Tips on making your car monsoon-safe
Downpours=damages to your car. Whether it’s water-stains, mud splotches, damage due to rainwater contamination, acid levels or corrosion – anyone with a car they love knows that monsoons spell tough times. Not to mention, the nightmare that is driving through heavy rains. That’s why we’ve put together a short list of tips you can follow this rainy season to protect your car from damage as far as possible, while ensuring a safe, hassle-free drive.
- Exterior protection and maintenance: A car treatment such as an Opti-Coat Ceramic Coating prevents your car’s exteriors from getting damaged in rains, as it makes it hydrophobic and resistant to chemicals and corrosion. If your car is not yet treated, ensure that you at least wipe it down every day to remove muck, leaves, twigs or dirt and prevent it from settling on your paint.
- Avoid car covers: While using a car cover might seem like the most obvious way to protect your car from the rain, the truth is that it’s simply a bad idea. The cover may protect your car from the rain, falling leaves or twigs, but once the sun is out and the rainwater dries up, the car cover can stick to your car’s paint coat and peel it off when the cover is removed.
- Protect the underbody: Spray a mixture of diesel and used engine oil on the underside of your car to protect the valuable mechanical parts from moisture and grime, and also prevent rusting. Be careful to avoid the engine/exhaust areas as it may cause a fire hazard, and the brake discs as it may hinder efficient braking.
- Interior protection and maintenance: Your car seats and interiors bear the brunt of muddy shoes, stains and water splashes. While it is imperative to use interior protection treatments such as Opti-Guard Leather and Opti-Guard Fabric to ensure the lifelong protection of your interiors from stains, tearing and damage, you can also take other small steps to protect your interiors such as covering them with newspaper and towels at all times during rains. Remember to frequently get rid of wet newspapers.
- Prevent fogging with the defogger and AC: Service your AC before the monsoons to ensure that the AC filter is working to reduce moisture in the car, and use the defogger to prevent fog on your windscreen. If you do not have a defogger, you can use the blower speed on full in fresh-air mode and direct it appropriately. Avoid removing fog with a towel as it could leave streaks.
- Tire maintenance: This is crucial to a safe drive in the rains. Frequently check your tires and make sure that they are not too worn, as they undergo a great deal of wear and tear to provide adequate grip in the rains. Ensure your tires have a strong tread, on both the rear and front tyres, and always keep a spare tyre handy.
- Avoid the sides of roads: Simply driving in the centre lane can prevent an enormous amount of damage to your car. The centre is least likely to be clogged with water, while clogging usually settles on the sides.
- Clean your headlights: Visibility is essential in the monsoons. The best way to keep your reflectors clean and shiny is by using toothpaste (the white kind, not the gel variety) in circular motions, and then wiping it off with a wet cloth.
- Service and check wiring and battery: Ensure that all electrical components of your car are in good condition, as rainwater damage can be dangerous for both you and your car.
- Service and check brakes: Working breaks are crucial regardless of the weather, but especially necessary in monsoons. Check for leaks in the system and judders on the break pedal that indicate that your pads are worn out, and maintain them painstakingly to avoid skidding, long breaking distances and failure.
- Check the wipers: If your wiper blades leave water trails or smudges on the windscreen, ensure that you replace them. Since they have not been used for the duration of summer, the rubber on the wipers may have cracked. Also ensure that the wiper-washer fluids are always refilled.
A drive in the rain can be beautiful and refreshing – and if you’re a daily commuter, it’s simply unavoidable. If you follow these tips and remember to drive responsibly, we promise that both you and your car will be a 100% safe this monsoon.
Car paint losing its shine? Here’s why.
Here’s how Opti-Coat’s ceramic coating helps in Retaing the Shine of the Vehicle
Whether it’s the forces of nature, or sheer bad luck – we all know that nothing stays ‘new’ forever. While Opti-Coat provides the perfect solution to this, here are some of the primary reasons your car’s paint may be fading – along with tips on how you can prevent it.
1. Sunlight – or more accurately, ultra-violet rays from the sun.
The gloss of your car’s paint could literally last forever if you car was kept indoors for 90% of the day – but of course, that’s impossible! The main thing you can do to protect your car from the sun is park it in the shade, and store it in an enclosed garage whenever possible. Opti-Coat’s ceramic coating protects your car from UV damage – so a single Opti-Coat application gives your car paint protection from the sun for a lifetime.
2. Old-fashioned automatic car washes.
These use large, automatically rotating rough plastic brushes that can scuff the surface of your car, causing the top coat of paint to fade. Newer car-washes use gentler foam brushes that do not damage your car’s surface.
3. Oxidization due to salt.
Living by the sea isn’t necessarily glamorous for your car. The salt in the atmosphere can react with the surface of your car to cause oxidization, which corrodes the paint and leads to rust. Regular cleaning of your car helps remove salt coatings, and Opti-Coat’s ceramic coating systems can make your car impervious to oxidization.
4. Acid rain.
Pollutants in the air can lead to rainwater containing a Ph factor that leans towards the acid side of the chemical spectrum.
A car that is exposed to acid rain can fade due to chemical reactions of the rainwater with the paint’s finish. Regular cleaning of your car, along with Opti-Coat’s superior ceramic coating, can protect your car from all sorts of chemical damage.
As car-lovers, we understand that you’ll do your best to keep your car in optimum condition. Along with proper maintenance of your car, an Opti-Coat treatment will ensure that your car is invulnerable to all causes of damage. So your car’s paint stays fresh, shiny, and as beautiful as it was the day you bought it.