Can Falling Leaves Damage Your Car?
As beautiful as the fall season is, its falling leaves can find themselves doing some damage to your vehicle. Not only do leaves make the roads more dangerous, but they can also damage your paint and get into places in your car they shouldn’t be. It’s a good rule of thumb to try to get leaves off your vehicle as soon as possible.
- Damage to Your Vehicle Paint. When dead leaves are left on your vehicle for an extended amount of time, the decomposition of the leaves can be harmful to your vehicle’s paint. The longer they are left on there, the harder it is to get them off.
- Go into Your Vehicle’s Interior. Fallen leaves can get into pesky areas of your vehicle, like your air filter, under the hood, or clog sunroof drains in your car.
And the longer your vehicle sits outside without a cover, the more leaf removal you’ll need to do to ensure your car is minimally affected. Here are a few other tips for caring for your car this fall season and beyond:
- Consider Where You Park. If you don’t have a garage or covered parking, do your best to not park under trees in the weeks that leaves are actively falling. This way, your vehicle can stay out of the way of falling leaves as much as possible.
- Remove Any Leaves Daily. Taking leaves off of your car should be a habit year-round, but especially in the fall months. This will reduce the overall amount of time that the leaves are negatively affecting your car.
- Go to the Car Wash Frequently. Taking your car to the car wash or washing it yourself will clean off any existing residue from the leaves you’re removing regularly. Frequent car waxing can also remove leaf residue that is harder to find and protect your vehicle’s paint from the harsh winter.
As we prepare for harsher weather conditions, the damage that falling leaves have can often slip our minds. We hope you’re now prepared to address fall leaves on your vehicle all fall long.
