Fixing Car Dents and Damaged Paint

A car owner is responsible for tracking all the repair and upkeep needs of their vehicle, and this may range from painting a car (that may be easier than it sounds) to visiting a car body shop to pound dents or even effect windshield replacement. Dent repair and glass repair or replacement are best done with professionals at an auto body shop, but painting a car can be a DIY project if the owner knows what to do. How can painting a car work out? And how might a car suffer from dents or a cracked windshield?

Painting a Car

All cars come with coats of paint on them, and at a factory, a car will have primer placed on its body, followed with layers of paint and a glossy finish to protect that paint. Statistics show that in the auto paint industry, white, black, gray, and silver are considered “neutral” car colors and prove popular across North America. White, in particular, is a popular car color, though cars can also be green, red, blue, or even other, more exotic colors.

Rust and age may chip away paint and leave ugly spots on the vehicle, and of course a collision with another object (or even just a scrape) may put scratches on a car’s paint coat. In serious cases, an incident may scour off a whole patch of paint, and that is not to be desired. If the paint and its protective coat are missing, then the body underneath is vulnerable to rust. Sometimes, a car’s paint may become compromise due to vandalism, and a vandal may strike a car’s body with objects or even drag a sharp object on the surface to put ugly scratches on its paint and makes you want to start removing those annoying scratches yourself.

If a car owner is unwilling or unable to touch up their car’s paint, they can take their car to a local auto shop, where experts may apply new primer, paint, and finisher as needed. In some cases, though, the new paint being applied may be similar but not the the same as the current paint, and the owner must be prepared for that to be the case. Car paint colors can be quite exact, after all. But in other cases, painting a car is very doable for a car owner. To do this, the owner should open the hood and look for a sticker on the barrier between the engine and passenger area of the car. There, the owner may see the code for that car’s exact color, and they can order the paint online. Once that paint arrives, the owner may scour the affected area to clean it up, apply primer (and allow it to dry), then apply a few layers of paint. Once the paint is dry, finisher can be applied, and that will need time to dry off, too. The result is a touched-up coat of paint that shows no signs of previous damage or defects. As as mentioned earlier, this can protect the underlying body from rusting due to exposure.

Dents and Windshields

A car’s body and windshield are tough, but hardly indestructible. A glancing blow against another car can dent a car’s body or rims, and striking objects such as fire hydrants or street lights can dent the car’s body, too. In some cases, a truck carrying cargo may accidentally release that cargo if the restraints come loose. Bricks or other objects may go flying and strike cars behind the truck, denting their bodies and cracking the windshield. Large hail is also a hazard, and hail of a sufficient size can put many dents on a car and crack its windshield. Vandalism is another threat, when a vandal strikes a car with an object such as a tire iron, or throws heavy items at it.

Car dents are ugly and disrupt the car’s aerodynamic qualities, and they harm a car’s resale value. So, the owner must take their car to an auto dent repair shop and ask the crews there to remove any affected part of the car’s body and pound out the dents from the other side, car repair shops usually recommend paintless dent repair services for this. This can also be done for the hubcaps and rims, which are made of aluminum. Cracked windshields and rear windows, meanwhile, can be removed and replaced entirely.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *