If your car was recently sideswiped by another vehicle, you may have noticed a few scratches in your paint along the side of your car. Although the damage may not appear to be much, you should not ignore those scratches, as they could wind up causing even more damage to your car's paint and body if you do not have them repaired.
1. Scratches Can Lead to Future Paint Loss
When the paint is first applied to your car, it is hardened with heat and covered with a thin, protective clear coating. This coating protects the paint from the ultraviolet rays of the sun so that it does not fade, as well as gives it some protection from minor impacts.
However, if someone sideswiped your car enough to leave scratches in the paint, even if they were not deep, the clear protective coating has been compromised, and the paint damaged. Because the formerly hardened paint is exposed, it will be vulnerable to chipping and peeling, which will not only mar the beauty of your vehicle but also make any bare areas on your car's body grow.
2. Rust on the Car's Body Can Develop
Bare areas on your car's body do not only make your car look less attractive. Even the tiniest of scratches will expose the body to rain, snow, and ice. This exposure to moisture then leads to a potentially serious issue that can wreck the value of your car and cause extensive damage to your vehicle's body -- rust.
Because the areas on the car's body that have experienced scratching, peeling, or chipping are no longer protected by paint or the top coating, moisture can penetrate into the underlying metal. This moisture then causes oxidation that will eat away at the metal, which will weaken the integrity of the body and eventually cause holes in it.
This rust will not only affect the immediate areas where the paint is missing. Water will be able to seep into the metal that still has paint on it and cause unseen rust, so you may not even know what is happening.
If you have just been sideswiped or have been putting off having the scratches repaired, now is the time to start thinking about having something done about them. Contact an auto collision repair service, like Collisions Plus Performance, so they can inspect the damage and discuss your options for getting rid of the scratches and protecting your car's body from further damage.
