GONNA TAPE THOSE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS ON YOUR SUBARU BRUH?

 

We are neck-deep in the Christmas season, but there is a growing trend during the holidays among the car community. And that is taping Christmas lights all over your car lol. Now to preface the article, we are not here to be joy-killers. After all, it’s your vehicle and you do whatever it is in life that brings you joy and happiness especially during the holidays. The reason why this needs to be discussed, is that no matter how fun those Christmas lights look when the sun goes down, you might not be happy with how scratched your paint will be afterward. And you’re especially going to be disappointed if you have spent the money or the time paint correcting and ceramic coating your paint because it will more than likely have to be done again, along with paint chip repair. However, if you understand the labor, tooling, and polishes involved with paint correction, you’ll be aware enough not to do this to your paint.

But again, not to be joy-killers, if taping Christmas lights to the exterior of your vehicle is something you want to do and you don’t mind what repercussions that may come when the season is over, then you go ahead and do you. For now, let’s discuss why taping Christmas lights is harmful to your paint.

Now micro scratches and marring come from touching your paint with materials that are otherwise too aggressive. Your local car wash paint brush is one of them, using shower towels to dry them instead of microfiber is another. And using dirty microfibers especially if they have touched the ground and have collected dirt is another.

Now imagine unboxing your Christmas lights. These are glass bulbs with plastic housings. Or they may be plastic bulbs and plastic housings. Point being, you are dragging a bunch of hard sharp objects across the paint continuously to get them in place. Then once you get them into place, you’ve got to tape them to get them to stay. But here’s where it can get bad. Once you have your lights taped down, you’re happy with how the car looks in the dark with the kids are pointing and cheering as you’re spreading holiday joy, what you don’t know is that those little bulbs are banging and moving back and forth in the wind. And if you have a long commute or if you frequently drive your car during the day, it’s only getting worse.

And it’s your car. Do as you please, and if the likes on TikTok and those social media hearts are all worth it and it makes you happy at the expense of your paint and the value of your car, especially if the bank still owns it, then that’s a risk you’re obviously willing to take.

Now what if you did wrap your car in Christmas lights and the new year rolls in, you begin taking the lights off and realize that dirt got trapped in the spaces of the tape, and it has also been sanding down on your paint. What can you do about it? Paint correction will be the only logical solution to restore your paint back to its original luster.

 

WHAT IS PAINT CORRECTION? MY BUDDY SAID HE’D DO IT FOR A 12-PACK

Experienced specialists in paint correction can charge anywhere from $500 to $2500+ depending on what needs to be done. It is also how experienced they are with the tooling especially with a rotary buffer where if you don’t know what you’re doing, you will burn through your paint. Experienced detailers bear the weight of not hurting your paint in the process as it is a very tedious and careful process.  Aside from the risk of burning through your paint there is the occasional accident where the edges of the plastic buffer pad holder can catch areas of the body of the car in certain angles which will deeply scratch the paint all the way to the metal or go through plastic on bumpers. It is also highly labor intensive as your vehicle needs to be properly washed and clay bar’d so the surface of your paint is 100% clean.

Sounds intimidating yeah? Yes, it can be. The good news is that many buffers and polishers available on the market are oscillating meaning that they vibrate at a high frequency in a back-and-forth motion, and you don’t have the risk of burning through your paint as opposed to a rotary buffer that spins at high RPM levels that will generate heat if your polishing pads don’t have enough product on them.

The good news is that you can do it too if you have the patience, the curiosity, and most of all the motivation. Why do you think there are so many mobile ‘detailers’ on your local marketplace? It’s because you too, can learn how to paint correct. So, you can either pay an experienced detailer/paint corrector to fix those Christmas light scratches, or you can invest your money into the right tools and products. Let’s start with the basics and move forward.

 

 

START BY PROPERLY WASHING YOUR CAR

Chemical Guys Torq Professional Foam Cannon

 

Chemical Guys Mr. Pink Super Suds Shampoo

 

Chemical Guys Bear Claw Premium Wash Mitt

 

Chemical Guys Cyclone Dirt Trap Car Wash Bucket Insert

 

Yes, the foam cannon is what produces those thick suds and creates a neighborhood spectacle when washing your car. A pressure washer is required to use the Chemical Guys unit, but it’s completely worth it. Use a proper shampoo, a proper wash mitt, and the dirt trap sits at the bottom of your wash bucket to trap dirt that gets caught in your wash mitt and keeps those dirt grains from floating around in the water. Otherwise, you’ll be micro-scratching car all over again. That being said, if you drop your wash mitt on the ground, or you drop a microfiber on the ground – don’t reuse it. So be extra mindful and careful about that.

 

 

DECONTAMINATION

Like when you’re in the shower that gross community bar of soap in the shower won’t get right into the grit of your skin, you need that loofah. Chemical Guys has an iron decontaminate that you can spray on your paint and wheels just before spraying the car off before using the foam cannon. This loosens the real dirty stuff that embeds into your paint such as diesel smoke, bugs, salt, and iron deposits from the road.

 

Chemical Guys Decon Pro Iron Remover

 

Next is the clay bar. Once you have your vehicle properly washed and dried, you can start the clay-barring process. You must make sure the surface of your paint is wet with clay lube, and sometimes bucket soap will work if there is no dirt whatsoever in your bucket. The clay bar strips away diesel smoke, bugs, overspray, and contaminants even further that the iron spray, but you’ll know the paint is ready because after using a clay bar, the surface of the paint will feel the smoothest.  

 

Chemical Guys Surface Cleansing Mitt Medium Grade Clay System Kit

 

 

LET’S GET BUFFIN’

 

Chemical Guys TORQX Random Orbital Polisher

 

You’re probably tired at this point after washing, using the clay bar, and cleaning the surface of the paint just before using masking tape to cover all the seams and rubber seals on the body of your Subaru. We’re still in the just-getting-started phase lol. Now before we move any further your car better be garaged. Otherwise, it will just get dusty by sitting outside. No turning back now, baby. Before using your polisher, Chemical Guys does a great job showing you how to use their polisher:

 

 

 

For heavy scratches you’re going to use a heavy cutting pad and a heavy cutting compound.

 

Chemical Guys Hex Logic Heavy Cutting Pad Green

 

This is the heavy cutting pad that is made for deep scratches, wet-sanding, and heavy oxidation. Use a heavy-cutting compound to get those deep surface-level scratches out or at least polished. But for now, let’s follow the Chemical Guy’s lead, and showcase the products they use on their video. Starting with their orange pad and compound:

 

Chemical Guys Hex Logic Medium Cutting Pad Orange

 

Chemical Guys V36 Optical Grade Cut Polish 16 oz

 

Always remember to start in small sections to avoid letting your polishing pad dry out. You want to make sure that you have a good medium of having enough polishing compound, but not too much, and certainly not enough.

 

MAKE SURE YOU ALWAYS USE MICROFIBER TO DRY THE CAR, AND TO WIPE OFF THE POLISH

 

Chemical Guys Workhorse Professional Grade Microfiber Towels Green

 

Continuing, Chemical Guys uses the V34 compound for those of you with light scratches, while still employing their orange medium cutting pad.

 

Chemical Guys V34 Optical Grade Hybrid Compound

 

Now once you’re done with the ‘compounding’ stage of paint correction, you are ready to refine the gloss to perfect the shine using the light polishing pad and final polish.

 

Chemical Guys Hex Logic Medium Light Polishing Pad White

 

Chemical Guys V38 Optical Grade Final Polish

 

At this point to your own detailing desire, once you have worked out all of your micro-scratches, and made sure every ounce of polish is removed from your painted surface, you can decide if you’d like to ceramic coat the paint to add another deeper level of shine, but most importantly another layer of paint protection from UV rays. Never apply ceramic coat to your paint unless you have done paint correction first because all you’re doing is locking in those micro-scratches, and you are visually amplifying them.

 

In conclusion, if you decide to take on paint-correction yourself, you will have the tooling, the pads, and polishes to perform the job. But more importantly, you’ll have a clear view of what it’s like to actually do it, and what all is involved. And you’ll know why it costs a small investment to pay a professional to do this process. Most importantly, it will question such decisions as to whether if you want to tape Christmas lights on your vehicle.

 

BUT, judgements aside from the author, at the end of the day it’s your car. Do what makes you happy but do it in good health and in good safety of yourself, and other drivers around you. It does look cool don’t get us wrong. It just comes with a sacrifice to your paint.