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Two pieces of advice I like to crow about every autumn: Try pumpkin coffee drinks from anywhere besides Starbucks, and more importantly, peel the fallen leaves off your car as soon as you see them.
Dead leaves are full of acids. When they dwell on paint, they can leave stains that are a pain to remove. Rarely impossible to remove, but still, taking the leaves off when they’re fresh is far easier than any amount of scrubbing. If you do end up with stains, regular car soap usually gets them off. But stubborn ones might force you to escalate to sap-removal techniques.
As with any paint-marring factor, the better protection you have the less you have to worry. A good ceramic coat or paint-protection film will go a long way to staving off leaf stains. But since leaves are so easy (dare I say, satisfying?) to remove from your car by hand, you might as well just pluck them. It’s barely even an issue if you drive your car regularly—you’ll probably only have a handful to pull off by the time you get to work.
One other leaf issue to have on your radar is blockages to under-windshield vents. Leaves can collect in these areas near the top of your hood, creating miniature dams that keep water stuck in places it should be drained from. Take care of those too—you don’t want plant debris leading to rust or inefficiencies in airflow.
As for my beef with Starbucks, I just think the current-gen Pumpkin Spice Latte is too sweet for human consumption. Now that pumpkin coffee has almost as much mass appeal as water, you can get it anywhere, and indie coffee shops usually do far tastier versions.
There, I just gave you an excuse to blow those leaves off your car. Find yourself a new coffee spot and try some small-batch pumpkin flavor syrup.
