Faded Car Paint: What Causes It and How to Prevent It?

At Auto and Marine Detailing we understand that one of the worst things that can happen to your pride and joy is the paint fading. Not only does it make it look cloudy but it makes it look old. 

So what can cause this to happen to your car’s paint and how to restore faded car paint and prevent it from happening in the first place?

To begin, it is important we establish what kind of paint you have as certain manufacturers apply paint that is much more susceptible to fading.

For example, what is known as a “single stage paint” (which is when the colour and clear coat are mixed together) will fade a lot quicker when compared to a car where the base coat and clear coat were painted separately.

This is simply because when the clear coat is applied on top of the base coat, it will provide greater UV protection. 

It is also necessary to not only determine, but understand what other factors play a role in paint fade - these include but are not limited to; 

1. Sunlight

Arguably the harshest element of all is sunlight. It is well understood that UV rays have a detrimental effect. These rays affect the pigment in paint and as a result slowly break it out causing it to oxidise. 

Over time, the paint becomes visibly dull, rough and in more extreme scenarios, flake off.

The clear coat is constantly diminishing as the UV light penetrates it - This also introduces oxygen to the under-layer of paint and as heat is absorbed by the metal and speeds up the fading process. 

It is especially important if you have either a black or red car to take preventive measures in regards to faded paint on a car as it tends to affect those colours the most.

TIP: Avoid parking in direct sunlight while at work or home, unless we have applied one of the protection methods on your car, such as wax and ceramic coating.

2. Abrasive Clears

Can washing my car with the wrong products damage my paint?

Simply put, yes.

How you wash and take care of your car will contribute to whether your finish will continue to shine or fade. 

Those who wash and wax their vehicles, on a regular basis have a better chance of their vehicle’s finish staying in good condition. 

Damage caused by washing your car is typically caused by user error. 

There are many different types of soaps available to wash your car with - certain soaps will strip the protective layers off the paint, this then exposes it to the harsh elements and it begins to deteriorate and fade. 

The metal or plastic under the paint can then also start to become weak leading to it becoming rusty. 

It is important to never use dishwashing soaps, degreasing chemicals, and abrasive compounds as these are designed to strip the oils that make up the paints’ protective waxes.

However, it is equally important to have a correct cleaning method. For example, the “two bucket method” is preferred to avoid having excessive amounts of debris damage to the car’s clear coat. 

You will also want to purchase a soap to use for regular maintenance washes that is pH neutral. 

We at Auto and Marine Detailing are happy to recommend one.

After your car has been washed correctly, we strongly recommend that a protective coat is applied, such as a ceramic coating or hydrophobic coating.

We at A&M detailing only use the best products and know-how to make sure your car is protected against the elements.

3. Contaminants and Pollution

There is a range of contaminants and toxic particles that are floating around the atmosphere, in addition to the damage that can be caused by acid rain, there are other contaminants and sources of pollution that can cause your cars paint to fade. These include but are not limited too; bird droppings, smog, industrial fallout, bug splatter, tree sap, and pollen.

Over a period of time, these contaminants will begin to penetrate the clear coat and therefore eventually bond themselves into it.

If your car doesn’t get washed, correctly on a regular basis, it will cause more damage the longer it is left. 

To help prevent contaminants bonding into the clear coat we can not only wash but detail your exterior with either an iron remover spray or a clay bar treatment. 

These contaminants can be the most dangerous and destructive because they are not immediately evident. 

TIP: Consider your surroundings and where the car is typically stored, if there is a significant amount of traffic or factories close by, we would definitely recommend a ceramic coating or at the very least getting the car maintenance washed every month or two.

How Does Faded Paint On A Car Look Like?

Four different Levels of Car Paint Oxidation:

1. First stage: oxidised car paint will have a slightly dull look.

2. As oxidation progresses, the paint surface begins to fade.

3. Heavy oxidation: decay continues and creates a dull, chalky surface.

4. Final stage can not be repaired without repainting. This stage is known as “clear coat failure,” and patches appear where the paint has begun to dissolve.

How to Fix Faded Car Paint?

Our paint correction stages will do the job. Depending on how bad the clear coat has been damaged most cars will look a lot better with a stage 1 polish. 

What Does Stage 1 Include? 

Stage 1 paint correction uses orbital polish machines from Rupes with their pads and compound. At this stage we decontaminate the car’s exterior, washing and removing tar before we correct the paint. You will see the removal of light swirls and scratches while bringing back a deeper gloss to your paint and fixing faded car paint problems.

Our Single Stage Paint Correction improves overall appearance by removing general swirling and scratching using 1 pad and 1 polish. Each car’s paintwork is unique, and we do test spots to determine a good mixture of cutting performance with a glossy finish. In our ‘single stage’ we aim to remove around 75-85% of paint defects, mostly removing the light swirls and water spots. The result we look for is to achieve a greater gloss and shine to the appearance of your car.

Deeper imperfections will remain but the detail will significantly improve the overall appearance of the car giving it a glossy finish and more vibrant colour depth. 

Two Stage Correction

If you’re really wondering how to fix faded clear coat of your car, we have our stage 2 paint correction, this uses the same Rupes machine but with the change of pad and compounds switching between them, we further refine the finish attending to remove some of the deeper scratches finishing with a final pad and polish giving a better paint finish.

Our two stage correction will provide a much more refined result, since we cut more aggressively compared to the first stage. This method removes around 80-95% of paint defects with a cutting pad and compound but can sometimes produce a hazy appearance to the paint. Because of this, we then go over the entire car again with a polishing pad and polish which removes the micro hazing and further refines the paint to provide a deep gloss