Along with causing sunburn and eye damage, ultraviolet radiation is the reason your car’s paint can appear to fade over time. Ultraviolet radiation carries energy that causes a reaction when it hits a surface, breaking molecular bonds over time. Eventually, ultraviolet radiation causes paints to fade and clear coats to yellow. UV is responsible for the ‘dulling’ of your car’s colour as the reflective surface becomes less reflective. You don’t have car paint that changes colour in the sun, it has just been damaged by UV light over many days and months.
Red cars take the full brunt of energy
Not all paints fade equally. While both paints, and technology to protect car paint from sun damage have come a long way over the years, it can never be completely prevented. As a general rule, red paint fades fastest, while white holds for the longest.
The reason for this is that red paint reflects red light and absorbs blue light, which is at a shorter wavelength of the light spectrum and has the most energy to do damage. Because of this, red is often perceived as the car paint that changes colour in the sun more than others.
It isn’t just the sun that causes paint fade
Unfortunately it isn’t just the sun’s rays that can cause your car to lose that showroom shine. Dust, dirt and grime, bug splatters and even salt can cause havoc. Animal products like bugs and bird waste contain acids, and road contaminants like dirt are abrasive. Basically, anything that gets on your car will eventually damage the clear coat surface, weakening its protection. This in turn speeds up the wear from UV light.
How to protect car paint from sun damage and other contaminants
Start by keeping your car clean. While it might seem obvious, too many people do not make a point of regularly washing and drying their car. Your car has a protective clear coat, and a good hand wash of your car will remove all the dust, grime, bug guts and bird droppings that eat away at this layer, keeping the paint looking good for longer.
You can get additional protection by using a ceramic paint coating, like Opt-Coat Pro+. This ceramic coating provides a long-term and extremely hard protective layer to help your car maintain that brand-new look. This additional layer of protection to your car is far stronger than the factory protection that comes with it. This will protect the car paint from sun damage as well as from road debris and harsh chemicals. For more information or to schedule an application for a paint guard, give us a call or contact us online at Solar Style.