How the Sun Impacts the Paint of Your Car

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What Makes Car Paint

First, we need to look at what components can be found within a coating of paint. All pigmented paints effectively have four basic ingredient categories, which are the binder, solvent, pigment, and additive. The binder is the resin or blend of resins that give paint its thermal, mechanical, and weathering properties. The pigments are finely ground minerals that are dispersed into the paint, additives are any modifiers that provide special effects to paints, and the solvent, which can be oil based water based or both, can have an effect on adhesion by which their degree of surface tension is.

The paint itself can be made from linear to complex molecules, or anything in between. The paint used on cars usually have a very high molecular weight.

How Sunlight Impacts Paint

Sunlight damage is known as photo-oxidation. Because polymer backbones in paint are largely made up of hydrogen and oxygen, sunlight can drastically impact it. The UV radiation can excite the binder’s molecules to a higher energy level and then cause breaks in the bonds. This creates free radicals, when then react with oxygen in the air to create oxygen radicals. These then attack the polymer backbone which create more radicals, and so on. Eventually, this can cause a failure of the coating’s properties.

More specifically, sunlight can scorch off your car paint, just as heat from your car’s engine can stress the color on your hood. Over time, paint can fade or flake.

Sun Protection for Your Car

In order to protect your car from the sun, make sure to wash and wax it regularly. In addition, consider putting your car in a garage so it receives less sun exposure. If you don’t have room for a structure, then consider a portable garage from Portable Garage Depot. It will save you value on your car as the canopy protects it from harsh UV radiation.