We know that auto repair isn’t always cheap. You might be tempted to try to dodge repair prices by attempting an at-home fix, but you could end up doing more damage to your car and your wallet. There’s plenty of these supposed life-hacks on Facebook and TikTok, but sometimes they’re more for clicks than for your car. Avoid these DIY repairs and instead, leave it to our expert technicians at Graham Collision.
Don't Try This at Home: DIY Auto Repair Fails
- WD40 For Headlights?
Folks online have been cleaning their headlights with WD40, but this hack has a flaw. While it might be a temporary fix for your foggy headlights, the oils in this spray can leak into your bulb from the rim of the headlight, causing it to blur or burn out. If you’re in a pinch or an emergency, it’ll do the trick to clean, but you’ll likely need to replace your bulbs later.
- Magic Eraser Isn’t Really Magic
This cleaning tool can come in handy when it comes to your car, they’re actually great to remove dirt, dust, and grime on the interior, especially in smaller spaces like cupholders or crevices in your dashboard. What this tool isn’t so handy for is DIY scratch-repair. People who have tried to buff out scratches with their magic eraser might come to the unfortunate realization that this online hack isn’t so magic after all. Magic erasers are made from melamine foam, with about the same abrasiveness of 3000 to 5000 grit sandpaper. If you rub too hard, you could further damage your paint job. You wouldn’t take sandpaper to your car, but Graham Collision can make your paint job look good as new.
- Don’t DIY Dents
We’ve seen tons of clips going around of attempts to fix car dents, with a wide variety of tools. Toilet plungers, boiling water, hot glue… Though some of these DIYs have been successful, repairing dents yourself is incredibly risky. Car damage comes in many shapes, sizes, and levels of severity. If your dent is more complex, you risk pulling the metal of your auto body too far out, causing more structural damage to your car. Our technicians at Graham Collision have seen tons of dents, and have the right tools to help you.
- Defrosting Shouldn’t Involve Boiling Water
Hot water on a cold windshield doesn’t mix. The extreme temperatures together can cause your windshield to crack. During our scrolling, we came across a TikTokker who used a sealed bag of hot water to defrost her windshield, but we wouldn’t recommend trying this hack. No matter if you’re pouring the water or putting it in a baggie, it’s not worth the danger of a severe crack in your windshield. Best stick to cranking the heat and getting the ice scraper out.
- Fancy Car Wash at Home
If you’re looking for a little bit of luxury, stick to splurging on a nice car wash instead of this hack. We found a DIY-er online who wanted to fancy up his home car wash by pouring dish soap into the hose to create a foaming jet effect. It might look like the foam in your local drive through car wash, but dish soap won’t give you the shine you’re looking for. In fact, using dish soap to wash your car can strip your car of wax, exposing your clear coat. While the freshly-cleaned sparkle will look great at first, without the protective coat of wax, your paint job will sustain damage from tough dirt and rust, and repainting your auto body will cost you a lot more than a professional car wash.
