FESTIVAL COLOURS
Holi Colours: How to Protect and Clean Your Car during Holi festivities
Holi is a festival of colour and cheer, but one that can leave owners of shiny white cars with multi-coloured heartburn. If you love your car you better make sure it’s well protected from the raucous festivities, as not everyone uses dry natural colours to "Play Holi".
It’s a pretty common sight a day after Holi to see white cars with blue, pink and purple stains all over them. And it’s even worse when the car’s upholstery and interiors get soiled by Holi colours, as this is very difficult to clean without damaging the car. What should I do to protect my car from colours of Holi? Will the colour remain permanently on my car? How do I remove that ugly stain? Are a few questions which impatiently arise in minds of all, whether it is you or me.
Here are some tips to protect your car from the Holi onslaught as well as some to clean up any accidental mess that may happen.
Protecting your car from Holi colours :
1. Cover the car, don’t use it
The most common-sense way of protecting your car from Holi is obviously not using your car on this festive day. Just keep it parked away safely and if you have a Car Cover, this would be the ideal time to use it and keep your prized possession under wraps.
2. Apply wax polish before Holi
However, if you live in a complex where it’s hard to avoid being part of the Holi celebrations, take some precautionary measures before the festival. Wash and clean the car and then apply a good coat of Wax on the car. The wax will prevent colours from soaking into the top-coat of the paint. If your car was recently “Teflon” coated, that too would do.
For further protection, especially if you think just waxing is not going to be enough, use kitchen wrap or “cling film” over vulnerable areas especially over the door handles, boot lid, bonnet and fenders – areas where people are likely to lean on or touch your car during the festivities. It may look a little ridiculous wrapping your car in cling film a day before the festival, but it will save you a lot of trouble later
3. Protecting the interiors
If the car is going to be used on Holi, then you better take some precautions for the interiors as well. Disposable car seat covers & floor mats is a very good option to protect the car interiors If that’s not possible, use old curtains or terry towels you may have at home and drape them around the seats, using safety pins to keep them in place. Wrap things like inside door handles, the steering wheel and gear knob in cling film or food wrap to prevent colour getting on it.
How to remove Holi colour stains from your car
Despite all the precautions, sometimes your car can still become a victim of the festivities. If your car does get some color on it, don’t fret, there are still ways of cleaning up the mess.
First Wash and Clean the car using only water and a good car shampoo. Don’t use household detergent or dish cleaning liquid, as they are very harsh and will remove the polish film from the car’s surface as well.. With some chemical Holi colours, this may be needed as they will eat into the car’s finish
If the damage to the paint is deeper, you may need to resort to more extreme measures to remove the colour. The first step is to use a Rubbing Compound depending upon the car condition (Meg Diamond Cut, IF Super Cut, Formula 1 Scratch-Out etc) Gently rub this over the affected paint Buff it off with a dry Microfiber cloth. Repeat if there’s still some stain left.
Once you’ve managed to get the colour stain out, immediately wash the area with clean water, dry it with Drying Towel and then apply thick Wax Polish over the car again to protect the paint finish.(Meguiar’s Polish/Glaze, Mothers Polishing Glaze)
If your car upholstery has been stained due to Holi colours, it is much more difficult getting it out (Meg Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner, Formul 1 Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner, Xtra Duty Plus etc..) For leather upholstery, you can Leather Cleaners and a Soft Brush to work up a foam and clean it. Then use a leather Conditioner to protect it. For fabric upholstery, you will require a “dry-cleaning” process done, but that too won’t get all the colour out. You may have to change your seat covers.
Please always remember not to panic because after all this festival is meant to spread joy. Thus enjoy and so do let others. Good luck and Happy Holi. Play Safe!
