Ways to minimise damage to your van paintwork

1. Use a good quality car wax 

Speaking of protective films, a good quality car wax protects your car paintwork too. Although not as effective as a paint protection film, it still does provide some safeguarding. 

The way car wax works is by transforming the car paint into a slippery, water-repelling surface. This makes it difficult for dirt and debris to stick to the surface of your vehicle. Not only minimising damage, but applying car wax also makes it easier to clean the next time you come to wash your car too. 

2. Use a van cover

Your vehicle doesn’t have to be moving for it to incur damage. In fact, chips, scratches and scuffs can be a result of other factors, even if your vehicle is stationary. By using a car or van cover, covering your vehicle eliminates the possibility of any damage-inducing objects reaching your van paintwork. 

3. Wash your van more often

A lot of scratches and scuffs can be the result of not washing your van regularly enough. Dirt and debris that is accumulated on your vehicle from regular use and infrequent washing can actually end up scratching your vehicle. This happens because the dirt can get caught up in washing equipment like sponges and brushes, which then get rubbed against the paintwork as you wash your vehicle. 

To prevent this, frequent washing or even rinsing your van with a pressure washer once a week can avoid an accumulation of dirt, preventing any likelihood of it getting caught in the washing apparatus. 

4. Have damage-preventing driving practices

Certain driving practices can be used to avoid damage to your van paintwork too. Here are some suggestions you can implement to minimise scratches, scuffs and chips to your van paintwork:

• Avoid driving too close behind other vehicles, especially large trucks and lorries
• Try to refrain from parking on the side of busy roads
• When the roads are layered with grit in the winter, drive slower

What if my van paintwork is already damaged?

Although preventative measures are always king when it comes to paintwork damage, sometimes damage is unavoidable. PaintNuts Scratch & Scuff Remover is ideal for this event, particularly for light surface defects. 

Vehicle paintwork generally has a top layer of ‘clearcoat’ or ‘clear lacquer’ which is essentially a transparent top layer that helps to protect the paint underneath whilst also adding a level of gloss or sheen to the appearance. Light scratches are often only damaging to the lacquer layer, and not the underlying paint.

In these cases, PaintNuts Scratch & Scuff works like a miraculous healer and can remove blemishes with no fuss. It’s easy to use and should be applied after you’ve washed your van, on any remaining scuff marks or scratches. 

To use the PaintNuts Scratch & Scuff remover:

• Clean the area and remove any dirt and debris that could cause further damage.
• Apply a small amount of compound to an applicator pad - available in the PaintNuts Scratch & Scuff remover kit
• Apply even pressure in a straight back-and-forth motion side to side and then up and down, until the scratch or scuff has been removed or reduced
• Buff the area with PaintNuts Micro Fibre Polishing Cloth to remove the compound residue

f you find the scratch or scuff is too deep, it will also need touching up with colour matched car touch up paint. To know whether you will need a touch up pen, bottle and brush or aerosol, try our Damage Assessment. This straightforward tool will tell you the perfect repair solution for your vehicle's damage. 

Order your car touch up paint

We stock dozens of paint colours for touch up paint. No matter what paintwork you need fixing, we likely have the paint colour for your car. 

PaintNuts can mix all modern car and most classic car colours for colour match touch up car paint, available as a high precision pen, bottle and brush or car spray paint/aerosol. Just enter your car reg on our website, and off you go.