Fixing Superficial Damage to Your Car
The owner of a car or pickup truck needs to keep it in good shape, and this means taking it to auto shops and paint shops regularly for care. Of course, driving safely is a great way to reduce the odds of a car accident, but all the same, some hazards might come out of nowhere, and put dents or scratches on the car’s body, or even crack its windshields or windows. Should this happen, repairing dents from hail can be done at an auto shop, and employees there can pound out dents on the body and clear up all the hail damage. These workers can also perform auto glass repair in many cases, and many workshops also offer auto paint services.
Body and Glass Damage
Cars and pickup trucks are tough, but their bodies are liable to suffer major dents or dings if they get into an auto accident, even a minor one. A person’s car will get dents if another car hits it, or if the car slides out of control in icy weather and hits a fire hydrant or a mail box, for example. And it’s not just auto accidents; repairing dents from hail is necessary if sufficiently large hail falls on the car, such as hail the size of golf balls or larger. But repairing dents from hail may not be necessary if the car owner checks the weather ahead of time for storm warnings and parks in a garage or under a similar roof. Meanwhile, a large tree branch may fall on a car and badly dent its hood or roof, and on the road, a truck’s contents might come loose (such as bricks or rocks) and go flying, and hit the cars driving behind that truck. And of course, vandals are known to throw objects at parked cars or strike them with objects such as tire irons.
Repairing dents from hail is done when workers at a shop remove an affected piece of metal and pound out the dents from the other side to smooth out the surface, though some metal pieces, like the trunk, might need to be removed for this treatment. A car with dents in it is not only unsightly, but its aerodynamic qualities are hampered, which reduces its fuel efficiency, and the car may have a low resale value. So, the dents are pounded right out.
On a related note, the car’s windshield may suffer cracks (lines or spiderweb cracks) from many of the hazards listed above, from hail to car wrecks to vandalism. Cracked windshields can’t be pounded back into shape, though; instead, a cracked windshield must be entirely replaced at an auto shop. A cracked windshield will greatly lower the car’s resale value, and the cracks may get bigger as the car is driven, or the glass may even shatter. A car with cracked glass will also struggle to pass a safety inspection.
Car Paint
Let’s not forget the car’s paint job. In fact, a car’s paint isn’t just for looks; it also acts as a protective skin, and the paint and sealant together can prevent the body from rusting. A car’s paint may get scratches or scrape off after an auto accident or if a tree branch falls on it, for example, and vandalism often takes the form of long scratches on a car’s body. Exposed metal may rust and the owner won’t like the car’s disfigured paint job, so the vehicle can be taken to a paint shop for help. Workers there can touch up the car’s paint job with similar colors, and the cost may vary based on the location and the extent of the damage. Professionals have a scale they can refer to for measuring car paint damage.
A skilled car owner can take care of this themselves. First, they open the trunk and check the barrier between the engine and passenger compartments, and find a sticker that states the car’s paint color code. Once the owner orders that paint and it arrives, the owner may sand down the affected area and apply primer. Then, they apply paint in a few layers, then add sealant to finish the job. Now the car seamlessly looks like new.