Every spring and summer, my car gets a big dusting of pollen, can it really damage my car’s exterior?

#BeavertonCarGuy

Over the course of the past couple of weeks, we have had a number of people ask for advice about pollen removal from car paint and windows. This can be a big problem for cars that are not garaged. With the sun triggering the pollen, followed by rain, pollen can seem to embed itself into every nook and cranny of your car.

Under a microscope pollen looks like a spike covered spheres. If the pollen is just wiped off of the paint, it can easily cause scratching as well as leave swirls in the paint, while also damaging the clearcoat.

The damage is worse on cars that are not cleaned regularly and do not have a good coat of wax or paint sealant. In fact, the pollen will actually clean off easier and not even adhere to a vehicle that has these protections. The unprotected paint has zero layer of protection which allows the barbs on the pollen to dig into the paint, which causes more damage depending on how it is removed.

Experts say the unprotected paint on our vehicles should be pressure washed but a regular wash with soap or water should minimize the damage pollen can cause. Then, once your car is washed and dried, a good coat of wax or paint sealant should be applied. This will preserve the paint and keep your vehicle looking better longer.

I have had very good luck with Meguiars Automotive Wax. With Most of the cars I see with peeling clearcoat, they also have swirls in the paint from improper care (like using a rag to wipe away pollen!). This is all a part of the maintenance we should perform periodically on our vehicles.

Pollen also can adhere to our vehicle’s windows. Believe it or not, the glass can actually be scratched as well! It is a very good idea to apply Rain-X (or similar product) on the vehicle’s glass. This will help with the pollen not sticking to the glass in the same manner in which wax or paint sealant prevents the pollen from sticking your car’s paint job. Rain-X is also very good for the rainy season as it makes the rain stream off of the windows during rainstorms, giving us better visibility during rain and snowstorms.

I hope this information has been helpful.

If you have comments or questions, please feel free to reach out to me: fergusonautobrokers@gmail.com or visit fergusonautobrokers.com

If Anyone needs help in purchasing a new or used vehicle of any kind or has an unused vehicle to sell, please let me know. Please feel free to check out our website at www.fergusonautobrokers.com