to help you minimize your risk, fight frost, and work with Mother Nature to coexist and navigate successfully. in the winter. How can you win the war in winter?

Winter is coming and it will soon be in full swing. The roads will be packed with tourists and fans of outdoor sports. You and your car must be ready. We know from experience that bare metal will rust when exposed to moisture and aggressive elements. Take a look around your car, is there any paint chips? Even small chips can allow moisture to penetrate under your car’s finish and work its way through metal. It goes without saying that holes in your car won’t improve your chances of getting a good resale value. And if your car is on a lease, they will hit you hard when they return it. There are several things you can do to take care of these chips now. To find a chip repair technician, go to Paint Bull’s website and find one of their 500 mobile chip repair dealers. If you have a fiberglass body or a mostly plastic car, like a Saturn, it may not be as critical if you have a chip or two.

Every car that goes through harsh winter climates needs some type of underlayment. There are many options. You can go to your local auto parts store, buy a can of primer and spray it yourself or you can go to any auto detail company and do it for around $ 80-100. There are some detail companies that have multiple stores across the country, as well as mobile units, that can provide you with this base layer. You can also go to the ziebart website, they have 216 stores nationwide. They have been closing stores at a rapid rate of around 30 per year. They charge around $ 200-300 and will touch up the base coat job for free every year. They use this as a gimmick to get you to their store next year and sell you more stuff. Your warranty is of questionable value since if the store closes then who will make the warranty wok. Another problem with the lifetime warranty is that most people don’t own their cars for their entire lives.

If you own a truck or cargo van, you may want to consider siding. There are a few different types of coatings. Rhino Lining in Rhino Lining Wesbite has a rubber-like lining. An average bed costs around $ 300. There’s Line X, which is a harder liner on the Line-X and Permatech website, which has a really good liner that falls between Line X hard liner and Rhino liner plus gentle. All of these brands have hundreds of franchisees and dealers. You can conveniently search their websites to find a location near you. The current fee is around $ 300 for an 8ft bed and you can negotiate a bit with your local dealer.

What can you do to protect the paint on your car? Several things. It is important to understand the different types of wax and how they work against salt spray tests. Carnauba, the most popular wax name with consumers, will not hold up well in severe salt, thaw conditions in wet areas, or on magnesium chloride-soaked roads. However, it works well against roads that have been covered with sand. Teflon and silicone waxes do not work well in either of these conditions or in colder climates.

So what is the best modern wax for these winter settings? Polymers work best, but they are generally placed in liquid form and therefore applied in thinner layers. Multiple coats may be necessary to ensure protection lasts for more than three months. It is best to apply several coats and then reapply in three months. If you don’t feel like you want to do it yourself, you can call several companies that provide on-site service at home or in the office. National Detail Systems has more than 300 distributors.

Order polymer wax and ask for a multi-layer discount. Expect to pay $ 65-90 plus $ 15-25 for each additional layer from national detailing dealers. It will vary significantly from dealer to dealer. Car Wash Guys are priced standard and charge $ 35 for a polymer outer layer and charge $ 10 for additional layers. Many car washes also have an express detail service starting at $ 35-55. For a list of car washes and the new JD Powers Car Club website. This site is very useful. The website will give you a map of the closest car wash based on the zip code you entered. You can print it and drive and wax your car. Fixed-site car washes vary so much from operator to operator that it’s difficult to say how much the extra layers may cost – it may even depend on what day of the week you go, which manager is working, and how busy they are that day. You should try going on a Tuesday.

You may want to put a protective coating on your car mats. The very popular ScotchGuard product was recalled this year due to environmental issues in manufacturing and is no longer available. Blue Coral makes a similar aerosol product, although not as good as 3M’s former leading brand. With the new nylon woven genetic splicing in cotton plants, we are seeing a new generation of interior carpets in vehicles. It’s more durable, easier to clean, and holds up well under multiple steam cleaning passes. Perhaps a simple plastic covering over rugs might be your best option. Most of today’s minivans come standard with plastic covers, and if yours didn’t, you can buy plastic covers for next to nothing at any auto parts store.

There are also some very high-tech solutions for automotive protection. For window glass there is a hydrophobic treatment called Diamon Fusion. It prevents you from driving in heavy rain without the use of windshield wipers. A simple solution can be RainX, which can be purchased at any auto parts store for around $ 5. All of the companies listed in this article can also install RainX for you. Be sure to ask them to apply it to interior windows as well because it avoids unnecessary fogging when you don’t have the defroster set exactly right. The coatings industry has evolved and from NASA’s Space Program came a glass coating that is used on the tiles on the bottom of the space shuttle, which can be laid at room temperature. It gets 2 to 4 millimeters thick. Glass, of course, is impervious to moisture.

This new revolution in ceramic technology is also being perfected by the Japanese. PP&G, the leading automotive paint company, is also at the forefront of this new field and we may soon have a new and more advanced clearcoat for 21st century automobiles. That is the good news. We may see the launch of a new automotive clear coat that will make waxes obsolete for years to come. The bad news is that there is no substitute for waxes, topcoats and undercoats right now. You can pay now or pay later. You really should consider protecting your investment. If you don’t take this opportunity to plan your winterization strategy, Mother Nature already has a plan of her own and it will be here soon.

Many people will only keep their car for two years on a lease and then trade it in for a new model. So if there are no chips in the paint, you may just need a coat of polymeric wax and new wiper blades before winter. If you are going to keep your car for many years, protect your investment against the inevitable winter. Please note that most manufacturers’ warranties for body and paint do not cover damage caused by salt or the environment. If you pay attention to these simple things, you can ride through the winter without a problem as long as your tires are not recalled and you can still afford gas.

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