WTF happened to my paint?

"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain) 02/07/2016 at 23:29 • Filed to: None

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Weird specks all over the place!?

Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a picture.

I washed my car today and noticed that paint wasn’t smooth in some areas. It was kind of rough. When I looked close at what appeared to be a light spray of dirt, I found my paint speckled with reddish brown something .

It came off a little with clay bar, but would have taken an hour to do a 3 square inch area. So I fired up my DA Orbital Polisher and took some Meguiars cutting compound/pad to it. After serious elbow grease, it came off. But it was ALL OVER THE PLACE. Estimate at about 15 square feet of my car (in weird spots - along the rocker and driver door on one side, rear quarter on the other side).

So I spent 7 hours washing, polishing, and waxing. Oiy.

I often park in the city. The only thing I can think of is that I park somewhere and some grafitti’d near my car (wouldn’t be too outlandish given where I work in SF). Was that it? Could it have been something else? Oppo ideas?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Nick Has an Exocet 02/07/2016 at 23:39

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Wicked tree sap? My parents park their MDX under an old pine tree and it is murder getting that shit off.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Nick Has an Exocet 02/07/2016 at 23:49

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Maybe someone dropped a can of paint in the road.

Nick Has an Exocet > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 02/07/2016 at 23:57

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It was a different texture. Sap sucks. This was like a powder stuck in the paint.

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > Nick Has an Exocet 02/07/2016 at 23:58

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We’re going to need photos

LeftOfTheDial > Nick Has an Exocet 02/08/2016 at 00:22

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Someone with liver failure created a spray back situation?

Svend > Nick Has an Exocet 02/08/2016 at 00:24

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If you can load any photos.

Any chance you could mark on the car below where the contaminants were?

It could be many things from road cleaning fluid, road paint, fresh cut grass dye, tree sap, tree breath, paint overspray, etc...

Where is the car parked? Street side, car park, drive way, near trees (not necessarily under the tree), near anywhere industrial, etc...

The only ‘reddish brown something’ I now that can imbed into paint is iron contamination from brake dust either from your own car and churned up by other cars passing yours on the road, or if someone has been grinding metal nearby or parked near a rail yard the other but not imbedded into the paint is road tar.

Always good to have a tar &glue remover and a fallout remover in your detailing kit (saves a lot of time claying).

tar removal

iron/fallout removal (iron fallout turns purple as it’s dissolved

Nick Has an Exocet > Svend 02/08/2016 at 00:43

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Good to know about tar/glue remover and fallout remover - I’ll add those to my kit.

The particles were very fine - about twice the size of the metallic speckles in metallic paint.

At home, it’s parked in the single car garage. At work, it’s parked in a small parking lot at our business. We recently built a porch there - which was painted red - but I don’t remember parking very close during construction. That said - I don’t know how far paint particles can fly in a stiff wind.

Nick Has an Exocet > LeftOfTheDial 02/08/2016 at 00:44

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Hah. It’s San Francisco, so yeah, plausible by Mythbusters standards, lol.

Nick Has an Exocet > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 02/08/2016 at 00:45

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If I can find a spot that I missed, I’ll upload when there’s sunlight.

Rico > Nick Has an Exocet 02/08/2016 at 01:01

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My vote is overspray from a nearby property. Unless you've parked close to a railroad and got rail dust on it like Svend mentioned. Picture definitely would go a long way.

Svend > Nick Has an Exocet 02/08/2016 at 01:07

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Iron fallout/brake dust doesn’t just make wheels look bad but can imbed into the paint, over time it will rust and expand which can then crack open the clearcote and paint causing paint blisters.

Paint particles can fly quite a distance and won’t necessarily adhere to a surface facing the wind but can adhere to the rear of the surface as the wind creates a lower pressure area behind the object which will then drop any debris picked up.

Tar and glue remover is great for removing tar and paint over spray, but apply and then wipe away after a couple of minutes or before it’s dried, whichever is the sooner.

Taking into account you guys and gals drive on the right hand side of the road I believe it’s road tar from either a fresh laid road or a warm road.

pip bip - choose Corrour > Nick Has an Exocet 02/08/2016 at 02:06

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industrial fallout?

TheJMan92 > Nick Has an Exocet 02/08/2016 at 17:21

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Overspray! My sister got white spray paint flecks on the rear (mostly noticeable on the trunk) of my old Benz. It’s crap paint anyway but I couldn’t figure out what happened for a bit.