What is this and how to fix it?

[NoTicketsPlease]

Hi,



Asked this question on ls1tech and was referred here. Great site. These spots are only on the horizontal surfaces of the car so after some research I think this was caused by small pieces of metal landing on the car or parking under a tree.



I have three 3M products that I can use by hand, which one should I try(if any?).



(Listed from lightest to roughest. i think)

1 Perfect-It foam polishing pad glaze swirl mark remover for dark colord cars(part no 39009)

2 Rubbing compound professional formula(part no 03900)

3 Perfect-It II rubbing compound(part no 39002)



This is a 2002 black camaro ss.

[BigJimZ28]

Did you wash & clay?

[Setec Astronomy]

Can you feel them? Looks like it could be sap, but if you can`t feel them looks like it could be some acid rain or similar etching.

[autoprincess]

:idea



It looks to me like it is rail rust. This normally occurs when a vehicle is delievered to a dealership when it is new and the shifting metal of the carrier lands on the paint and begins to rust. If you notice the yellow circles I have included on the picture, they high light the metal surfaces that are rusting. I am assumming that these spots have probably been on the care for a while.



To remove, use clay bar and a lubricant (do the steps when using clay bar). This will remove both the metal shards and the rings around them. You might ask will it scratch the maint because it is metal and your car is black. The answer is you will be fine I have done this on many types of colors and they all came out great. So you are okay.



This type of situation normally does occur on the top of panels and sometimes around the bending part of the panels where the panels slop downward into the vertical position.



A test you can do before you try and do anything is to feel the area with your hand. Is the surface gritty and rough like dirt that will not wash off (after you wash the car or clean one panel)? If this is the case then rail rust is probably the cause.

[Setec Astronomy]

Well spotted, Autoprecise! You are probably right on that.

[chml17l]

Hard to tell from the pics, but it could be as others have already said raildust, acid rain etching, or some other paint contaminants. Try a clay bar first and you might check into Finish Kare`s (fk1usa.com) paint decontamination system. It is a three part chemical cleaning system that is specificially designed to decon auto paint. Clay may not completely remove all the contaminants and the "spots" might reappear unless both abrasive (clay) and chemical steps are used to remove the cause.

[NoTicketsPlease]

I got the car over a year ago and the spots were present. They are quite rough, when drying after washing I can feel the towel sticking to the spots.



Here are higher resolution pictures:

http://www.putfile.com/notickets



I was warned about claybar and scratching, thats why I was looking at the polishes. I tend to think now that it would be okay to claybar. In the meantime, should I try one of the polishes? It may be awhile before I have time to clay.

[autoprincess]

It sill looks like rail rust, the reason being in the pictures it appears that the dots have a purpleish/blue ring around them, this is a one of the signs of rail rust.



The problem with using polish is that it does break away the metal shards easily from the paint and the clay bar does. If you try and polish the panel by hand to remove these dots you might score the paint when trying to polish because you will be using a lot more force then your typical wax application. I would use clay it will actually take less time then polish anyway.



If you wash the surface well and do all the steps needed with clay bar you should be fine not scratching the paint. Just make sure you do not rest the clay on a dirty surface, this will collect dirt and cause problems down the road. After you clay bar the panels you can always put a coat of carnuba on the panels you did for added protection.



Remember if you do not remove all the metal shards then the spots you missed will turn colors like they appear now.

[Accumulator]

What AutoPrecise and chml17l said :xyxthumbs I use the ABC decontamination system from AUTOINT (http://www.autoint.com/) myself, but yeah, this appears to be a near-textbook example of what clay and decontamination systems are made for.



Note that as clay picks up contamination the *clay* becomes contaminated, sometimes to the point of turning into sandpaper. Gotta knead/replace it frequently.



The clay oughta be far less abrasive than the 3M RCs you mentioned. I`ve used the 39002 by hand before and it`d require a milder product for a follow up. The clay shouldn`t leave the sort of (light) hazing the 39002 would, that`s for sure.



Clay is the simple answer. If that doesn`t do it (or if the problem appears to come back) then the decontamination system is the next thing to try.

[NoTicketsPlease]

Okay im convinced. Ill use clay, ill post up the results when done. Thanks alot guys.

[NoTicketsPlease]

Well, I used the claybar. It really took alot of stuff off and my paint is much smoother. The spots are smaller but still there. Here are some pics:



http://www.putfile.com/notickets

[D3mon]

The claybar has pulled out all the contaminants which had been `stuck` in the paint surface, so the paint surface now has little pin-holes left in it. Use a paint surface cleaner to get rid of any remaining residues, then glaze (no repair - just cover up) or polish (repair) the paint surface to reduce the visual effect of the pinholes.

[NoTicketsPlease]

I ended up using claybar where needed then meguiars paint cleaner(step 1 of deepcrystal system). All that remains are very small white pinholes.

[Accumulator]

Glad it worked out so well, let alone with a nice mild approach :xyxthumbs