I would be interested to know if the effect on a car's paintwork when it is kept in the open rather than garaged when not in use can be estimated, as compared to a car which is protected by garaging.Also the difference that metallic paint might make - and regular cleaning and waxing.
Denis
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Wife's red-colour Primera has stood outside since new in 1998. Red is reckoned to fade, but this one is OK. The paint faded a bit on the top of the (plastic) door mirror covers, but came up like new with a very gentle T-cut last month.
Gets washed about once a month or so, and wax about 3-4 times a year. No problems at all.
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I had a red renault 5 kept it outside for 5 years - only problem was discs rusted badly and needed replacing every 18 months and moss growing in the bottom of the window glass rubber seals - seemingly starting rust in the lower corners of the windscreen - but that may have happened anyway. Only washed a couple of times a year waxed once (sorry TWICE, just before selling!). Sadly neglected.
Suprised how well it put up with its treatment.
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Interesting point about the discs. My wife's is the 2.0i 'high performance' model (150bhp) and she mainly does short local runs at low speeds so I fully expected the discs to go rusty. In fact they are fine (the fronts now have about a 0.5mm lip); come to that the whole car has stood up very well. The only non-serice item its ever had was a new rear seatbelt retractor (under warranty) and there is no body rust at all.
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I would guess that with today's modern production techniques etc.there is no benefit at all in putting a car in a garage each night. More secure obviously but putting a damp car in a poorly ventilated garage would seem like a bad idea to me.
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Denis, my opinion for what it's worth ...
I don't think there is a straightforward answer to your question. The protection a garage gives depends a lot on how dry it is; a damp and unventilated garage is probably as bad for corrosion as leaving the car in the open, but a garage will give protection against deposits from factory chimneys, birds and lime trees, for instance.
I'm convinced that wax-washing the car once a week or so helps keep the paint surface in good condition, but of course the water will get down into the nooks and crannies and will dampen any salty mud that lurks there and so hasten corrosion.
I try to keep my own cars clean (including underneath, and in the engine bay!), I always garage them and I wax them two or three times a year, and the bodywork on them all is/was always in top condition.
I feel sure that metallic paint withstands the weather better than so-called 'solid' paint, though the difference may not be so marked with the modern water-borne paints which seem to suffer damage from bird droppings, etc, much more than the old solvent-borne paints and two-pack (cyanide-containing!) paints.
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Hello all
From what i have read solid red is prone to fading.
The only part on my car that has faded is the bonnet it is burgundy red maybe it is the heat from the engine who know's.
J Stephenson
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We have a runaround 8-year-old Peugeot 306 owned from new.
It's always been in the open and only hand washed with correct car wash (not washing-up liquid). It has never been polished.
The paintwork is fine and comes up shiny. Very impressed.
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I once had a car where the upper painted surfaces began to fade from glossy red to satin pink after about three years (mind you, it was an MG Maestro).
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My father had a red Audi 80.
Resprayed under warranty, due to the fact that the roof and bonnet were pink, just before its third birthday. (They probably hey agreed to it under warranty because it was going back off lease to the dealer who did the work).
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The only advantage a garage has is in the winter when you don't have to de-ice the car. There is also this thing about insurance; I've never checked but is a car cheaper to insure if it's kept in a garage overnight?
If you put the car in a garage you also lose valuable space for storing junk!
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This is a follow up to my original posting to thank everyone who has replied and for the very interesting aand useful information they have given.Although experiences have been mixed,looks as though the majority of owners who don't garage their cars have'got away with it'- so 'fingers crossed!!
Dizy mentioned a point about including the underneath when cleaning his car: presumably this is most important in the Spring to clean off any road salt deposits.Do you use a high pressure hose dizzy and how do you angle it upwards?! And is it a problem keeping water out of the engine compartment?
You also mention cleaning the engine compartment - how do you do that?
Regards to all -
Denis
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My experience of (somewhat elderly) metallics is that the lacquer starts to peel.
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My understanding is that solid red paint on modern cars is lacquered to protect against loss of pigment i.e. the red becomes pink due to the sun.
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Dizzy mentioned a point about including the underneath when cleaning his car: presumably this is most important in the Spring to clean off any road salt deposits. Do you use a high pressure hose Dizzy and how do you angle it upwards?! And is it a problem keeping water out of the engine compartment?You also mention cleaning the engine compartment - how do you do that?
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Denis,
I use an ordinary garden hose on the underside, especially under the wings, and try to do this after driving in wet conditions so that any trapped mud is soft and easily washed out. This is done two or three times a year, mostly in the Spring as you say. After cleaning, I run my fingers around the inner edge of the wheel-arches to make sure the mud's all gone, this being important on an old car like my 1972 Triumph 2500 (no plastic wheel-arch guards on this car).
I also hose plenty of water through anywhere that road salt may have entered, like the water drain passages in front of the windscreen pillars on the Triumph. This might seem a bit OTT but I think the results justify it - there's not a spec of rust on the outside and only the odd spot of very light surface rusting on the underside.
The engine bays in my Triumph and BMW were cleaned several years ago (5 years and 3 years respectively) with Gunk and very careful use of a pressure-washer. The engines in both cars are leak-free and I'm careful not to spill oil when servicing, so cleaning consists of no more than an occasional wipe-over with a rag, basically to remove dust and road-water splashes. There's usually a bit of dust trapped in the corners but I don't worry about this (I'm not a perfectionist, honestly!).
If the engine was oily, I would use an old paint brush and a proprietary engine cleaner, or something that was to hand like turps substitute, so as to loosen the oily dirt. Then, after leaving it to soak for a while, I'd give it a careful pressure hosing and/or wash it down with a warm detergent solution.
I now have a Rover 75 CDT, with the engine hidden under plastic and with electrical gadgetry everywhere, so my cleaning routine will probably not be extended to this car!
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