If you own a vehicle, you probably want it to look its best and retain its value over a long time. Sun exposure is one of the most significant challenges to prevent you from meeting this goal. When you leave your vehicle out in the sun, UV rays and heat can cause paint to fade prematurely and damage its interior and mechanical parts. Knowing how the sun can harm your car and ways to reduce UV damage is essential if you want to protect your ride.

Find out more about how sun exposure affects your vehicle and some actions you can take to reduce damage from UV rays and excessive heat.

Impact of Sun Exposure on the Exterior

When UV light contacts your paint’s surface, it gives the vehicle’s exterior a jolt of energy, potentially breaking your paint’s molecular bonds. If the sun exposure continues to break more of these bonds, your paint won’t interact with light like it used to. Since the molecule breakage causes the paint to transmit less light, the paint becomes duller and less reflective. 

Due to the way sun exposure affects your paint over time, your ride can lose its value and attractive appearance when you leave it out in the sun. Exposing a car is to UV rays for a prolonged period causes the paint’s color to fade or change. Additionally, UV ray exposure can cause your paint to crack. UV rays are especially harmful during the summer, as they’re at their most powerful and the environment is at its hottest, leading to faster paint fading and cracking.

Impact of Sun Exposure on the Interior

While people often only think about sun exposure harming their paint, it can also significantly damage a vehicle’s exterior. When UV rays beat down on your car, the temperatures inside can rise and cause issues, such as fading and cracking. Like exterior damage, interior damage can end up harming your vehicle’s appearance and resale value.

One significant impact of sun exposure is on your vehicle’s carpet and upholstery. When you expose these parts of your interior to UV rays for an extended period, the sun can cause their color to fade. Prolonged UV exposure and hot temperatures can also lead to cracking throughout your vehicle’s interior. A vehicle’s seats and its steering wheel are most at risk of cracking due to sun exposure and heat, especially when they’re leather.

Impact of Sun Exposure on Car Mechanics

Besides the more cosmetic effects of sun exposure on your vehicle’s exterior and interior, it can also end up harming your vehicle’s mechanics. Prolonged sun exposure can break belts and hoses, reduce fluid levels and lower tire pressure, leading to costly repairs and your vehicle not functioning properly. If you want to preserve your vehicle, you may wish to be more aware of how the sun and heat can harm its mechanics.

Learn more about how sun exposure can harm your car mechanics below.

  • Lower tire pressure: Hot temperatures can cause your tires to lose some of their pressure, especially if they’re underinflated. As a result, tires exposed to extreme temperatures are more likely to blow out and cause accidents.
  • Broken belts and hoses: Sun exposure can produce a lot of heat, leading your hoses and belts to detach and break. When these components break, your vehicle can shut down, resulting in you paying a significant amount of money in repair costs.
  • Reduced fluid levels: The heat from sun exposure can reduce your fluid levels. When your vehicle operates with lower fluid levels, it can break down or overheat.

How to Protect Your Car From Sun Exposure

With all the ways sun exposure can harm your ride, you may want to know more about what you can do to reduce damage. If you want to keep your vehicle’s value and appearance at the best level possible, check out some of the top tips for protecting your car from sun exposure.

1. Consistently Wash and Dry Your Vehicle

When you don’t clean your car, debris and minerals can build up on its exterior. These materials can then react negatively to sun and heat, leading to increased paint damage and fading. By washing and drying your car regularly, you can keep these harmful contaminants off your paint, protecting it from fading as a result.

2. Park Your Car in the Shade or a Garage

One of the simplest ways to preserve your vehicle from sun exposure and heat is to park it in a shaded place, such as in a garage, under a tree or in another area out of direct sunlight. By parking your car in a shady spot, your vehicle won’t get as hot, and UV rays will have a harder time reaching it.

3. Keep an Eye on Your Car’s Fluids and Tire Pressure

Since heat can reduce tire pressure and lower your vehicle’s fluids, you can shield your vehicle by regularly checking to see if your tire pressure and fluids are at the optimal level. If you notice any potential issues, take action to prevent them from damaging your car. 

4. Use High-Quality Automotive Protection From Madico®

At Madico, we provide automotive film dealers with various products, such as UV-blocking car window films, car paint protection films and windshield sun protectors. We design our automotive products to shield your vehicle from sun exposure. 

Take a moment to review some of our top automotive products for UV protection below.

  • Car paint film protection: Protekt® Paint Protection Film by Madico is a premier auto paint protection film designed to shield your vehicle’s paint from environmental dangers, such as sun and heat exposure. This transparent film can fit right over your vehicle exterior without affecting its appearance, and it also covers your paint against dust, grime, small dents and minor scratches. Since paint film preserves a vehicle for a long time after application, you can apply it and have complete peace of mind.
  • Automotive window tint: Our automotive tints and UV protection films for car windows keep your car cooler and shield it from sunlight. You can find these tints in several colors, with their UV-protection properties guarding drivers and passengers against cancer-causing rays and your vehicle’s interior from damage. Additionally, these tints lower your vehicle’s overall temperature when parked, reducing the risk of the steering wheel and seats cracking.
  • Windshield sun protector: ClearPlex® by Madico is a windshield sun protection film perfect for drivers who want to defend themselves and their passengers from UV rays. Once a dealer installs this windshield sun protector on your vehicle, you can expect it to guard against 99.9% of UV rays. When you leave your car parked, this sun protector can also shield your interior from the adverse effects of prolonged exposure to UV rays.

Find Your Local Madico Dealer for Your Car Protection Needs

Since you probably care about preserving your vehicle’s value, integrity and appearance, you may want to turn to the many products Madico offers. With our paint, windshield and car window UV protection films, you can better safeguard your vehicle and yourself from harmful UV rays and extreme heat. 

Find your local Madico dealer to receive the ultimate in paint and window protection. If you want to learn more about our automotive products, take a moment to browse through them or contact us.