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S. Muralidhar

IT may sound absurd, but one quirk of the Indian car market is that though many middle-class households can afford a vehicle, they do not have their own garage or covered car park.

Most people still leave their cars parked on the street, right outside their homes or on the driveways of the apartment complexes. Several penny-wise, pound foolish car owners who would rather have more floor space inside their homes than keeping aside a decent sheltered area for the car do not realise the damage that over-exposure to the elements can cause to the cars.

The car when left unprotected is most vulnerable to damage from two of the most common and universal weather phenomena — rain and sun. The capricious Indian monsoon and the unrelenting summer pose a serious threat to your car's health. Here is how to protect it from heat and rain and keep your car's body healthy and shining for years.

Rain...

Keeping the car's paintwork sparkling is easier said than done. There are many special polishes and high-quality waxes available that temporarily improve the paint finish and give the car a lustrous look. But in the long term, the effect of chemicals in the car wash detergents, rust, corrosion from acid rain, and dents and scratches from loose gravel on the road are all potentially damaging for the car.

Of all these the most difficult to protect against is rust. The automobile industry estimates that the damage from rust to the cars and trucks will run into a few hundred crore rupees.

Rust is the naturally occurring phenomenon of metallic deterioration when water and oxygen come in contact with the metal in the car. The resulting corrosion of the metal tends to spread rapidly to the other areas of the car. Worse, rust can even be invisible, since once it sets in at one spot, it tends to travel under the paintwork and basecoat, all the time eating away at the metal.

So, protecting the car's metallic body panels and the underbody is important to ensuring a long life for the car. The heavy corrosion of metal that rust can cause will eventually weaken the floor of the car and may leave gaping holes in the body panels.

To protect the car from the ravages of rust, you should take both preventive and proactive measures. Preventive measures focus on stopping the occurrence and spread of rust. Rust occurs when the car's metal gets exposed. This essentially means that every time the paint and basecoat of the car gets scrapped away, there is potential for damage from corrosion.

Preventive measures will have to focus on detecting exposed metal in the car and ensuring that a quick touch-up job is done to prevent the formation of rust. Metal in the body panels and the underbody tend to get exposed when there are nicks from loose gravel, dents from a minor accident, scratches from other sharp objects, scrapes to the door's edges and that monstrous speed breaker that hit the bottom of your car as you crossed it praying that it should not.

Proactive measures to protect the car from rust will include getting a professional wax and buff job done for the car's painted surface once every six months.

The wax tends to wear off within that period and the more often you wash the car, the lesser will be the life of the wax job. A coat of polymer, such as Teflon, may be an alternative worth considering, but it may also be difficult to remove without damaging the paintwork. For the car's underbody, the best proactive measure to take for protecting it from rust will be to give it a coat of anti-rust at the authorised service station or other professional after-market outfit. Spray-on, underbody anti-rust coatings that are available in the market include brands such as 3M Schultz and Waxoyl.

Another point to remember is that you can not sit back and relax thinking that your car's underbody protection is covered by the manufacturer's underbody perforation warranty. These warranties are usually applicable only against manufacturing defects and so, cost of repairs from any subsequent damage will not be borne by the manufacturer or dealer.

... And shine

The sun's heat and radiation affects a number of materials in the car. Over the long term, starting from dulling, deterioration, and cracking and peeling of paintwork, the ultra-violet radiation from the sun also affects the life of dashboard plastic, seat upholstery and other plastic and rubber parts such as bumpers and window lining. Fading, discolouration and cracking are the common side effects of leaving the car often in the sun.

In addition to the long-term damage that the car's paint finish and interior parts suffer, there is the immediate side-effect that you feel when re-entering a car that has been left for a long duration in the sun. The steering wheel is hot, the air-conditioner does not appear to be doing a good job and the engine will tend to heat up faster.

Over-exposure to the sun can be avoided in a number of ways when it comes to protecting the car's paintwork. There are a number of spray on coatings and protective films that are available in the after market which offer properties, such as scratch and chip resistance, and a general protection for the car's paint from the effect of UV radiation.

A superior product that offers protection for the car's exterior and interior parts, and, in addition, keeps the car's interior temperature cooler by up to 25 degrees than an uncovered car under similar conditions is DuPont's Tyvek car covers. This is a simpler, less expensive and non-invasive way of keeping the car protected in Indian conditions. At the same time, the user will also be able to feel a difference in the ambient temperature of the car while re-entering.

Made of Tyvek, one of DuPont's renowned non-woven fabrics, these car covers act as a strong heat radiation barrier protecting the car by up to 60 per cent and hence keeping the interior cooler. DuPont also claims that Tyvek gives the car up to 88 per cent protection from the effect of UV radiation, which can affect the performance of electrical components in the long run.

Tyvek being a breathable, but water resistant material, these car covers also protect the car from water, chemicals, acid rain and stains that may be caused by bird droppings and falling fruit. The breathable feature of Tyvek helps prevent bubble patches and paint discolouration, by reducing the formation of mildew.

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