Holi 2016: Tips to keep the paint of your car and bike Holi-proof

It’s that time of the year again when streets of our cities turn into a warzone with conflicting factions fighting for supremacy at every corner. In other words, it’s holi a festival of colours, unrecognizable faces and adamant colour filled water balloons. And in the midst of it all, there you are trying to navigate your car or motorcycle through these warzones whilst trying dodge the physics defying trajectory of water-balloons with little to no avail. But don’t worry and don’t fret for however adamant the holi colour heart-burn might be we have a few solutions for you, mainly precautions but some cures as well. 

Cover it and don’t use it 

The simplest and easiest way to prevent your car or bike from getting doused in Holi colours is to cover it and not use it during the festival. If your parking is out in the open make sure your vehicle especially bikes are covered with plastic covers and not the fibre ones. Plus, you’re better off taking a cab as you wouldn’t want to dirty the interior of the car and let’s be honest, there’s a fair chance you might be a little under the influence so why take a chance and get your license impounded on a festival day. 

Plastic, plastic and food wrap 

If you’re insistent on riding or driving to your relatives and friends’ houses to wish them a happy holi make sure you cover all the panel gaps with cling wrap or cling film, that roll of plastic that practically sticks to everything. The cling wrap will stick to the panels and cover the panel gaps which are notoriously difficult to clean. Make sure you wrap the cling wrap on your door handles, bootlid and the bonnet and on areas where people are most likely to lean on your car. As for bikers, you can wrap the cling film all over the bike except of-course the engine and the exhausts. And you can even get the rain cover for the console to keep the colour and water at bay. Yes, you would look little ridiculous but it saves a lot of trouble later. 

Apply wax polish, lots and lots of it 

Remember when you were a kid and your mother told you to douse yourself in oil before you went out to play Holi so that the colour doesn’t get absorbed by your skin? It’s the same principle here. Apply lots and lots of wax polish on your car as it prevents the colours from getting soaked into the top layer of the paint. You can also consider getting a Teflon coating done. 

Protect those interiors

It’s a no-brainer this one. If you want to protect the interior of your car or the seat of your motorcycle from getting a taste of holi, cover them with plastic. Get as big polythene bags as you can and cover the entire interior of your car with them. Leave no inch, it should look like as if it just rolled out of the factory. As for surfaces like door handles, steering wheel and gear knob, the food wrap works the best. As for motorcyclists, food or cling wrap is your best friend this Holi.

Getting those nasty stains out 

Okay, so you did all you could to fortify your car against the insistent festival that is Holi but Chintu and his gang from around the block managed to sneak a couple of balloon bombs in and now your car looks like it just got shot from a paintball gun. Don’t worry, it’s not the end of the world and it is easily fixable but requires a bit of care. First clean your car or bike using water and a good car shampoo. Under no circumstances use household detergents as they are very harsh and can damage the paint and remove the gloss. In case the washing hasn’t worked owing to Chintu’s usage of chemical colours your best bet is to get a rubbing compound and just rub the colour out of the car. You can use Motomax, Formula 1 Scratch Out or the most potent one, the ‘No.7 Cleaner’ which is the main ingredient in Brasso, a brash polish. Now, take a little bit of the rubbing compound and apply on the affected area. Buff very gently and do not press while rubbing as it can remove paint layers. Once, the colour is out wash the car with clean water, dry and apply copious amounts of wax polish to return the shine that might’ve been lost during the cleaning process.