Acid Rain - How Does It Affect Your Car's Finish?

Every time it rains, you could be in danger of ruining your car's paint; because the next shower may contain acid rain. Simply put, acid rain is the atmosphere's way of ridding itself of the pollutants, chemicals and other industrial emissions it collects.

While in the air, pollutants combine with water vapor to form nitric acid and sulfuric acid, which is similar to car battery acid. The precipitation that passes through this industrial fallout cleans the air, but it also picks up the pollutants and brings them to earth - and onto your car.

Ziebart International Corporation is a world leader in automotive products and services that protect, enhance and maintain cars and trucks; and offers this information on protecting your vehicle from the damage acid rain can cause:

How will acid rain affect your car's finish?
Acid rain collects in drops on your vehicle's painted surface. As the water evaporates, the acidic moisture eats into the paint surface. The process escalates when the sun heats the droplets and the paint.

Acid rain can produces three levels of damage: mild, severe and irreparable. The depth to which the acid rain has etched the painted surface determines the severity of the damage.

What can be done?
No technology currently is available to reverse the effects of acid rain damage. But Ziebart recently introduced a product called Diamond Gloss, which is the first coating that will protect vehicle finishes from acid-rain damage. Additionally, some professional car-care technicians can apply a paint protector that is designed to neutralize acid rain and form a protective barrier that will help impede the damaging effects. This type of product works by intercepting the acidic water when it contacts the paint and neutralizing it to make it virtually harmless.