So, you’ve moved to Florida. You’ve traded snow shovels for palm trees, icy windshields for year-round sunshine, and road salt for trips to the beach.
Your car must be thrilled, right?
Not necessarily.
Florida may be easier on your car in some ways — you’re certainly not going to spend January mornings scraping ice off the windshield — but the Sunshine State presents an entirely different collection of challenges to your vehicle. Here are the big ones:
- Intense sunshine.
- Ultraviolet radiation.
- Salt air.
- Bird droppings.
- Sudden downpours
Individually, none of these is necessarily disastrous. But put them together 365 days a year, and Florida can be one of the toughest environments in the country for keeping a vehicle looking new.
If your car could talk after arriving in Florida, here are a few things it might want you to know.
“That Florida sunshine feels great to you. Not so much to me.”
There is a reason Florida is called the Sunshine State. Unfortunately, prolonged exposure to sunlight is one of the enemies of an automotive finish.
Modern vehicles have a clear coat over the colored base coat. Its job includes protecting the finish against weather and other environmental effects. But no automotive finish is invincible.
Day after day of exposure to ultraviolet radiation, combined with Florida heat, can gradually contribute to oxidation, fading and loss of gloss. Environmental weathering of automotive paint can result in fading, chalking, pitting, blistering, cracking and other deterioration.
Think about what Florida sunshine does to patio furniture, outdoor signs and anything else left outside for years.
Your automobile is sitting in that same sunshine.
The damage generally isn’t dramatic. You don’t park a shiny red car in the driveway on Monday and discover a pink one on Friday.
It’s cumulative.
Month after month and year after year, the finish can lose some of its depth and brilliance. Plastic trim, rubber and other exterior components are also subjected to the same relentless environment.
Whenever possible, parking in a garage, carport or shaded location helps. But for many Florida drivers, their car spends most of its life outside. That makes protecting the finish especially important.
“And could we talk about this humidity?”
Florida air contains a lot of moisture, and moisture plays an important role in automotive corrosion.
The factory paint system is designed to protect the metal beneath it. As long as that protective barrier remains intact, it does its job remarkably well. But automobiles acquire scratches, rock chips and other small imperfections.
Once bare metal becomes exposed, moisture and oxygen can begin the corrosion process. Add salt to the equation — something we’ll get to in a moment — and corrosion can accelerate.
Humidity also means that vehicles frequently experience condensation and dew.
Researchers studying environmental damage to automotive finishes in Florida have found that wetting events such as rain and dew can contribute to spotting and surface damage when contaminants are already present on the paint.
In other words, the problem isn’t simply that your car gets wet. It’s what may already be sitting on the paint when it gets wet — and what happens when the Florida sun comes back out.
“I know you love living near the Gulf. But there’s salt in that breeze.”
If you’ve moved to Florida’s Gulf Coast, congratulations. You’ve probably discovered one of the reasons people move here in the first place.
But your car may be less enthusiastic about your proximity to saltwater.
You don’t have to drive your vehicle into the Gulf to expose it to salt. Fine salt particles can become airborne near coastal areas and settle on vehicles. And salt plus moisture is an especially troublesome combination for exposed metals.
Salt acts as an electrolyte, helping accelerate the electrochemical process that produces corrosion. Areas underneath the vehicle, suspension components, fasteners and places where water can collect deserve particular attention.
The closer you live to saltwater — and the more frequently you drive near beaches and coastal areas — the more seriously you should take the issue.
A regular washing routine is important, including attention to wheel wells and the underside of the vehicle. And if you’ve actually driven on or very near a beach?
Don’t wait a month to wash the car.
“That beautiful oak tree you’re parking under? We need to talk.”
Shade is wonderful. But the things falling out of the tree providing that shade may not be.
Florida vegetation can deposit an impressive assortment of material on a vehicle:
- Tree sap.
- Pollen.
- Leaves.
- Seeds.
- Berries.
- Insects.
And, of course, birds contribute their own particularly unwelcome material.
The worst approach is to allow these contaminants to remain on the finish for days or weeks while Florida sunshine repeatedly heats the surface.
Bird droppings and bug residue can be chemically aggressive. Tree sap can harden. Pollen and dirt can combine with moisture and become increasingly difficult to remove safely.
The lesson is simple:
Remove contamination sooner rather than later.
And don’t attack dried material with aggressive scrubbing. That’s an excellent way to turn a contamination problem into a scratched-paint problem.
“Rain isn’t the free car wash you think it is.”
Florida newcomers quickly learn about our summer weather:
- Blue sky.
- Torrential rain.
- Sunshine again.
- Sometimes all within 30 minutes.
It is tempting to think that a Florida downpour gives your vehicle a nice free wash.
It doesn’t.
Rain can mix with dust, pollen and other material already on the vehicle. When the rain evaporates, minerals and contaminants can remain behind.
Then the sun returns and heats everything sitting on the surface.
Repeated cycles of contamination, wetting, drying and heating can contribute to water spotting and deterioration of the finish.
A rainstorm rinses your car, but it doesn’t necessarily clean it.
“Please stop washing me with whatever happens to be in the garage.”
Dish detergent. An old beach towel. A kitchen sponge. The same bucket you’ve been using for five years. We’ve seen variations of all of them.
Proper washing becomes even more important in Florida because vehicles accumulate so much environmental contamination.
Use an automotive-specific wash product and clean microfiber wash media and drying towels. Avoid washing a hot vehicle in direct sunlight whenever possible. And remember one basic rule:
Dirt safely lifted from the surface is harmless. Dirt dragged across the surface becomes sandpaper.
Many of the swirl marks you see when sunlight hits a dark-colored vehicle aren’t mysterious defects in the paint; they’re washing and drying scratches accumulated over time.
“Wax is nice. But you have better options now.”
For generations, waxing the family car was the standard way to protect automotive paint.
Wax still has a place. But modern vehicle owners have additional choices.
A professionally applied ceramic coating creates a durable protective layer over the vehicle’s clear coat. It can provide excellent gloss and hydrophobic properties while making dirt and contaminants easier to remove.
For drivers seeking physical protection against rock chips, scratches and road debris, paint protection film (PPF) offers another level of defense.
The two products perform different jobs. Ceramic coating primarily helps protect the surface from environmental contamination and makes the vehicle easier to maintain; PPF provides a physical barrier that can absorb damage that otherwise might reach the paint.
For Florida vehicles, they can also be used together.
“Don’t forget everything underneath me.”
When people think about protecting a vehicle, they naturally look at what they can see.
But Florida’s coastal environment can also affect components underneath the vehicle. Moisture, salt and road contamination can collect in areas that rarely receive attention during a normal car wash.
That’s why underbody inspection — and, depending upon the vehicle and how it is used, professional undercoating or corrosion protection — may be worth considering.
This can be particularly important for trucks, off-road vehicles, older vehicles and automobiles that spend considerable time close to the Gulf.
“I’m a Florida car now. Treat me like one.”
When people relocate to Florida, they change their routines. They buy sunscreen. They learn not to leave chocolate in the car. They discover that sunglasses are practically required equipment. They learn that an afternoon thunderstorm can appear from nowhere.
Your vehicle needs a Florida routine, too.
That doesn’t have to be complicated. A good Florida vehicle-care plan comes down to a handful of habits:
Wash regularly rather than waiting until the vehicle looks filthy.
Remove bird droppings, insects, tree sap and other contaminants promptly.
Rinse away salt after coastal or beach exposure.
Use proper automotive washing and drying products.
Inspect rock chips and scratches before corrosion develops.
Park under cover whenever practical.
Consider ceramic coating, paint protection film or other professional protection if you intend to keep the vehicle for years.
Pay attention to the underbody as well as the shiny parts you can see.
Welcome to Florida. Your Car Lives Here, Too.
People sometimes assume that cars last forever in Florida because we don’t have the brutal freeze-thaw cycles and heavily salted winter roads experienced in northern states.
Florida simply presents a different set of problems. Here, the battle is against sun, heat, humidity, salt, sand and year-round environmental exposure.
The good news is that most of that damage isn’t inevitable. A vehicle that is properly protected and maintained can continue looking good despite years under the Florida sun.
At CoaterZ, protecting vehicles from Florida’s unusually demanding environment is a big part of what we do. From ceramic coatings and paint protection film to undercoating and other protective treatments, we can help determine what level of protection makes sense for your vehicle, where you live and how you use it.