Five Easy Ways to Make Your Old Car Look New(er)

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On average, the number of years people hold onto their cars has been creeping up for about a decade—it's up to about 14 years these days. Aside from improved reliability, given that new cars average $49,740, and used cars cost more than $26,000, it's not hard to figure out why. If your car still runs well and reliably gets you where you need to go, that’s all that really matters.

That said, you probably don't want your car to look it's age. Time takes a toll on every vehicle, from sun damage to chips and scratches in the paint, and eventually even a car that’s been maintained to perfection will start to show its years. If you want to make your car look as good as it still runs without investing in a full detailing, there are a few tricks you can try it in an afternoon, without spending a lot of money.

Try a clay bar polish

Step one is, of course, to give your car a thorough washing. But once the car is clean and dry, you can use a clay bar treatment to remove the stuff you can’t get off with a simple wash. Clay bars remove all the tiny bits of grit, sticky bits of tar, and other contaminants that make paint look dull. (For some extra oomph, follow up with another wash and then polish your car using a high-quality polish (either by hand or using a power tool).

Remove scratches with a power tool

A scratched-up finish adds years to any car, but scratches can also allow moisture to infiltrate under the topcoat, encouraging rust and other visual damage. Repairing those visible scratches is the logical next step.

For relatively shallow scratches, you can use a scratch removing product like this one. Just apply some of the product to the provided pad, slip the pad into your power drill, and run the pad over the scratch a few times. Once you wipe away the excess, the scratch should be gone (if you don’t have a drill or don’t want to use one, there are other products rely on muscle power alone).

Deeper scratches require a lot more effort—including sanding, filling, and repainting—and may be better left to a detail shop, unless you don't care about imperfect results.

Restore plastic trim with a heat gun

Your car's plastic exterior trim can start to show wear after years of exposure to the sun and harsh weather. Unless you restore the plastic, of course.

There are two ways to accomplish this:

• Use a heat gun. You can use a heat gun to heat the plastic, and watch as it darkens and shines up like magic. This works because the heat brings the remaining oils in the plastic to the surface. There are two downsides to this approach, however: It’s easy to overdo it and actually melt the plastic, and it will only work a few times before your plastic has been bled dry and can never be restored again.

• Buy a product intended for the purpose. If you're wary of taking a heat gun to your ride, there are store bought options for car trim restoration. Something like Wipe New is easy to use—you just wipe it on—and can last a few weeks to a few months. They can be applied repeatedly to keep your trim looking newer.

Use a power scrubber on your rims

Cleaning and polishing your tires and rims will also help your car to look new(er). A spray-on cleaner applied with a power scrubber can bring your rims back to life with a little elbow grease. A tire coating like this one can also put some shine back into your tires.

Polish your headlights with toothpaste

Finally, one spot older cars always suffer is the headlights, which can become cloudy and faded over time. You could rip them out and replace them, of course, but cleaning them up is a lot cheaper and works surprisingly well.

You can DIY this in a variety of ways by scrubbing your headlights with toothpaste, a mixture of vinegar and baking soda, even sandpaper. Or you could make your life a little easier by using a bespoke product to brings those headlights back to life without any extra steps or mess.

Doing these things on a regular basis will not only keep your car looking good, it will protect it from further damage and help its exterior last as long as you need it to—which hopefully won’t be another 14 years.

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