Anyone who has ever rented a property or unit before is probably familiar with the term "landlord special." A landlord special is a half-hearted, Band-Aid-esque repair job. It's usually done by landlords who want to secure rent money from unsuspecting tenants. But it can also be done by tenants who want to secure their security deposit back. Some examples of landlord specials include a landlord who covered a hole with paper and painted over it and a tenant who painted over wall damage herself.
But did you know landlord specials are not just reserved for dwellings?
TikTok user David (@c6kid) shared, in a viral TikTok, what car sellers should do to their cars before selling them. And viewers are likening the hack to a "landlord special."
"So, one of my biggest pet peeves on cars is rusty bolts," David (@c6kid) starts his video.
He points to rusty screws and washers on the car's exterior.
"We're gonna fix that right now," he adds, taking out a paint marker. "We're just gonna scuff it up and paint in these bolts, so they're no longer rusty."
First, he tries to scrape off the rust. David then takes the marker to the bolts and lug nuts. He even notes he got some rocks stuck in the exterior's crevices. He paints over those, too.
"If you wanna see a quality build, these are the measures that are gonna have to be taken, to be honest," David says. "Just grab yourself a little paint pen from the craft store, and get at it."
The Daily Dot reached out to David via Instagram direct message and TikTok comment.
Viewers weigh in
His video racked up over 429,000 views. Some viewers cracked jokes in the comments section.
"Landlord special," one viewer quipped.
"Imagine the guy that bought the car just saw this," a second joked.
However, some didn't find the clip humorous, revealing other methods to remove the rust.
"Could’ve pulled it out and took the 2 seconds to spray paint it but ok," one user remarked.
"Just go to dealer and get some bolts if spend less than 20$ lol," another commented.
Should you use a marker on a car?
While you can use a marker to make rusty bolts appear as good as new, the type of marker matters. You should buy a paint pen like the Security Check Paint Marker, the Mighty Marker Xylene-Based Paint Markers, or paint markers from auto shops that are actually designed to help with the rust. And you should try to remove the rust first. After sanding the bolts, you should use an epoxy and primer to stop the corrosion process. Then you can take a marker to them.
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