Protecting your car paint during the rainy season

The rainy season poses many problems and inconveniences for the motorists and commuters. Traffic in the metro turns from terrible to horrendous. This season also makes motorists a bit more religious everyday. We tend to recite prayers everytime we wade through flood in certain parts of our usual thoroughfare. Torrential pouring or just the occasional drizzle, rain makes any car enthusiasts most especially those detailing nuts (like me) work double time just to maintain the pristine condition of the car’s paint and interior.

Here’s my weekly car cleaning regimen during the rainy season:

I start off with cleaning the car with my usual car shampoo, Zymol. It not only smells good (banana scent), but from my personal observation, its formulation is mild enough not to strip off your wax.

Then I proceed to use claybar. I prefer mother’s clay bar. It may be more expensive than other clay bar in the market but the package includes two medium sized bars, plus a bottle of spray on quick detailer. It also comes with a microfiber cloth. ( By the way, you need not perform claying every weekend. To test if it’s time to clay, just run your fingers through the paint surface after a car wash. If you can feel grit and surface imperfections embedded like sand particles, then your car’s due for claying.)

Tips when claying: Do not scrimp on applying the QD (quick detailer) when you glide the clay across the surface. Sufficient lubricant will prevent the contaminants (the debris/ particles picked up by the clay in scratching your car. Never use a clay bar accidentally dropped on the floor.

After claying, I just rinse off the car with just water and dry it off with a waterblade then finally with a microfiber towel. The next phase is waxing. In waxing, I proceed to apply Mother’s Step 2 a.k.a. Sealer and Glaze. This product works great for dark colored cars like my black car. Sealer and glaze substantially improves the over all depth and shine of dark colored cars. I just apply a very light layer over the whole car and buff it afterwards by hand using microfiber towel.

During the summer, after Step 2, I use Mothers Reflections Top Coat. Aside from smelling really great, it is also easier to work with especially if you do your waxing by hand. I prefer Reflection over Mothers Step 3, which is a carnauba based wax. Though Step 3 is much durable, Reflections is a synthetic wax, which makes it easier to buff off than regular carnauba based waxes. But the downside is that durability- wise, carnauba based waxes last longer than synthetic waxes. But it’s really not an issue for me since I get to pamper my car almost every weekend..

Since summer is over, I switch from Reflections to Soft 99’s Rain Hop. From its name itself, it really is outstanding in terms of durability. Water beading on the surface is best I have seen among the myriad of products I have tested. But be careful though in applying it, avoid getting on your car’s plastic trims. It whitens plastic trims instantly. Also, spread the wax thinly. Otherwise, you’d have a hard time removing the residue when buffing it out by hand afterwards.

With regular application, I’m not worried about my car getting really trashed during the rainy season.

P.S.

Ill be posting pictures of the products soon.

Rainy Season

Thank God the rainy season has started. The general public will finally be spared from the heat stroke- inducing scorch of the sun. Cars’ cooling and air conditioning system will not be pushed to the limit. But this will not be guaranteed though. Because as we all know, rainy season also means that traffic condition will be worse. Much worse. No thanks to irresponsible people who do not know nay better when it comes to disposing their trash. Be it small items like candy wrappers, plastic cups, or even their household garbage.

Honestly, I’m not really sure if we’re better off now that we experience rain almost on a daily basis. After what we have been through with typhoon Ondoy, i myself am not comfortable traveling whenever rain pours so hard for a considerable length of time. The wet season also means that road accidents happen more often. This is due to the decrease in visibility of the motorists. My car has super black tint all around, including the windshield. Even though I have upgraded my headlights to a higher wattage all weather bulbs, coupled with relay, there are times that I can hardly see clearly when it starts to rain heavily. I’m about to consider upgrading to 3000k HID kits. But after much consultation and research, I’ve decided that unless I can afford to retrofit my headlight housing, I will not go the HID route. Why so, you may ask. Retrofitting your housing will maximize the light thrown off by the HID lamps. It will work better and will not cause any glare on the part of incoming vehicles. During rainy season, the road condition also worsens. No thanks to the sub standard quality of the materials being used for the construction and maintenance of our main thoroughfare, potholes emerge all of a sudden. What’s worse is that when a certain part of the street is flooded, you really have no chance of knowing where a pothole the size of a moon crater is located. One thing that also gets on my nerves during rainy season is the way those pedicab drivers zip through the road whenver there’s flood. It’s as if they have been privileged with the authority to counterflow, cut and even use the sidewalk in order for them to reach their destination.

The rainy season provides new set of challenges for commuters, motorists and the general public. It is best to be prepared and anticipate. Despite the problems rainy season brings, I love rain.

Stretch Your Fuel Mileage

Below are some of my personal tips on how to maximize every peso spent on every liter of fuel on your car.

1. Plan your trips. Traffic is heaviest during the rush hour period, 8-10AM and 4-6 PM most especially during Monday and Friday. If you intend to go somewhere using your car, try to avoid being on the road during the aforementioned time.
2. Check your tires. It is a good habit to check the tire pressure of your car once a week. You need not shell out a considerable amount for Nitrogen, which is the rave nowadays. Though Nitrogen tends to minimize air pressure drop better than the usual oxygen and provides a slightly improved riding comfort for you and your passengers, I really think it doesn't justify its steep price of P50.00 per tire. Just have your car properly inflated once a week at the gas station nearest your place and you're good to go. Under inflated tires increases resistance and requires the engine to work harder. Over inflating meanwhile decreases resistance at the expense of riding comfort. Just check your car's manual for the recommended tire pressure for your vehicle.
3. Mind your check up interval. Following the recommended interval for oil change does wonder for the efficient running of your engine hence resulting in better fuel mileage. If you can afford to switch from mineral to fully synthetic oil, I suggest you go for it. The improved engine performance justifies the slightly higher price tag, plus the interval between oil change is longer. From the usual 5,000 km interval when using mineral oil, you get to use a set of fully synthetic for 10,000km before the required oil change. Also, it is important to have your sparkplugs changed/ cleaned everytime you have your oil changed.
4. Clean your airfilter. Corollary to the principle of the Otto Cycle, also known as the principle of internal combustion, air is a primordial ingredient in keeping the engine running. When you have a dirty air filter, less air goes into the engine. Less air means less power. So you tend to step on the gas pedal harder in order for you to accelerate. I usually clean (because mine is an aftermarket not OEM) my air filter every 10,000km. When you are using OEM or stock air filter, I suggest you change the paper air filter every 20,000km. It is advisable to get the trusted aftermarket ones though. They provide excellent filtration and are reusable. You don't need to throw out air filters again. I personally use and recommend KNN. But there are some brands out there that are also reliable like AEM and HKS.
5. Check out your trunk. Remove unnecessary stuff from your trunk. Added weight requires the engine to work harder than usual.
6. Anticipate. When you are about to approach an intersection or a traffic sign, lift your foot from the gas pedal and practice coasting. If your car is fuel injected, it would be best to keep the transmission engaged in the highest gear when coasting and not putting in into neutral and go free wheeling. Various tests have shown that that coasting while on the highest gear cuts off fuel injection just as you lift on the gas pedal. Meanwhile, coasting on neutral is similar to putting your car on idle. It still injects fuel even though you're not stepping on the gas pedal. Regularly exercising this would improve your fuel mileage.
7. Unload the engine during hard acceleration. In cases wherein you need harder acceleration than usual, it is wise to turn off your air con meantime. When you have reached the desired speed, then you can turn on your air con again. This is because the air con runs on the the belt attached to the engine's flywheel. It causes parasitic drag on your car hence you have to put down your foot on the throttle to squeeze the desired power when the air con is also in operation. Try it some time, you can instantaneously feel the increase in power when accelerating when you turn the the air con off.
8. Stay on the sweet spot. The average speed when on a highway is 60- 80 KPH. If you want to save on fuel, just keep your speed within that range.

I hope you have learned something from the list I have given. Happy motoring.