Decorating your car can be a rewarding experience but it may also damage the surface of your car. So you have to find ways that will prevent this from happening. As long as you follow these steps, you are sure to achieve success without damaging the paint on your car.
1. Use masking tape or stickers to hang decorations
The best way to attach decorations to any part of your car without damaging it is by using masking tape.
Masking tape is strong enough to hang many decorations up, but will not damage your surface when it comes to removing them.
One thing to be aware of is that masking tape may not hold so well outside, especially if it rains or snows. You may need something more adhesive for external use.
2. Use removable stickers
This way, if you make a mistake or need to move the stickers, removing them won’t scratch the surface of your car’s paintwork or permanently damage your windows.
Some stickers are even reusable so they can be saved for next year!
3. Use magnetic tape and magnetic stickers
Many decorations are available in magnetic form, which offers a convenient and more durable alternative to using normal stickers.
What’s more, magnetic tapes are specifically designed to bond to most metals used on the car exterior and will stay on when driving on the highway or in adverse weather conditions.
Just be sure to install them correctly with no chance of edges sticking out. This can make the bond less strong and make the agent more likely to be blown off by wind etc.
4. Decorate with vinyl decals
If you want to do more advanced designs rather than just sticking some simple shapes onto your car, then using vinyl and decals is a great option to consider.
These can be applied by those who are confident in their skills, just exercise plenty of patience and so that air bubbles aren’t left. If there are it won’t be the end of the world as there are ways to fix most of these.
For those that aren’t so confident in installing vinyl decals, we recommend using a professional to do this for you This should be doable in a short amount of time, although this obviously depends on the size and number of the designs
They’re also durable enough for you to remove them a lot later than basic stickers and will endure the rigors of changeable weather.
If you do decide to use vinyl decals on your car, make sure that you buy the right type that is designed specifically for car paintwork.
5. Try out simple designs first
In addition to the vinyl decal option above, rather than immediately thinking up advanced elaborate designs straight away, try some more basic shapes first.
This will give you the opportunity to first see how they look and how good your installation skills are before deciding whether or not to go with them.
After all, there will be nothing worse than spending hours designing and installing something that ends up looking terrible because perhaps your DIY skills weren’t quite good enough to install it correctly.
Minimize how often you need to readjust vinyl decals
Although the decals themselves will not damage your paintwork, the very act of removing (and reinstalling) them will logically add a small risk of damaging the paintwork. This could be due to mistakes being made or the use of certain tools.
6. Use the appropriate tools
Whenever installing or removing decoration, be sure to use tools that are designed to be used on car paintwork and glass.
For example, when flattening out vinyl decals, you should use a plastic car-safe squeegee-like device, as opposed to a metal instrument.
7. Cleanliness is key
Before putting up any Christmas decorations, you should ensure that the surface is clean and dry beforehand. If you skip this step then you risk several issues occurring:
- Any grit and dirt trapped beneath the taping, stickers, etc can cause scratches ether during installation or removal of the decoration.
- Unclean surfaces can make adhesive less effective, making it more likely for the decoration to fall off
- Not only will the dirt and oil on your hands leave dirty marks, but it can also make it look very unprofessional.
8. Don't rush things
This goes back to what I said earlier about rushing designs looking badly done. A lot of people can have a tendency to be impatient when they are installing certain types of decorations.
Generally, mistakes mean that the job has to be either corrected to repeated making it more likely for mistakes to cause undue damage to your vehicle.
9. Use zip ties
If you want to hang things like wreaths on your grill, then wire twist ties are an effective and car-friendly way to do this without damaging your vehicle.
Wire twist ties have a smooth surface and are very tough and durable.
Additionally, ensure that you tie up wire tie any loose ends, and hide them.
10. Use markers and chalk on the windows only
The ink indie marker pens can be dangerous for car paint over a period of time, and as such we recommend only using them on the windows.
Windows are made from fairly inert material and will not react with the substances found in marker ink.
Car paintwork, however, is far more likely to react and leave permanent aftereffects.
