Help me keep my car pretty!

March 4, 2013 5:35 AM

I just got a new Hyundai Elantra and I want to keep it looking good for the long term, inside and out. What can I do to protect and preserve it? Is there some kind of film that can be applied to the hood to keep it from chipping? Should I Scotch-Gard the seats & carpet? I'm in AZ, how do I protect it from the sun?
posted by mattholomew to Travel & Transportation (10 answers total)

What can I do to protect and preserve it? Is there some kind of film that can be applied to the hood to keep it from chipping?

There are, but generally it makes the paint look different underneath it (during and after removal) so it is a permanent thing and only removable if you don't mind being able to tell where it used to be which, to me, defeats the object. You'd have to respray the bonnet (hood, to you) to hide the line over time when you remove it, so respraying for stone chips is just as expensive and doesn't look weird in the meantime. As long as you are diligent about cleanliness of the bonnet and touch up the stone chips before they sit too long to minimise the damage (water and dirt direct on the metal is bad) then you will minimise wear and tear, which is more important to me.

Honestly, the best thing you can do is keep it washed (including under the body), waxed and park it out of the sun as much as you can. It is a car, so it will get wear and tear, the best route is not to worry excessively about avoiding it, but correct treatment afterwards.

I mean, obvious stuff like don't go flat out down gravel roads, don't follow gravel or large farming trucks too close (high stone damage likely) is smart, but avoiding all stone chips isn't likely.
posted by Brockles at 5:49 AM on March 4, 2013

I knew a guy from Arizona who put carpeting on the dashboard to protect it from the sun and heat. It was all custom cut, and he said everyone in Arizona does it, so maybe ask your dealership where to get some? It wasn't shag or anything, just the kind of carpet that was on the floor of the car. He was also religious about a sun screen in the windshield whenever the car was parked in uncovered parking.

What material are your seats made out of? That will help people make specific suggestions. Down South, ArmorAll is popular both for dashes and leather or fauxleather seats to keep them soft and smooth.
posted by mibo at 6:01 AM on March 4, 2013

Park it in a garage or at least a carport to avoid sun damage, bird droppings, etc. keep it clean, but don't take it through mechanical car washes, which are horrible for the paint, and leave lots of little scratches in it. Do all the regularly scheduled maintenance on it, and fix anything else that the mechanic notices is damaged or worn at these times. In five years you're going to care a lot more that everything still works properly than whether the paint is a little less shiny than it used to be.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 6:38 AM on March 4, 2013

In Arizona you have to be very careful with the plastic/leather/pleather parts of your car.

I've heard anecdotal stories about using armor all or stuff like that, basically how it will cause cracking and fading in the long run.

Here's a link to a dash cover.

Don't eat or drink in the car if you want to keep the interior nice. (You may do this while you have new car smell, but ultimately, you'll get some fries in the drive thru and you'll drop a couple between the seat and the hump and then you'll have fossilized french fries.)

Nth the windshield sun shade. Also a bit of legal tint on the windows should help keep your upholstery unfaded.

If you have leather interior, you may want to have lambskin-type seat covers for the summer, to prevent burns.

Also, when I lived in AZ, we draped a towel over the steering wheel to prevent blistering on palms. Ditto the metal parts of your seat belts.

And as always, you can drive in oven mitts.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 7:01 AM on March 4, 2013

I have a 2008 Elantra, and depending on the year of your Elantra, yours may differ a little bit.

I know people have made a lot of good suggestions here, but for me, the part that began to wear/peel first is the shiny reflective chrome paint on the interior of the car. So, for example, I have a little bit of chrome paint on the rim of the A/C knobs, but it began to chip-off once I hit about 50,000 miles, just from normal wear. I don't think the paint adheres to the surface of the knobs very well, but you might be able to put some kind of sealent over it to keep it from rubbing off. Or you could try to turn the knobs without touching the paint.

Also, keep you to date with your maintenence. Hyundai is very good on following up with their warranty, but only if you keep up with the maintence on your car. For example, I just got a transmission replaced free of charged through the warranty, but I have heard others that haven't been so lucky because they didn't change out the transmission fluid as often as as specified in the manual.
posted by nikkorizz at 7:02 AM on March 4, 2013

The film for the hood is typically called "clear bra." There are several brands, some better than others. In my opinion, if you want to do it, you really should cover the entire hood and fenders, not just the front part as some people do. This eliminates the line issue Brockles refers to. You also want to make sure you use a high quality product (Xpel Ultimate is the current gold standard imho) and have it done by someone who really knows what they're doing. All of this adds up to a fairly expensive project (I believe the last one I had done ran about $1500, but I also had some extra stuff added). But I really think it's the only way to do it. If you're not willing/able to pay to have it done right, you're probably better off doing without. I've seen some clear bra installations that look horrible. On my cars, you can't even tell it's there.
posted by primethyme at 7:35 AM on March 4, 2013

Stop fretting about it. I used to sell new cars for living and saw people do this to themselves constantly.

You don't have a new car anymore, the second you drove it off the lot, it became a used car. Used cars have paint chips and dings and scratches.

Unless you're driving habits are abnormal in some way, like you drive to work on a gravel road every day behind a bunch of other cars, there is nothing special you need to do.

As others have said, keep it clean, keep it waxed, keep up with the maintenance, and keep a roof over it if you can. Do that much and it will still be in great shape when you're ready to replace it.

A minor note about washing and waxing. Regular soap (a lot of people use dish soap) will strip the wax from the finish. Some people with show cars will wash and dry their cars, then spread straight dish soap over it specifically the strip off the wax. Then another rinse and dry before putting fresh wax on it. Make sure you use something made specifically for automotive applications.

When you wax it, use basic Carnauba wax and follow the directions. An orbital (not rotary) buffer is a good investment to save time and energy. It makes applying and removing the wax FAR easier and orbital buffers are pretty much idiot proof.
posted by VTX at 9:18 AM on March 4, 2013 [1 favorite]

I got fancy-pants and expensive seat covers for my minivan -- from Wet Okole -- because in my last car somebody spilled an Ensure and no amount of cleaning can get that smell out. But other than that, I agree with VTX -- chips are going to happen. The Car Talk guys think all new cars should come with one big scratch down the side just to get the inevitable out of the way.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:21 AM on March 4, 2013

Honestly? Keep it out of the sun as much as possible, preferably in a garage (not just under a cover). I have a 2005 Elantra, and while it's holding up pretty well, the finish on plastic parts started to visibly degrade almost exactly when I started parking the car outside (I'm in Texas). The paint on the metal parts is holding up really really well, but the clear coat on the plastic parts (spoiler, rear view mirrors) has largely bubbled off.

Regular (but not too frequent) waxing helps the exterior finish.

As for the inside, that's really holding up much better than the outside.

Be careful about seat covers; you don't want to do anything that will interfere with any airbags in your seats.
posted by Doohickie at 9:34 AM on March 4, 2013

We've had our Wet Okole seat covers for about a year and love them. We also have WeatherTech floor liners and the carpet underneath still looks brand new.
posted by DakotaPaul at 4:47 PM on March 6, 2013