Autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons of the year. With everything edible becoming pumpkin-flavored and the leaves beginning to change brings along with it some different environmental factors that can cause wear and tear to your vehicle’s appearance. Walking outside and seeing your vehicle covered in leaves might sound cool, but removing the leaves and revealing scratches and or stains is totally not cool! We have a few solutions that can help you remove these inconveniences, or even avoid them altogether.

The best way to remove leaves from any vehicle is with a blower, (cool vacuum/blower ), whatever you do, do not get the leaves wet and try to wash them away, all that will happen is the leaves will get heavier and break down and get into all the little tight plastic components of the vehicle like under the hood and the hood air vent between the windshield and the hood. If you have an air compressor and an air nozzle handy this is by the best way to get the pesky leaves that are left behind in tighter places like under the trunk lid or around the windshield wipers. If you must resort to water use a small electric pressure washer to push the leaves and dirt away rather than just soaking most of them.

If you’re one of the lucky winners that ends up with leaves on their car over the weekend and it rains one day and is sunny another all the while the leaves are just sitting on the car, you will have those wonderful looking leaves stained into the surface of the vehicle. If the car is fairly new or recently detailed (we offer winter exterior packages all through the month of November with 10% of ceramic coatings (new and existing customers) and $20 off Signature details (for returning customers only) then they will come off with a simple DIY fix that can remove a stain in a few minutes, you can use any kind of quick mist detailer or final inspection type product to gently clean the area. Use a clean microfiber towel, soak the towel with the final inspection (just make it really damp on one side) and then spritz the area on the paint where there are marks/stains a few times, then wipe clean. If this doesn’t remove the stain altogether you can wax the area (once its clean of course) with carnauba wax, this solution typically works every time but can be a little extra time consuming and some of us get a little carried away and think “oh, I think, I’ll just do this panel…” then another and another and before you know it you’ve spent three hours and you’ve washed and waxed more than half the car… lol… true story, not fictional. The use of regular goo-removal type products that say safe for a car, can be used but will also remove the wax (if there is any) from the surface. This can sometimes be the fastest way but it also comes with consequences and can also have negative effects on plastic if you should rub up against any trim. You can certainly continue to do this the entire season, but we can help you avoid the stains altogether (and you might even save money in the process!).

Ceramic coatings are a service we offer that includes the application of a thick ceramic layer to the exterior of your vehicle to ensure maximum protection against any outside elements. (For more information, see our blog post on Ceramic Coatings and Paint Corrections). This coating will protect your paint from the inevitable leaves that seem to fall by the hundreds during autumn. In addition to staining, leaves can scratch the paint as they are being removed, causing unwanted damage and loss of gloss to the paint. While these scratches are minimal, they add up quickly. To avoid scratching and staining during this autumn season, stop in to see us at the shop (154 Lugnut Lane – no we did not pick the road name…) and see how we can help protect your vehicle this fall/winter season either short term or long term. For any questions about vehicle care during this fall/winter season, or if you’re interested in a ceramic coating for your vehicle, please don’t hesitate to contact us!