How rain can be bad for your car
Rain can be refreshing on a hot, humid day, but car owners generally don’t like it that much, especially when their cars are freshly washed and sparkling. Somehow the rain has the uncanny quality of dirtying and dirtying the brightest cars.
Here are some reasons why rain can be bad for your car.
The rain makes the car more dirty than it should. The funny thing is that rain makes a clean car dirty, but it makes a dirty car even more difficult to clean! When you take your dusty car out and drive it in the rain, some of the dust and dirt is washed away, but when the rain stops and you’re still driving, expect the remaining mud to do so. Your tires build up hard to remove mud, and even the underside of your car is covered in mud. Failure to do this will accelerate the deterioration of your car. The metal parts of a car, when left under layers of dirt, rust quickly, leading to depreciation and eventual breakdown of the body.
Rain puts extra pressure on tires, windshield wipers, fan belt, power steering, and brakes. Rain or humidity causes many car parts to malfunction slightly. Although cars are designed to be driven even in the heaviest rains, the humidity it produces causes some normal car functions to kick in and cause a certain alarm in the driver.
The most obvious will be the windshield wipers, which take the brunt and force of heavy rain. And what will you do without them? Driving in the rain with broken or malfunctioning windshield wipers is extremely dangerous. Especially when visibility is almost zero, it would be better to park in a safe place and let the rain pass; This is the best thing to do when you know you have awesome windshield wipers that could cause serious accidents. Keep your windshield wipers in tip-top shape.
Another victim of humidity is the fan belt. Moisture can cause the fan belt to squeal, especially if moisture gets between the belt and the pulleys or the belt tension. All of that keeps her in place. If you notice your belt squeaking minutes after going through a large puddle or in the rain, your belt is probably getting wet in some way. Have it checked by a good mechanic.
If you drive a car with power steering, you know that the rain spoils it too. The power steering will temporarily fail (lock up). Having your mechanic replace the pump regularly is a good idea, but the rain and its humidity will affect its normal operation somewhat. Once it locks in, force it to move back and forth and a little bit, the belt will finally give a little squeak and then everything will go back to normal.
Another victim of the rain is the brake system. Many cars tend to make braking noises for the first few stops after being parked in the rain or fog. This is because brake discs quickly get a very light layer of rust due to moisture. Using the brakes re-cleans the rotors and the noise goes away pretty quickly. Your brake rotors can rust very quickly. They may make a squeak when you first drive your car after the rotors get wet, but it will go away after the brake pads scrape off the rust.
Acid rain. Defined by car manufacturers as ambient rain, it is a term used to describe the deposit of harmful pollutants, whether wet or dry. These pollutants are released when fuels are burned and they react with other elements in the atmosphere to turn into acids. The rain itself is not the culprit, but when the rain dries up, it leaves the acidic part concentrated. The paint acts like a sponge and keeps collecting all that acidic material.
How to avoid damage to your car: Repeated exposure is bad. By constantly parking your car in a covered area, garage, or carport, you can avoid some of the worst effects of acid rain. Some manufacturers used acid-resistant paints, which cost much less than it might cost you to fix a problem later. To avoid permanent scarring, hand wash and dry your car frequently. Light colored vehicles appear to suffer less obvious damage; darker colored vehicles will show wear sooner.
And when paint damage has already occurred, there is still hope. Hire a professional to clean up your contaminated paint. A high quality polymer paint sealer also has amino functional copolymers and resins that will fight future acid rain while resisting the effects of soap and sun.
Rain is a natural phenomenon that gives life and helps to maintain the environmental balance. It may not be kind to man-made machines, but there are ways to make your metal babies survive even the harshest of rains. The main factors are care and responsibility, but maintenance is the key.