Automotive Archives - Automotive Common Issues & Solutions

How to Avoid Common Auto Body Problems

Auto-body problems may be inevitable. That’s because you can’t control how other people drive or when a hailstorm strikes and damages your vehicle. However, you can follow these tips to avoid common auto body problems.

Safe Driving

Practice defensive driving techniques to minimize the risk of accidents. Avoid aggressive maneuvers, excessive speeding, and sudden braking. Maintain a safe distance when driving to reduce the chances of collisions.

Parking Carefully

Park in designated parking spaces whenever possible. Avoid parking too close to other vehicles to prevent scratches and dings from car doors or shopping carts. Be cautious of low-hanging trees or structures that may cause damage.

Rust Prevention

Wash your vehicle regularly, especially during winter or in areas with high humidity or salted roads. Salt and moisture can lead to rust formation, so rinse the undercarriage thoroughly to remove any salt or debris.

Paint Protection

Apply a high-quality wax or sealant to protect the paint from UV rays, pollutants, and contaminants. Avoid abrasive materials and harsh chemicals when cleaning the vehicle’s exterior to prevent scratches or damage to the paintwork.

Avoid Harsh Weather

Please park your vehicle in a covered or sheltered area to protect it from extreme weather conditions like hail, heavy rain, or excessive heat. If you can’t find shelter, use a car cover to provide some protection.

Be Mindful of Door Dings

Be cautious when opening your vehicle’s doors in tight parking spaces or alongside other vehicles. Open doors slowly and check for clearance to avoid hitting nearby cars or objects.

Check for Signs of Damage

Inspect your vehicle for damage signs, such as scratches, dents, or chips in the paint. Addressing minor damage can prevent it from worsening and becoming more costly to repair.

Maintain Adequate Insurance

Ensure you have appropriate auto insurance coverage that includes comprehensive and collision coverage. And this will help protect you financially if your vehicle sustains damage due to accidents, weather events, or other covered incidents.

Choose a Reputable Auto Body Shop

If your vehicle requires auto body repairs, choose a reputable and certified auto body shop. Research their credentials, read reviews, and ensure they have experience working on your vehicle’s make and model.

Following these tips can minimize the likelihood of common auto body problems and keep your vehicle looking and performing its best.…

Why You Should Protect Your Car from Bird’s Poop

Automotive

Many people don’t think birds can damage their vehicles. Despite being small, birds can cause a lot of damage to the exterior of your car if you don’t take steps to protect it.

Birds Droppings Are Acidic

Bird droppings comprise uric acid, which is highly corrosive and acidic. It breaks down paint and metal over time, causing unsightly spots and pitting on the surface of your car. Not only do these marks look bad, but they can also significantly reduce your vehicle’s value when it’s time to sell or trade it in.

How to Protect Your Car from Birds’ Damage

You should always park your car in a garage or covered parking area when possible. If this isn’t an option, be sure to wash the exterior of your car regularly with soap and water or use special cleaners designed for removing bird droppings from vehicles. Remember to check underneath the car too. Consider applying a protective coating such as wax or sealant to your car’s exterior to help protect the paint from corrosion.

If you ever park in an area with many birds, it is vital to take extra precautions. Cover your car with something like a tarp or blanket when it isn’t in use so that birds don’t have easy access to its surface. Also, invest in a bird-repelling device such as a sonic repeller or reflective tape. These devices scare away birds and keep them away from your vehicle.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your car remains safe from the potential damage caused by birds and their droppings. Remember to regularly clean and protect your car’s exterior so that it stays looking great for years. Take the necessary steps now, and you’ll be glad you did when your vehicle is still shining like new down the road!…

How to Prepare a Car for Painting

Automotive

Understanding how to properly prepare a car before painting it is a game-changing move. Following the procedure carefully streamlines the entire process and ensures you obtain impressive outcomes.

You must bring everything you’ll use during the exercise before you start. Additionally, you must select an ideal location for the painting process. Suitable areas for painting a car have minimal dust and are well-ventilated. Below is a detailed painting preparation procedure for a van.

Auto Body Inspection

You can’t paint a car whose body has cracks, dents, and other damages. The structural inconsistencies are unfavorable because they interfere with paint adherence and overall work quality. So, the first step entails a thorough body inspection to identify and repair any damages before subjecting the car to the painting process.

Sanding the Car

Sanding involves uniformly scratching off the current coat from the body surfaces using a sanding pad. It’s essential because it smoothens the target surfaces for adequate paint adherence to the car body. Even though it takes a lot of time and paint, sanding until you reach bare metal surfaces produces the best painting results.

Cleaning the Body

Cleaning for painting purposes is done using a rag soaked in an organic solvent such as thinner, alcohol, or a mineral spirit. Wiping the car body surfaces with the rag removes any oil residues that might interfere with paint adherence to the body.

Covering Areas You Don’t Intend to Paint

This step is very critical when preparing a car for painting. It prevents the paint from getting to sections you don’t want to repair. These include the windshield, bumper, window glasses, and rims. You can easily do this by taping used newspapers onto the target parts.

Priming the Body

Priming is essential before painting a car if the technicians sand it until bare metal surfaces. You’ll apply a primer to guard the car body against corrosive substances during the process. Perform mild sanding after the primer has appropriately dried to make the car ready for actual painting. …

Is Paintless Dent Repair Suitable for My Car

Automotive

Maybe, another driver scratched your car, or you just hit it on a solid wall. But no matter the course of its damage, there’s always an ideal solution to repair it. Feel the actual value of your auto body repair services using efficient methods like Paintless Dent Repair (PDR). As the name suggests, PDR is a unique procedure facilitating dent removal without using paint.

Why Go For a PDR Option?

Taking your car for a Paintless Dent Repair restoration opens your way to numerous benefits. For example, the process doesn’t need any material, thus making it highly cheap. Unlike conventional dent removal procedures, PDR doesn’t need paint reapplication or filling of cracked surfaces.

Instead of employing inferior methods like panel beating, the technicians use specialized tools to restore the shape of your van safely. As a result, the process is way cheaper than conventional auto body repair procedures.

The other thing surely making Paintless Dent Removal a better car body restoration option is how fast it is. Instead of spending several days panel beating and applying filler material, a PDR exercise usually takes a maximum of one day. So, Paintless Dent Repair is ideal if you want to create time to attend to other daily commitments.

PDR also retains the car manufacturer’s quality in various aspects. For instance, this advanced auto body repair process keeps the car’s original paint intact, which always looks more attractive and has an extended lifespan. Most reapplied paints don’t last. They also lose their intended colors quickly due to environmental factors like rainfall and high temperatures.

However, you need to note that not all types of damages qualify for a Paintless Dent Repair. Some will force you to go for the traditional restoration procedures, no matter how inconvenient. Don’t forget that working with a reliable car body shop minimizes challenges and guarantees you an excellent finish.…

Mistakes People Make When Handling Car Hail Damage

Automotive

For those living in places that experience hail storms frequently, dealing with car hail damage is not new. Car hail damage can be costly. Yet, you may find yourself having to deal with it sometime. Once your car gets hail damage, you should know some common mistakes to avoid.

DIY

Trying to repair car hail damage through DIY is the first option for some people. But this mistake is prevalent. Car hail damage requires some specialized skills and equipment that you may not have. So, instead of repairing the hail damage, you may end up causing more damage to the car. Always take the vehicle to an auto body shop for repair.

Assume That Cheaper Is Better

Finding the cheapest auto body shops is a great bargain for some people. However, a common mistake is to assume that cheaper is always better. Going for low-cost repair can end up causing more damage to your car. Therefore, consider the quality of services at the auto body shop vis-à-vis the cost of repairing car hail damage.

Failure to Do Due Diligence

Many people will follow the advice of their insurance provider regarding where to take the car for hail damage repair. However, insurance companies tend to go for cheaper auto body shops in exchange for more business appointments from insurance claims. Always research the available shop and seek other vehicle owners’ opinions before deciding the best auto body shop to take your car for repairs.

Ignoring the Damage

Some people will ignore the hail damage on their cars. Whether they assume the damage is too minor or otherwise, missing it can have negative repercussions. For one, when you decide to sell the damaged car, the price will be lower because of the dents that you ignored. The hail damage could also get worse with time.

Final Thoughts

Knowing people’s mistakes when handling car hail damage can help you avoid them. Also, you can work with experts at an auto body repair shop to achieve better results.…

Primary Steps in Collision Repair

Automotive

You don’t know when you’ll need car collision repair services. Therefore, to be on the safest side, you want to master all the steps from first to end. While most procedures are the same for all auto body repair facilities, a few vary depending on your choices. The following are the main steps in collision repair.

Damage Assessment & Cost Estimation

Assessing the severity of damages on your van helps estimate its restoration costs accurately. It’s the first step immediately after getting involved in a road accident. If you don’t have a specific collision center that always maintains your car, you’ll want to do some online study to identify the best option. But if you already have one, you’ll call to notify them of the incident.

Some car body repair agencies will send a team to assess your car at the site, while others will send a towing crew to take it to their facility. Thanks to the internet, you can now fill out a quotation form online and submit the details together with the pictures of your damaged van. Assessment usually takes just a few hours to complete.

Auto Body Disassembling

Even though some damages are usually on the surface and easily accessible, others are deeper into the body. And this requires disassembling the body first before repairing it. Hire a reputable collision repair shop to avoid further damages during the process.

Repair

Repair is the core step during which technicians use specialized tools to remove various car body damages. Some of the processes include; hail damage removal, dent removal, repainting, frame straightening, bumper repair or replacement, and windshield repair, among others.

Auto Body Assembling & Quality Assessment

After performing all the necessary repair work, the technicians carefully assemble every part back to its position. Next, another team performs a quality assessment to ensure your car is safe and ready to get back to the road. …

What are top 10 Automotive Common issues and Solutions

Automotive

1. Starting problems – If your car is having trouble starting, it could be due to a number of issues. It could be something as simple as a dead battery, or it could be something more serious like a fuel system issue.

2. Engine performance issues – If your car’s engine is misfiring, or not running as smoothly as it should, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as dirty spark plugs, or it could be something more serious like an engine sensor issue.

3. Transmission problems – If your car is having trouble shifting gears, or the transmission is slipping, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as low transmission fluid, or it could be something more serious like a worn clutch.

4. Brake problems – If your car is having trouble stopping, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as worn brake pads, or it could be something more serious like a leak in the hydraulic brake system.

5. Suspension problems – If your car is not riding smoothly, or if the handling feels off, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as worn shocks or struts, or it could be something more serious like a broken suspension component.

6. Electrical problems – If your car’s lights are dimming, or the electrical system is acting up, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as a loose connection, or it could be something more serious like a failing alternator.

7. Tire problems – If your car’s tires are wearing unevenly, or if they are losing air pressure, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as low tire pressure, or it could be something more serious like a worn tire tread.

8. Cooling system problems – If your car is overheating, or if the engine is running hot, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as a low coolant level, or it could be something more serious like a leak in the cooling system.

9. Exhaust system problems – If your car’s exhaust system is making strange noises, or if it is leaking, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as a loose connection, or it could be something more serious like a cracked exhaust manifold.

10. Fuel system problems – If your car is having trouble starting, or if it is running out of fuel quickly, it could be due to a number of different issues. It could be something as simple as a dirty fuel filter, or it could be something more serious like a clogged fuel injector.

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